Perseus - The Look of Death | The Great Greek Myths, Episode 12

Summary

The Greek myth of Perseus unfolds with King Acrysius of Argos, who, desperate for a son, receives a prophecy that his grandson will kill him. When his daughter Danae bears Perseus, Acrysius confines them to a sea-bound chest. Rescued by Diktys on Serifos, Perseus grows into a brave young man. To protect his mother from the tyrant King Polydectes, Perseus embarks on a daring quest to obtain Medusa’s head. Guided by Hermes and Athena, Perseus cleverly defeats Medusa using reflective tactics. On his return, he saves Andromeda and fulfills his fate by accidentally killing Acrysius during a sports event, proving the oracle's prophecy true.

Highlights

• King Acrysius of Argos receives a dreaded prophecy about his grandson. 🌟
• Danae, confined in a bronze tower, miraculously conceives Perseus by Zeus. 🤯
• Perseus, now grown, sets out to fetch the head of the feared Medusa. 🧟‍♀️
• Hermes and Athena provide tools to help him navigate his quest. 🛠️
• The clever use of Athena's shield aids Perseus in defeating Medusa. 🪞
• Perseus heroically saves Andromeda from a sea monster. 🦸‍♂️
• Fulfilling the prophecy, Perseus accidentally kills King Acrysius. 😲
• The story immortalizes the ancient themes of fate, prophecy, and heroism. 🌌

Key Takeaways

• Prophecies are not to be taken lightly, especially in Greek myths! 🔮
• King Acrysius’s attempt to thwart destiny leads to dramatic events. 🌀
• The divine intervention by Zeus continues to mark Greek tales. ⚡️
• Perseus's journey encapsulates bravery and the cunning use of tools. 🗡️
• Medusa's myth exemplifies the danger intertwined with beauty! 🐍
• The unpredictable nature of fate in Greek mythology is unparalleled. 🎭

Overview

King Acrysius of Argos was living the dream, minus one crucial thing: an heir. A trip to the oracle at Delphi revealed he’d have a grandson through his daughter Danae, who would one day kill him. Not thrilled with this grim spoiler, Acrysius imprisoned Danae, only for the clever Zeus to intervene by transforming into golden rain and giving Danae a son, Perseus.

Perseus grew up to be quite the hero, raised on the island of Serifos after being cast away at sea with his mother. Trouble brewed when King Polydectes, obsessed with Danae, demanded Perseus to fetch Medusa's head. With divine support from Hermes and Athena, Perseus embarked on the lethal mission, using clever tactics to defeat the Gorgon Medusa without ever looking at her directly.

Upon his victorious return, Perseus rescued Andromeda from a sea monster and delivered revenge on Polydectes by turning him to stone with Medusa's head. However, fate caught up with Perseus as a misdirected discus throw led to his grandfather's demise, fulfilling the dreaded prophecy. Thus, the epic unfolds with perennial themes of prophecy, courage, and inadvertent fate.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 03:00: Introduction and Prophecy The chapter begins with an introduction set against a background of music, suggesting a thematic or mood-setting opening. The specific details of the prophecy mentioned in the title are not conveyed, indicating that the chapter possibly focuses on setting the stage for the events that will unfold. It could involve thematic elements, character introduction, or establishing the setting for the prophecy's revelation.
• 03:00 - 09:00: Birth of Perseus The chapter titled 'Birth of Perseus' is set in the town of Argos, where a rich and powerful king resides. Despite having everything a man could desire, such as power, glory, gold, and a fine reputation, the king longs for a child, particularly a son.
• 09:00 - 16:00: Danae and Perseus at Seriphos King Acrysius visits the temple of Delphi, seeking guidance from the oracle, the Pithia, about having a son. True to form, the oracle's response is indirect and enigmatic.
• 16:00 - 24:00: The Quest for Medusa's Head The chapter opens with Acrysius consulting the Pithia, an oracle, about his future family. He learns that he will have a daughter who will give birth to a son destined to be his successor on the throne of Argos.
• 24:00 - 31:00: Rescue of Andromeda The chapter "Rescue of Andromeda" introduces the character eccresius, who is distraught. Several months later, his wife, the queen, gives birth to a daughter named Danai, in honor of the dynasty founder Danaos and his 50 daughters, the Danaids. The narrative hint at a divine connection, mentioning Zeus and the Danaids.
• 31:00 - 37:00: Return to Seriphos and Consequences In the chapter titled 'Return to Seriphos and Consequences,' the narrative delves into themes of punishment and curses. The setting begins in Tartarus, where individuals face eternal punishment for their crimes, specifically a reference is made to a group doomed to pour water into a bottomless basin forever. The text then transitions to the story of King Acrysius, who is haunted by a curse preventing him from killing Danai himself, hinting at an intricate web of fate and consequence that unfolds as the story progresses.
• 37:00 - 43:00: Fulfillment of the Prophecy Chapter 1: Fulfillment of the Prophecy - The chapter delves into the kingdom of Argos, where Tanay, a charming girl, grows up to be the most attractive young woman at the age of fifteen. Consequently, numerous suitors flock to the court vying for her hand in marriage. Meanwhile, Acrysius, the reigning authority, is troubled by a haunting prophecy, though the details are left to the readers' imagination.

Perseus - The Look of Death | The Great Greek Myths, Episode 12 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] [Music]
• 00:30 - 01:00 [Music] once upon a time in the magnificent town of argos lived a rich and powerful king who had all that a man could wish for power glory gold a fine reputation he wanted for nothing nothing except a child a son
• 01:00 - 01:30 [Music] king acrysius decided to go to the temple of delphi where the pithia predicted the future perhaps he'd forgotten that one should be wary of oracles [Music] what must i do to have a son ask the crisis as usual the oracle does not make a direct reply to the question which is
• 01:30 - 02:00 asked you will have a daughter replies the pithia and this daughter will give birth to a son that settles it this grandson will be my successor on the throne of argos [Music] relieved acrysius is on the point of leaving when suddenly the pithia continues and this boy will kill you as soon as he reaches adulthood
• 02:00 - 02:30 eccresius is distraught a few months later his wife the queen brings into the world a daughter she is named danai in honor of the founder of the dynasty danaos and his 50 daughters the denaids [Music] zeus had thrown the denieds into
• 02:30 - 03:00 tartarus as punishment for the murder of their [Music] husbands there in the scorching steam of the underworld that anides are doomed to pour water into a bottomless basin until the end of time king acrysius could assassinate danai with his own hands but the curse of the
• 03:00 - 03:30 gods would be terrible he does nothing [Music] tanay grows up at 15 she has become the prettiest girl in the kingdom of argos naturally prospective shooters hasten to the court each would like to win her hand [Music] acrysius haunted by the thought of the
• 03:30 - 04:00 prophecy from delphi will not hear a word about marriage he even goes as far as to regularly pray that his daughter might die of natural causes one day he moves into action he orders the construction of a tower a huge tower within which he builds a prison with walls and ceilings of bronze
• 04:00 - 04:30 once the tower is finished he invites danae and her nurse to follow him neither of them imagines the terrible fate which awaits them the two women go inside the heavy door closes behind them and i lets out a cry of horror which nobody hears
• 04:30 - 05:00 [Music] acrysius breathes a sigh of relief he thinks the matter is settled he is mistaken things hidden from the sight of men do not escape the gods attention and particularly that of zeus
• 05:00 - 05:30 for a very long time now the king of olympus has been aware of danae's beauty he's in love with her zeus is always in love he smiles when he sees danae shut up in her bronze prison [Music] it is the ideal moment to make his conquest however zeus needs to take on another appearance because he knows that mortals
• 05:30 - 06:00 may not contemplate a god in his divine form under penalty of death bull swan eagle snake zeus is no stranger to metamorphosis on this occasion he decides to change himself into rain golden rain which slides through the joins in the tower through the walls and falls like a gentle caress upon danae's slumbering body
• 06:00 - 06:30 the young girl immediately awakens the whole room is illuminated drops of gold are falling from the ceiling she dares not believe it what if it was nine months pass
• 06:30 - 07:00 [Music] a boy is born deny names him perseus [Music] fearing her father's fury she hides the child as best she can but it is impossible to stifle his cries intrigued king acrysius goes to the
• 07:00 - 07:30 tower [Music] that is undoubtedly a baby crying acrysius has the door opened yes indeed he is not mistaken there really is a child in there [Music] perseus smiles at him takes a couple of hesitant steps and falls at his grandfather's feet
• 07:30 - 08:00 the terrified dunai hastens to explain that she is completely innocent that it is zeus transformed into rain who is the father of this child zeus a crisis doesn't believe a word of it he turns upon the nurse it must have been her who let a man into the prison mad with rage acrysius has the poor woman beheaded along with the guards who were meant to watch the prisoners
• 08:00 - 08:30 but that in no way resolves the problem what to do with danae and the baby acrysius decides that it's best to put their destiny into the hands of the gods let them sort it out he summons a carpenter the best in the kingdom and tells him to make a great wooden casket when it's finished he shuts danai and perseus inside and has
• 08:30 - 09:00 it lowered into the ocean this time their prison will not just be four walls but the whole maritime world the casket drifts away tossed around by the waves this fragile shell should have sunk a
• 09:00 - 09:30 thousand times but zeus is watching over his son [Music] the casket ends up in the vicinity of a little rocky island the island of serifos [Music]
• 09:30 - 10:00 a fisherman sees it but this is not just any fisherman his name is dictus and he is a royal lineage dictus brings the casket ashore and discovers danai and perseus troubled by the beauty of the young woman the fisherman decides to take in both mother and child and treat them as if they were of his own family [Music]
• 10:00 - 10:30 the years pass perseus becomes a strong and courageous young man one morning the king of the island polydectes an infamous tyrant bumps into danae at a bend in the road he immediately falls in love with her an all-consuming passion for danai quickly grows within polydectes he becomes obsessed by her
• 10:30 - 11:00 but well aware that for one thing his feelings are not returned and for another that perseus would make mincemeat of him if he tried to take danai by force he comes up with a strategy to separate the mother and son a banquet polydectes organizes a banquet and he has a good pretext his marriage with a foreign princess by
• 11:00 - 11:30 the name of hippa damir he tells everyone the news and demands that each young nobleman demonstrates his friendship by giving a luxurious present to his future wife preferably a horse and why not a hole stable for the young woman is very keen on riding and you he sneers at perseus you who don't even have a shirt to call his own what will you give me you can't come to my banquet
• 11:30 - 12:00 empty-handed cut to the quick perseus replies that he is willing to bring anything the king wishes anything perfect i want the gorgon's head the gorgon's head there is not one living being in the whole universe capable of such an exploit perseus will refuse that's for sure no
• 12:00 - 12:30 he accepts an icy murmur spreads through the great throne rule perseus is mad he doesn't know what a terrifying monster this is the gorgon [Music] in reality there is not just one but three gorgons three sisters
• 12:30 - 13:00 stano rio really and medusa [Music] the first two are immortal only the third one medusa can be beaten [Music] a long time ago the gorgons were three young girls of legendary beauty it was the goddess athena who changed them into monsters because they dared to defy her the gorgons are terrifying creatures
• 13:00 - 13:30 they have golden wings attached to their shoulders snakes coil out of their hair and they can kill with a single look instantly turning to stone anyone who dares look them in the eye polydectes is delighted this pretentious little perseus has stepped into the trap
• 13:30 - 14:00 but what polydectes is unaware of is the young man's descendants he is the son of zeus what's more he is admired by numerous divinities and in particular hermes and athena and today athena sees in perseus a way of finishing off her vengeance on the
• 14:00 - 14:30 gorgons perseus walks straight ahead he hasn't the slightest idea where medusa might be hiding he doesn't know how to fight her either at this very moment hermes appears before him hermes god of messengers son of zeus hermes gives perseus a silver shield this is the goddess athena's gift to him hermes also lends him his winged sandals
• 14:30 - 15:00 then he hands him a special sack in which hunters put the game they have killed [Music] and he adds one last present a harp sword a steel sickle capable of cutting through any material hermes advises perseus to fly to a cave where three witches live [Music] these three witches are known as the grey
• 15:00 - 15:30 the gray are the gorgons sisters and they are equally monstrous they are the only ones who know where medusa can be found but no one has ever dared venture inside their repulsive cavern for the grey are fearful to look at people say they were born old their faces are no more than wrinkles and folds their yellowing skin is crumpled like old parchment the most astonishing thing is that they have only one eye between them which
• 15:30 - 16:00 they pass around and use in turns as they do with their one solitary tooth which they use to devour their visitors hermes points a finger towards the west even though the gorgons live across the ocean beyond the world's frontiers at the doors of the night the same cannot be said for the grey who live in this world [Music]
• 16:00 - 16:30 with the winged sandals to guide him perseus crosses the wild blue yonder and soon finds himself at the entrance to the cavern where the three sisters hide the son of zeus must now pay very careful attention for between the moment when one passes the eye to the other and the moment when the other receives it there is a short lapse of time a tiny crack which perseus must infiltrate with the speed of an arrow perseus bites his time and at the split
• 16:30 - 17:00 second when the eye is between two of the creatures he grabs it snatching the truth at the same moment the grey scream with fury they are suddenly blind and toothless they are reduced to nothing they implore perseus they are prepared to give him anything they say if only he will give them back the eye and the tooth perseus demands that they tell him where the gorgons live and how to get there
• 17:00 - 17:30 [Music] they are only too eager to oblige so the son of danai and zeus is at last flying towards the windy island where the monsters abide all around stone statues bear witness to the adventures of unfortunate warriors who dared brave the gorgons horror can still be read in their expressions [Music]
• 17:30 - 18:00 the gorgons are there they are sleeping [Music] for perseus the question is how to cut off medusa's head without ever coming face to face with her it seems like an impossible task
• 18:00 - 18:30 [Music] it is athena who whispers the solution in his ear perseus takes the silver shield which the goddess gave him and fixes it upright in the earth he uses it like a looking glass or more precisely like a rear-view mirror at the moment when medusa's terrible eyes shining like moonstones turned towards him perseus positions the shield
• 18:30 - 19:00 such that his eyes cannot meet those of the gorgon [Music] medusa is almost upon him just a breath away [Music] perseus raises his sickle and severs the monster's head [Music] with a terrible screech medusa collapses
• 19:00 - 19:30 perseus stuffs the gorgon's head in his sack and rushes out of the cave [Music] flying back home towards polydectes island perseus suddenly notices a young woman chained to a rock it's andromeda the daughter of queen cassiopeia
• 19:30 - 20:00 she has been offered as a sacrifice to a sea monster which has devastated the region ever since the careless cassiopeia was audacious enough to claim that she was more beautiful than all the nymphs of the ocean to appease the monster sent by the susceptible poseidon an oracle has advised cassiopeia to sacrifice her own daughter the innocent andromeda [Music]
• 20:00 - 20:30 the unfortunate girl is lamenting her moans reach perseus he hears her he sees her he is immediately seduced by her beauty out of the question to abandon her to her fate [Music] perseus goes and finds queen cassiopeia and promises to save her daughter if he can have her hand in marriage cassiopeia accepts
• 20:30 - 21:00 perseus immediately returns to the place where andromeda is attached to the rock in the middle of the waves not a moment too soon for the monster is cutting its way through the water towards the unhappy andromeda once again everything depends on a look
• 21:00 - 21:30 remembering athena's advice perseus positions himself between the sun and the sea such that his shadow is projected across the surface of the water just in front of the beast's eyes when it sees this shadow moving before it the monster assumes that it must be its prey it rushes towards the reflection and at this very moment perseus from high in the sky flies down and kills it
• 21:30 - 22:00 andromeda is saved perseus picks up his sack with the gorgon's head inside accompanied by andromeda he finally arrives at serifos [Music] but as soon as he lands he learns that the infamous polydectes never had any intention of marrying anyone other than danai he has profited from perseus's absence to repeatedly try to force his mother's
• 22:00 - 22:30 consent happily danai has found refuge in the temple of the goddess hera perseus places andromeda under the protection of dictus and goes alone to the court of king polydectes passing through the corridors he penetrates the hall where polydectes and his court are enjoying a huge feast silence falls when perseus appears
• 22:30 - 23:00 polydectes stares at him dumbfounded perseus walks towards him he measures him up without a word then he opens his sack and pulls out medusa's head in a slow movement he raises it being careful to turn his eyes away in an instant polydectes and all his guests turn into stone statues perseus puts the head back in his sack
• 23:00 - 23:30 and walks out leaving behind him a petrified world [Music] but the story is not over there is still
• 23:30 - 24:00 the grandfather king acrysius perseus has realized that if accretius behaved towards him as he did shutting him in a casket and tossing him to the waves it's because he was afraid of dying at his hands he doesn't hold it against him on the contrary he wishes to find him and pardon him [Music] so he sets out for argus
• 24:00 - 24:30 unfortunately perseus arrives too late hearing the rumors of the fabulous exploits accomplished by his grandson but above all hearing that he is heading for the kingdom ecrecius has shown a clean pair of heels [Music] but destiny alone decides upon the hour when the curtain must fall a few days after his arrival in argos
• 24:30 - 25:00 perseus participates in games organized in his honor the discus throwing event arrives there is a dense crowd in the middle of which hides an old man with a grey beard perseus throws his discus at that precise moment a violent gust of
• 25:00 - 25:30 wind alters its trajectory it flies through the air and it hits the old man head-on killing him instantly it was acrysius king of argos perseus's grandfather once again the oracle of delphi has had the last word over those who try to stop her predictions from coming true
• 25:30 - 26:00 [Music]
• 26:00 - 26:30 you