Perseus was the son of a mortal woman princess Danae and god Zeus. To save his mother from marrying the king Polydectes, he was ordered to kill the gorgon Medusa.To help him with this task, Zeus sent both Athena and Hermes to meet Perseus and provide him with the special tools to kill Medusa.
Athena decided to give him a polished magic shield and Hermes, god of travel and a pair of winged sandals. Hephaestus, god of blacksmiths gave him a sword and Hades, god of the underworld, gave him a cap of invisibility. With these special tools Perseus was ready and headed to Medusa’s island.
Medusa was one of three gorgon sisters. She was the only mortal one. Medusa was so beautiful that Poseidon was madly in love with her. Unfortunately, she didn’t care about him. Poseidon was furious and turned her and her sisters into monsters with live snakes coming out of their heads. Medusa kept her pretty face but everything else was so monstrous. Whoever looked into her face ended up being turned into stone.
When he cut Medusa’s head off, from the drops of her blood appeared two creatures: Pegasus, a winged horse, and Chrysaor, a winged boar. It’s believed that those two were Medusa’s children with Poseidon.Once he accomplished his task Perseus ran away using his winged sandals and escaped Medusa’s sisters who chased him down.
He successfully returned to Seriphos to rescue his mother and used Medusa’s head to turn king Polydectes to stone. Later, Perseus used Medusa’s head as a weapon in many situations until he gave the head to Athena to place it on her shield.
