Perseus Research Paper

Perseus is an ancient Greek hero. His mother was Danae, daughter of Acrisius, the king

of Argos. Acrisius heard a prophecy that his grandson would kill him. So what Acrisius decided

to do is imprison her daughter, Danae, to keep her from having a baby. But then later on Zeus

came to Argos and went inside Danaes prison through a really small window. Zeus made Danaes

prison look very majestic and then later left. Since Danaes prison only had one window no one

could see through. But then after time Acrisius saw a bright light coming through the window

and made his guards destroy the wall. When the wall was destroyed he saw Danae holding a

baby. Acrisius was very furious that Danae had given birth to a baby, Perseus, so what he did

was that he

sent them off into the sea in a chest of wood.
Danae and Perseus then later on reached the island of Seriphos where there ruled a king
named Polydectes. The king then offered them hospitality and protection. Perseus was raised in
the island of Seriphos and later became a courageous and strong young man. After some time,
Polydectes, the king of Seriphos, asked for Danae to marry him. Polydectes couldn't refuse the
rejection because Danae had his son Perseus.
Polydectes really wanted to marry Danae so he then came up with a plan to get rid of
Perseus so he can marry Danae. What Polydectes did was pretend to marry his daughters friend.
After the marriage he also had a marriage party. Polydectes told everyone to bring a present to
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the married couple. He did this because he knew that Perseus was poor and couldn't afford to
give the married couple a present. After Perseus telling Polydectes that he couldn't give them a
present,Polydectes pretended to be very furious. Perseus felt bad so he then told Polydectes that
he would give him anything he asked for. So Polydectes wanted the head of the Gorgon Medusa,
which for Polydectes is very impossible to get the head of Medusa because she is very hard to
find. But Perseus didn't know that so he then left the island to achieve his mission to get the head
of the Gorgon Medusa.

Perseus spent many days in the sea trying to find the lair of Medusa. But then later on a

man and a woman appeared with flying sandals and introduced themselves as being Hermes and

Athena. Hermes then said that they were all siblings because Zeus is Perseus father just like

them. So Hermes and Athena decided to help Perseus find Medusa and get her head so Perseus

can accomplish his mission.

Each God decided to offer Perseus something of theirs. Hermes offered Perseus his

winged sandals and the sickle that was used by Cronus to get rid of Uranus testicles. Athena

offered Perseus her shield so he won't have to look at Medusa’s eyes and turn to stone. Then they

both gave Perseus information on where to find Medusa. After that the Gods left Perseus so he

can now accomplish his mission by himself.

After some time Perseus found Medusa’s lair and he quickly cut off her head when she

was sleeping. After he cut Medusa's head he flew away before Medusa's sister attacked. On his

journey back to the island Seriphos, he met the beautiful Andromeda in Ethiopia and then later

on married her. When Perseus became more known, he was invited to the city of Larissa to

participate in some funeral games in honor of the king.

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When Perseus was participating in one of the funeral games he threw a discus and it
accidently hit his grandfather Acrisius, who was there watching the game, not knowing that his
grandson, Perseus, was in the arena participating in the game. So the prophecy was fulfilled,
Acrisius was killed by his grandson, Perseus.
Then after being in the island of Larissa, Andromeda and Perseus set off to their
adventure back to the island Seriphos. When they reached Seriphos, they first saw Dictys, the
brother of the king Polydectes, and Dictys told Perseus that Polydectes married Danae, and that
that's why Perseus was sent on an “impossible” mission, just so Polydectes can marry Danae.
Perseus then was very furious so he told Dictys to take care of Andromeda for a bit so he can kill
Polydectes. But Dictys really didn’t care what happened to his brother so he let Perseus do his
thing and kill Polydectes.
Perseus went to Polydectes’ palace very quickly. Perseus went to where Polydectes was
said to be at, and when he found Polydectes, Perseus said, “ Let all who are my friends shield
their eyes!” When he said that he pulled out Medusa’s head out of the bag and turned Polydectes
into stone, along with his courtiers.
Danae was now free and glad to see his son Perseus. Perseus and Andromeda lived happy
together. Perseus was killed after some time by Dionysus, the god of fertility and wine. When
both Perseus and Andromeda dies they were immortalized as stars in the sky.
Perseus did not have a power but that didn't stop him from achieving his mission of
getting the head of Medusa. But Perseus was strong but that wasn't a power that was just how he
was. What you can take from his story is that you should never give up on your goals/missions
because you are going to get what you wanted at the end and that is what matters in the end.
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Perseus wasn't a really big demigod that the greeks knew but if they did the most the greeks can
get out of Perseus is that you shouldn't give up and to always be strong.