After an oracle warned king of Argos Acrisius that his daughter’s son would kill him, he imprisoned her in a bronze bunker. However, Danae, his daughter, became pregnant when Zeus visited her in the form of “golden rain” (192). Unwilling to kill his daughter and grandson (Perseus) directly, Acrisius locked them in a chest and set it out to sea. After washing ashore on an island, Danae and Perseus were cared for by kindly fisherman Dictys and his wife. Having fallen in love with Danae, the island’s ruler Polydectes contrived to get rid of Perseus by manipulating him into promising to bring him the head of Medusa, the mortal snake-haired Gorgon.

After visiting oracles at Delphi and Dodona, Perseus encountered Hermes, who advised him. First Perseus visited the Gray Women for directions to find the nymphs of the North, who gave him three essential gifts: winged sandals, “a magic wallet” that conformed to the size of whatever it needed to contain, and a cap that rendered the wearer invisible (197). Hermes gifted him an impervious sword and Athena a shield in which he could see Medusa’s reflection without being turned to stone. Hermes guided him to the Gorgons, and Athena guided his sword to strike the fatal blow.