Perseus - Revision history

Irlandos: /* Reference */

2007-10-31T09:23:46Z

Reference

Irlandos: /* Reference */

2007-10-31T09:22:12Z

Reference

Irlandos: /* King of Mycenae */

2007-06-25T09:32:56Z

King of Mycenae

Irlandos: /* Reference */

2007-03-19T12:11:58Z

Reference

Irlandos: /* Etymology */

2006-03-13T12:34:59Z

Etymology

Irlandos: /* Etymology */

2006-03-13T12:34:34Z

Etymology

Irlandos: /* Marriage with Andromeda */

2006-03-13T12:33:16Z

Marriage with Andromeda

Irlandos: /* Adventures with the Gorgons */

2006-03-13T12:30:21Z

Adventures with the Gorgons

Irlandos: /* The Perseids */

2006-03-13T12:29:18Z

The Perseids

Irlandos: /* Origin at Argos */

2006-03-13T12:28:05Z

Origin at Argos

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 {{succession box|title=[[King of Argos]]|before=[[Acrisius]]|after=[[Megapenthes]]|years=}}
-{{succession box|before1=[[Megapenthes]]|before2=&mdash;|title1=[[King of Tiryns]]|title2=[[Mycenae|King of Mycenae]]|years1=|years2=|after=[[Electryon]]}}
+{{succession box|before=[[Megapenthes]]|title=[[King of Tiryns]] and [[Mycenae|King of Mycenae]]|years=|after=[[Electryon]]}}
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 {{succession box|title=[[King of Argos]]|before=[[Acrisius]]|after=[[Megapenthes]]|years=}}
-{{succession box two to one|before1=[[Megapenthes]]|before2=&mdash;|title1=[[King of Tiryns]]|title2=[[Mycenae|King of Mycenae]]|years1=|years2=|after=[[Electryon]]}}
+{{succession box|before1=[[Megapenthes]]|before2=&mdash;|title1=[[King of Tiryns]]|title2=[[Mycenae|King of Mycenae]]|years1=|years2=|after=[[Electryon]]}}
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 ==King of Mycenae==
-The two main sources regarding the [[legend]]ary life of Perseus&mdash;for he was an authentic historical figure to the Greeks&mdash; are [[Pausanias]] and [[Apollodorus]], but from them we obtain mainly folk-etymology concerning the founding of Mycenae. Pausanias (2.15.4, 2.16.3-6, 2.18.1) asserts that the Greeks believed Perseus founded Mycenae. He mentions the shrine to Perseus that stood on the left-hand side of the road from Mycenae to Argos, and also a sacred fountain at Mycenae called ''Persea''. Located outside the walls, this was perhaps the spring that filled the citadel's underground cistern. He states also that [[Atreus]] stored his treasures in an underground chamber there, which is why [[Heinrich Schliemann]] named the largest [[tholos]] tomb the [[Treasury of Atreus]].
+The two main sources regarding the legendary life of Perseus&mdash;for he was an authentic historical figure to the Greeks&mdash; are [[Pausanias]] and [[Apollodorus]], but from them we obtain mainly folk-etymology concerning the founding of Mycenae. Pausanias (2.15.4, 2.16.3-6, 2.18.1) asserts that the Greeks believed Perseus founded Mycenae. He mentions the shrine to Perseus that stood on the left-hand side of the road from Mycenae to Argos, and also a sacred fountain at Mycenae called ''Persea''. Located outside the walls, this was perhaps the spring that filled the citadel's underground cistern. He states also that [[Atreus]] stored his treasures in an underground chamber there, which is why [[Heinrich Schliemann]] named the largest [[tholos]] tomb the [[Treasury of Atreus]].
 Apart from these more historical references we have only folk-etymology: Perseus dropped his cap or found a mushroom there (both named ''myces''), or perhaps the place was named from the lady Mycene, daughter of [[Inachus]], mentioned in a now missing poem, the great [[Eoeae]], and in a now missing line of the Odyssey. Or, perhaps it was named after a youth, Mycenus. The ignorance of the Greeks concerning the name, which is plural, argues for a pre-Greek origin.

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 ==Reference==
-*Kerenyi, Karl, 1959. ''The heroes of the greeks''.
+*Kerenyi, Karl, 1959. ''The heroes of the Greeks''.
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 Because of the obscurity of the name and the legendary character of its bearer, most etymologists pass it by, on the presumption that it might be pre-Greek. However, the name of Perseus’ native city was Greek and so were the names of his wife and relatives. There is some prospect that it descended into Greek from Indo-european. In that regard Robert Graves has espoused the only Greek derivation available.
-Perseus might be from the ancient Greek verb, perthein, “to waste, ravage, sack, destroy”, some form of which appears in Homeric epithets. According to [[Carl Darling Buck]] (“Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin”), the –eus suffix is typically used to form an agent noun, in this case from the aorist stem, pers-. Pers-eus therefore is a man who habitually sacks cities; that is, a soldier by occupation, a fitting name for the first Mycenaean warrior.
+Perseus might be from the ancient Greek verb, perthein, “to waste, ravage, sack, destroy”, some form of which appears in Homeric epithets. According to Carl Darling Buck (“Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin”), the –eus suffix is typically used to form an agent noun, in this case from the aorist stem, pers-. Pers-eus therefore is a man who habitually sacks cities; that is, a soldier by occupation, a fitting name for the first Mycenaean warrior.
 The origin of perth- is more obscure. J. B. Hofman ("Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Griechischen") lists the possible root as *bher-, from which Latin ferio, "strike". This corresponds to Julius Pokorny’s *bher-(3), “scrape, cut.” Ordinarily *bh- descends to Greek as ph-. This difficulty can be overcome by presuming a dissimilation from the –th– in perthein; that is, the Greeks preferred not to say *pherthein.

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 ==Etymology==
-Because of the obscurity of the name and the legendary character of its bearer, most etymologists pass it by, on the presumption that it might be pre-Greek. However, the name of Perseus’ native city was Greek and so were the names of his wife and relatives. There is some prospect that it descended into Greek from [[Indo-european]]. In that regard Robert Graves has espoused the only Greek derivation available.
+Because of the obscurity of the name and the legendary character of its bearer, most etymologists pass it by, on the presumption that it might be pre-Greek. However, the name of Perseus’ native city was Greek and so were the names of his wife and relatives. There is some prospect that it descended into Greek from Indo-european. In that regard Robert Graves has espoused the only Greek derivation available.
 Perseus might be from the ancient Greek verb, perthein, “to waste, ravage, sack, destroy”, some form of which appears in Homeric epithets. According to [[Carl Darling Buck]] (“Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin”), the –eus suffix is typically used to form an agent noun, in this case from the aorist stem, pers-. Pers-eus therefore is a man who habitually sacks cities; that is, a soldier by occupation, a fitting name for the first Mycenaean warrior.
-The origin of perth- is more obscure. J. B. Hofman ("Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Griechischen") lists the possible root as *bher-, from which Latin ferio, "strike". This corresponds to [[Julius Pokorny]]’s *bher-(3), “scrape, cut.” Ordinarily *bh- descends to Greek as ph-. This difficulty can be overcome by presuming a dissimilation from the –th– in perthein; that is, the Greeks preferred not to say *pherthein.
+The origin of perth- is more obscure. J. B. Hofman ("Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Griechischen") lists the possible root as *bher-, from which Latin ferio, "strike". This corresponds to Julius Pokorny’s *bher-(3), “scrape, cut.” Ordinarily *bh- descends to Greek as ph-. This difficulty can be overcome by presuming a dissimilation from the –th– in perthein; that is, the Greeks preferred not to say *pherthein.
 Graves carries the meaning still further, to the Perse- in [[Persephone]], goddess of death. John Chadwick in the second edition of “Documents in Mycenaean Greek” speculates as follows about the goddess pe-re-*82 of [[Pylos]] tablet Tn 316, tentatively reconstructed as Preswa:
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 The Greeks made a folk-etymologic connection with the name of the Fars people, whom they called the Persai. The native name, however has always had an -a- in Iranian. [[Herodotus]] (7.61) recounts this story, devising a foreign son, Perses, from whom the Persians took name. Apparently the Persians themselves (Herodotus 7.150) knew the story, as [[Xerxes]] tried to use it to suborn the Argives during his ill-fated invasion of Greece.
 ==Other connections==

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 ==Marriage with Andromeda==
-On the way back to Seriphos, Perseus stopped in [[Aethiopia]] (not to be confused with Ethiopia, the modern name for [[Axum]]), ruled by King [[Cepheus]] and Queen Cassiopeia.  Cassiopeia, having boasted herself equal in beauty to the [[Nereids]], drew down the vengeance of [[Poseidon]], who sent an inundation on the land and a sea-monster, [[Cetus]], which destroyed man and beast. The oracle of Ammon having announced that no relief would be found until the king exposed his daughter [[Andromeda]] to the monster, she was fastened to a rock on the shore. Here Perseus, returning from having slain the gorgon, found her, slew the monster, set her free, and married her in spite of [[Phineus]], to whom she had before been promised. At the wedding a quarrel took place between the rivals, and Phineus was turned to stone by the sight of the Gorgon's head (Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' v. 1). Andromeda followed her husband to [[Tiryns]] in [[Argos]], and became the ancestress of the family of the [[Perseidae]] through Perseus' and Andromeda's son, [[Perses]]. After her death she was placed by Athena amongst the constellations in the northern sky, near Perseus and Cassiopeia. [[Sophocles]] and [[Euripides]] (and in more modern times [[Pierre Corneille|Corneille]]) made the story the subject of tragedies, and its incidents were represented in numerous ancient works of art.
+On the way back to Seriphos, Perseus stopped in Aethiopia (not to be confused with Ethiopia, the modern name for [[Axum]]), ruled by King [[Cepheus]] and Queen Cassiopeia.  Cassiopeia, having boasted herself equal in beauty to the [[Nereids]], drew down the vengeance of [[Poseidon]], who sent an inundation on the land and a sea-monster, [[Cetus]], which destroyed man and beast. The oracle of Ammon having announced that no relief would be found until the king exposed his daughter [[Andromeda]] to the monster, she was fastened to a rock on the shore. Here Perseus, returning from having slain the gorgon, found her, slew the monster, set her free, and married her in spite of [[Phineus]], to whom she had before been promised. At the wedding a quarrel took place between the rivals, and Phineus was turned to stone by the sight of the Gorgon's head (Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' v. 1). Andromeda followed her husband to [[Tiryns]] in [[Argos]], and became the ancestress of the family of the [[Perseidae]] through Perseus' and Andromeda's son, [[Perses]]. After her death she was placed by Athena amongst the constellations in the northern sky, near Perseus and Cassiopeia. [[Sophocles]] and [[Euripides]] (and in more modern times Corneille) made the story the subject of tragedies, and its incidents were represented in numerous ancient works of art.
 On returning to Seriphos and discovering his mother had had to take refuge from the violent advances of Polydectes, Perseus killed him with Medusa's head, and made Dictys king.

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 For such a heroic quest, a divine helper would be necessary, and for a long time Perseus wandered aimlessly, without hope of ever finding the gorgons or of being able to accomplish his mission should he do so.
-According to the iconography of the vase-painters, the gods [[Hermes]] and [[Athena]] came to his rescue.  They did not know the way themselves, being of a younger generation of deities, but they knew ancient ones who would know; they led him to the [[Graeae]], sisters of the gorgons, three perpetually old women with one eye and tooth among them.  Perseus snatched the eye at the moment they were blindly passing it from one to another and would not return it until they had given him directions.  He also received winged sandals, a magic wallet (''kibisis''), the cap of [[Hades]] that made one invisible, an adamantine sickle such as the one that reaped the genitals of [[Uranus]], and a mirrored shield.  With all this, "Like a wild boar he entered the cave" ([[Aeschylus]], ''The Phorkides'' {{ref|Phorkides}}), where he came upon the sleeping gorgons.  By viewing Medusa's reflection in his shield he could safely approach and cut off her head, while using the mirrored shield, subsequently turning her to stone.  The other two gorgons pursued him, but in his cap of invisibility he escaped.
+According to the iconography of the vase-painters, the gods [[Hermes]] and [[Athena]] came to his rescue.  They did not know the way themselves, being of a younger generation of deities, but they knew ancient ones who would know; they led him to the [[Graeae]], sisters of the gorgons, three perpetually old women with one eye and tooth among them.  Perseus snatched the eye at the moment they were blindly passing it from one to another and would not return it until they had given him directions.  He also received winged sandals, a magic wallet (''kibisis''), the cap of [[Hades]] that made one invisible, an adamantine sickle such as the one that reaped the genitals of [[Uranus]], and a mirrored shield.  With all this, "Like a wild boar he entered the cave" ([[Aeschylus]], ''The Phorkides'', where he came upon the sleeping gorgons.  By viewing Medusa's reflection in his shield he could safely approach and cut off her head, while using the mirrored shield, subsequently turning her to stone.  The other two gorgons pursued him, but in his cap of invisibility he escaped.
 ==Marriage with Andromeda==

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 ==The Perseids==
-Perseus and Andromeda had seven sons: [[Perses]], [[Alcaeus]], [[Heleus]], [[Mestor]], [[Sthenelus]], [[Electryon]] and [[Cynurus]], and two daughters, [[Gorgophone]] and [[Autochthoe]]. Perses was left in [[Ethiopia|Aethiopia]] and became ancestor of the emperors of [[Persian Empire|Persia]], which etiologizes the similarity of the country's name and Perseus', as is mentioned above. The other descendants ruled Mycenae from [[Electryon]] down to [[Eurystheus]], after whom [[Atreus]] got the kingdom. However, the Perseids included the great hero, [[Heracles]], son of [[Amphitryon]], son of [[Alcaeus]]. The Heraclides, or descendants of Heracles,  successfully contested the rule of the Atreids.
+Perseus and Andromeda had seven sons: [[Perses]], [[Alcaeus]], [[Heleus]], [[Mestor]], [[Sthenelus]], [[Electryon]] and [[Cynurus]], and two daughters, [[Gorgophone]] and [[Autochthoe]]. Perses was left in Aethiopia and became ancestor of the emperors of Persia, which etiologizes the similarity of the country's name and Perseus', as is mentioned above. The other descendants ruled Mycenae from [[Electryon]] down to [[Eurystheus]], after whom [[Atreus]] got the kingdom. However, the Perseids included the great hero, [[Heracles]], son of [[Amphitryon]], son of [[Alcaeus]]. The Heraclides, or descendants of Heracles,  successfully contested the rule of the Atreids.
 A statement by the Athenian orator, [[Isocrates]] (4.07) helps to date Perseus roughly. He said that Heracles was four generations later than Perseus, which corresponds to the legendary succession: Perseus, [[Electryon]], [[Alcmene|Alcmena]], and [[Heracles]], who was a contemporary of [[Eurystheus]]. [[Atreus]] was one generation later, a total of five generations. Taking 1223 as the start of Atreus'reign and assuming an average generation of 25 years brings the date for the start of Perseus'reign to about 1373, which is roughly consistent with the archaeology.

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 Perseus was the son of [[Danae]], who by her very name was the very type and representative of all the [[Danaans]] (Kerenyi 1959:45), and the only grandchild of [[Acrisius]] king of [[Argos]]. Disappointed by his lack of male heirs, Acrisius consulted the [[oracle]] at [[Delphi]], which warned him that, fated to remain without a son himself, one day he would be killed by his daughter's child. Danae was childless and, meaning to keep her so, he shut her up in a brazen chamber underground: this mytheme is also connected to [[Ares]], [[Oenopion]], [[Eurystheus]], etc. But [[Zeus]] came to her in the form of a shower of gold, and impregnated her. Soon after, their child Perseus was born.
-Fearful for his future but unwilling to provoke the wrath of the gods by killing his offspring, Acrisius cast the two into the sea in a wooden chest (compare the mythemes of [[Osiris]], [[Moses]] etc...). Danae's fearful prayer afloat in the darkness has been expressed by the poet [[Simonides of Ceos]]. They washed ashore on the island of [[Seriphos]], where they were taken in by the fisherman [[Dictys]], who raised the boy to manhood. The brother of Dictys was [[Polydectes]], the king in the island.
+Fearful for his future but unwilling to provoke the wrath of the gods by killing his offspring, Acrisius cast the two into the sea in a wooden chest. Danae's fearful prayer afloat in the darkness has been expressed by the poet [[Simonides of Ceos]]. They washed ashore on the island of [[Seriphos]], where they were taken in by the fisherman [[Dictys]], who raised the boy to manhood. The brother of Dictys was [[Polydectes]], the king in the island.
 ==Adventures with the Gorgons==