Banished from Argos right before he was born (due to an ominous prophecy), Perseus grew up over a remote island. When he arrived of age, he was sent to eliminate the Gorgon Medusa, a monster whose gaze turned all who looked on her to stone.
In a few traditions, Bellerophon grew arrogant due to his successes and attempted to ride Pegasus to the house of the gods on Olympus. But Pegasus threw Bellerophon from his back again, along with the hero was gravely wounded or killed (depending on the Edition).
Medusa’s blood was often thought to have magical or medicinal properties. As outlined by Apollodorus, Asclepius received a phial of her blood from Athena and utilised it to cure the sick.[24] Medusa’s blood was also utilized for witchcraft by some mythical figures.[25]
Numerous afterwards variations of The parable claimed that she was once a good looking maiden loved by Poseidon. Even so the younger Medusa offended Athena and was hence cursed for being a horrible monster, endlessly hunted by Gentlemen.
When Perseus got down to destroy the Gorgon Medusa, he 1st came to the lair from the Graeae. There, he stole the sisters’ solitary eye, rendering them blind so they would assist him on his quest.
The chest floated safely and securely for the island of Seriphos, where the mom and son were taken in by a kindly fisherman.
The origins of your Graeae are obscure. It was at the time imagined which they very first emerged as sea goddesses (a fitting concept, given that their mothers and fathers were early sea deities).
Heracles and Iphicles had been twins who shared a mother but had unique fathers. Alcmene, the spouse of Amphitryon, were seduced by Zeus, who arrived to her disguised as Amphitryon.
The venomous vipers from the Sahara were being also often said to are already born from Medusa’s blood. Within this myth, the vipers emerged within the droplets of Medusa’s blood as Perseus flew about the Sahara Together with the Gorgon’s severed head.[19]
The Romans devoted quite a few festivals to Minerva and feted the goddess through the calendar yr. Her Main festival—often known as the Quinquatria—featured 5 days of celebration commencing over the fifth once the Ides of March, or March 19. The celebration marked the beginning of the marketing campaign period, once the Roman armies marched absent to war.
Pegasus roamed significantly and huge through the cosmos. He experienced In particular near ties with springs such as the Hippocrene, the spring from the Muses, as well as the Peirene, wherever he was inevitably captured and tamed by Bellerophon.
Acrisius, however petrified of the prophecy that he can be killed by his grandson, locked Danae and the child Perseus inside of a upper body, which he threw in the sea. The chest floated over the sea For a lot of times right up until it at last washed ashore around the island of Seriphos.
The etymologies of such person names are uncertain. Pemphredo shared her name with a form of wasp (πεμφρηδών, pemphrēdṓn). The etymology of Enyo is totally mysterious but is seemingly linked to Enyalius, one of many names from the war god Ares.
Poseidon was commonly named as the father of both creatures, whether or not the mechanics of his paternity have been obscure at here finest.[5]
In the future, Polydectes held a sizable banquet at which Every single visitor was purchased to convey him a present. Of Perseus, Polydectes demanded The pinnacle of Medusa. This was regarded as a nearly not possible process: Medusa was on the list of three monsters generally known as the Gorgons, whose heads ended up ringed by snakes instead of hair and whose gaze turned individuals to stone. Not shrinking from your challenging job, Perseus promised to deliver Polydectes the head of Medusa.