A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

PERSEUS. PERSEUS. 205
sowing, and the other at the tinme of harvest. 34.5). Butt, according to the common story, Poly(Diod. v. 4; Athen. iv. p. 647.) The Eleusinian dectes, king of Seriphos. made Dana, his slave,
mysteries belonged to Demeter and Cora in common, and courted her favour, but in vain; and in order
and to her alone were dedicated the mysteries ce- to obtain the undisturbed possession of her, he sent
lebrated at Athens in the month of Anthesterion. off Perseus, who had in the meantime grown up to
(Comp. Pans. i. 31. ~ 1, &c.) Temples of Per- manhood, to the Gorgons, to fetch the head of
sephone are mentioned at Corinth, Megara, Sparta, Medusa, which he said he would give to HI-ippoand at Locri in the south of Italy. (Paus. iii. 13. dameia as a wedding present (Tzetz. ad Lce. 838).
~ 2; Liv. xxix. 8, 18; Appian, iii. 12.) In works Another account again states that Polydectes marof art Persephone is seen very frequently: she ried Danae, and caused Perseus to be brought up
bears the grave and severe character of an infernal in the temple of Athena. When Acrisius learnt
Juno, or she appears as a mystical divinity with a this, he went to Polydectes, who, however, intersceptre and a little box, but she was mostly repre- fered on behalf of the boy, and the latter promised
sented in the act of being carried off by Pluto. not to kill his grandfather. Acrisius, however,
(Pans. viii. 37. ~ 2; comp. flirt. A12Ithol. Bilderb. was detained in Seriphos by storms, and during
i. p. 72, &c.; Welcker, Zeitechriftfiir die alte Kunst, that time Polydectes died. During the funeral
p. 20, &c.) games the wind carried a disk thrown by Perseus
Another mythical personage of the name of Per- against the head of Acrisius, and killed him, wheresephone, is called a daughter of Minyas, and the upon Perseus proceeded to Argos and took possesmother of Chloris by Amphion. (Schol. ad I-Iotn. sion of the kingdom of his grandfather (Hygin.
Od. xi. 281.) [L. S.] Fab. 63). But to return to the common tradition.
PERSES (I14po'). 1. A son of the Titan Athena, with whom Medusa had ventured to conCrius and Eurybia, and husband of Asteria, by tend for the prize of beauty, first showed to
whom he became the father of Hecate. (Hes. Perseus the head of Gorgo in images, near the town
Teoqg. 377, 409, &c.; Apollod. i. 2. ~~ 2, 4.) of Diecterion in Samos, and advised him to be un2. A son of Perseus and Andromeda, is de- concerned about the two immortal Gorgons, Stheno
scribed as the founder of the Persian nation. and Euryale. Perseus then went first to the
(Herod. vii. 61; Apollod. ii. 4. ~ 5.) Graeae, the sisters of the Gorgons, took from them
3. A son of Helios and Perse, and brother of their one tooth and their one eye, and did not
Aeetes and Circe. (Apollod. i. 9. ~ 28; Hygin. restore them to the Graeae until they showed him the
Pab. 244.) The Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius way to the nymphs; or hecast the tooth and the eye
(iii. 200) calls him as well as Perses No. 1., Per- into lake Triton, so that the Graeae were no longer
seus, and king of Tauris. (Comp. Tzetz. ad Lye. able to guard the Gorgons (Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii.
1175.) [L. S.] 12). The nymphs provided Perseus with winged
PERSES (l4o'rels), an epigrammatic poet, who sandals, a bag, and the helmet of Hades, which reinwas included in the Garland of Meleager, but of dered him invisible, Hermes with a sickle, and
whose time we have no further indication, is Athena with a mirror (Hes. Scut. Here. 220, 222;
called a Theban in the title of one of his epi- Eurip. Elect. 460; Anthol. Palat. ix. 557; comp.
grams, but a Macedonian in that of another. Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 12; Theon, ad Arat. p. 29).
There are nine epigrams by him in the Greek Being thus armed, he went to the Gorgons, who
Anthology. (Brunck, Anal. vol. ii. p. 4; Jacobs, dwelt near Tartessus on the coast of the Ocean,
ni tlh. Graec. vol. ii. p. 3, vol. xiii. p. 932.) [P. S.] whose heads were covered, like those of serpents,
PERSEUS (IIspaeu'). 1. The famous Argive with scales, and who had large tusks like boars,
hero, was a son of Zeus and Dana,, and a grandson brazen hands, and golden wings. He found them
of Acrisius (Holn. I. xiv. 310; Hes. Scut. IIere. asleep, and cut off the head of Medusa, looking at
229). Acrisius, who had no male issue, consulted her figure through the mirror, for a look at the
the Pythian oracle, and received the answer, that monster herself would have changed him into stone.
if Danad should give birth to a son, he would kill Perseus put her head into the bag which he carried
his father. Acrisius, accordingly, shut up his on his back, and as he went away, he was pursued
daughter in a subterraneous apartment, made of by the winged Gorgons (lies. Scut. Herc. 230;
brass or stone (Soph. Ant. 947; Lycoph. 838; Paus. v. 18. ~ i). On his return he visited Aethillorat. Cacrm. iii. 16). But Zeus having rneta- opia, where he saved and married Andromeda, by
morphosed himself into a shower of gold, came whom he became the father of Perses, whom he
down upon her through the roof of the apartment, left with Cepheus. During this journey Persens
and became by her the father of Perseus. From is also said to have come to the Hyperboreans, by
this circumstance Perseus is sometimes called Xpu- whom he was hospitably received (Pind. Pyth. x.
rd7raT-pos or auripena (Lycoph. 838; Ov. Met. v. 50), and to Atlas, whom, by the head of Gorgo, he
250). When Acrisius discovered that DanaW: had changed into the mountain of the same name (Ov.
given birth to a son, he threw both mother and son Met. iv. 655; Serv. ad Aen. iv. 246). Phineus, the
into a chest, and put them out to sea; but Zeus brother of Cepheus, was likewise changed into stone,
caused the chest to land in the island of Seriphos, and when Perseus returned to Seriphos he found
one of the Cyclades, where Dictys, a fisherman, his mother with Dictys in the temple, whither she
found them, and carried them to his brother, king had fled from the embraces of Polydectes. Persels
Polydectes. According to a later or Italian tra- found the latter at a repast, and metamorphosed
dition, the chest was carried to the coast of Italy, him and all his guests, and, some say, the whole
where king Pillumnus married Dana,, and founded island, into stone (Pind. Pyth. xii. 21; Strab. x. p.
Ardea (Virg. Aen. vii. 410; Serv. ad Aen. vii. 487), andpresentedthekingdomtoDictys. Perseus
372); or Danad is said to have come to Italy with then gave the winged sandals and the helmet to
two sons, Argus and Argeus, whom she had by Hermes, who restored them to the nymphs and to
Phineus, and took up her abode on the spot where Hades, and Athena received the head of G(ortco,
Rome was afterwards built (Serv. ad Aen. viii. which was put on the shield or breast-plate of t.-e