Ancient Greece has existed for a very long time, and it seems that only a few people who like to study the Ancient World and everything connected with it, including ancient Greek mythology, show interest in it. However, if you look in more detail, you can see what influence Ancient Greece had on the development of civilization, manifesting itself in various forms of art.
The origin of myths about ancient Greece
A myth is a set of stories that were important for the culture, life, and development of man. It is difficult to prove whether the story really was, but also impossible to refute. From the ancient Greek language, “myth” means “tradition”, “legend”, and therefore, this is a story that carries a certain meaning - to convey to a person an idea or teach him something.
Legends about ancient Greece began to take shape even before the advent of writing, and therefore were passed from mouth to mouth. The narration was about the life of the Greeks and fictional heroes who performed feats, which the people admired. They had a higher power, regardless of whether it was Zeus, who was the main among all, or Heracles, who performed the feats known to everyone, or the god Perseus, who was half god, half man, but also distinguished by strength and cunning.
The scheme of mythology of ancient Greece
It is worth briefly saying that all mythology was divided into three stages: pre-Olympic (the world came from Chaos and ended with the assassination of Crohn, the main of the gods), Olympic (Zeus seizes power with his retinue of 12 gods) and heroic (a time when from the gods and heroes are born to mortals, including the god Perseus).
All gods can be divided into supreme and secondary. Separately, there were muses that inspired the gods, and also singled out lower beings (satyrs, nymphs and orors, and monsters with which the heroes were to fight).
Gods and goddesses of ancient Greek mythology
With the help of mythology and created, invented gods, the ancient Greeks tried to explain all the events that took place, be it a hurricane, heavy rain or disease.
At first, people represented the gods in the form of terrible animals that prevented them from living well. From here came characters like the Medusa of the Gorgon, the Sphinx, or the Lernean Hydra. Further, the images became with human faces and such Greek gods appeared: Perseus, Aphrodite, Zeus, Hephaestus, Demeter and many others. In addition to the fact that the gods had human faces, people also attributed to them qualities (pity, mercy, envy, jealousy). The gods became immortal and communicated with people, and often entered into love relationships.
Perseus: son of Zeus and Danai
Perseus was born despite all the barriers. Once Danai’s father was predicted that he would die at the hands of his own grandson. He had to lock his daughter in a tower so that she could not fall in love with anyone, and her ferocious dogs guarded her. But in spite of everything, Danae was still able to give birth to a son and named him Perseus. Whose son from the gods in mythology was he, and how was he able to be born?
Zeus was able to overcome all the barriers, having come to Danae in a very original way, in the form of a golden rain, and it was from him that she gave birth to a son Perseus. Father Danai could not survive this and decided to destroy his daughter and grandson, put them in a wooden box and threw them into the sea. Danae and Perseus were lucky, a fisherman saved them and took them to his brother Polydect, where they stayed to live.
The Perseus Myth
Perseus, along with his mother, lived for a long time with Polydect, who once wanted to make Danay by force his wife. However, the matured Perseus was against this and directly expressed his word. Then Polydect, for averting eyes, said that he would marry another, and Perseus was clearly delighted and ready to make any gift, “if necessary, then the head of the Medusa of the Gorgon,” he said out loud.
Hearing these words, Polydect sent Perseus behind his head, hoping to get rid of him forever. The goddess Athena decided to help Perseus in this battle, since the Jellyfish were her sworn enemies (Gorgon and her two sisters). Athena presented Perseus with a polished shield to which she was supposed to look, killing Medusa, otherwise, if he looked into her eyes, he would be petrified by her gaze.
Hermes also came to the rescue, who gave the adamant sickle, it was they who were to cut off the head of Gorgon. Also, the god Perseus asked for winged sandals, which brought him to the place, a bag for storing the head of Medusa and an invisible hat. Thanks to her, he escaped from the Gorgon sisters after her beheading.
Perseus and Andromeda
Perseus traveled the world for a long time with the head of Medusa the Gorgon, and once stopped in Ethiopia, where in the distance he saw a naked girl who was attached to a rock by chains. Perseus immediately fell in love with her - Andromeda, who was the daughter of Kefey and Cassiopeia. But the sea god Poseidon brought misfortune to the kingdom of Cepheus, and one could be saved from these troubles only by sacrificing Andromeda, which the sea monster was soon to swallow.
Perseus demanded from Kepheus that if he freed her daughter, he would allow him to marry her. Perseus put on his invisible hat, took the sickle of Hermes, killed the monster and freed his future wife. Later a big feast was arranged and the wedding took place. However, the parents did not want this wedding, since they had long promised their daughter to Kefey the brother. So Brother Phineus burst into the wedding, and the battle began. Only due to the fact that Perseus had the head of Medusa, he could destroy enemies in one fell swoop, turning them into stone.
Reign of perseus
Perseus and Andromeda returned to the island of Serif, where Polydect with his faithful jurors feasted, while mother Perseus took refuge in the temple from violence. Perseus said that he had fulfilled his promise and showed the head of Medusa, at that moment Polydect and all his subjects were petrified.
Together with his mother and his wife, Perseus returned to his homeland. When Father Danai learned that his grandson was alive, he was out of sight. But his prophecy overtook where he did not expect this. During athletic games, Perseus threw a disc that hit Grandfather Acrisius in the leg, and he died from this wound. God Perseus was very worried about this and decided to swap kingdoms with his uncle Megapent, he went to rule in Tiryns, where he built the city of Mycenae and continued to rule there for many years.
The image of Perseus in art
Ancient Greece undoubtedly had a great influence on the development of culture throughout the world. It manifests itself in various fields, whether it is painting, sculpture or literature. Each god is given a lot of attention, including the image of Perseus can be found in various forms of art.
This is not to say that Perseus is the god of something (air, fire, water or another natural phenomenon). He is represented as a hero who defeated monsters, and he was a demigod, born of the god Zeus and mortal Danai.
Since ancient times, mention of it is found in art. So you can see a picture of Rembrandt, dedicated to his mother Danae. Many works glorify the act of Perseus when he chopped off the head of Medusa Gorgone, as described by Rubens and Caravaggio.
The sculpture “Titan Atlas” tells that Perseus, who, like Hercules, was the son of Zeus, flew to visit Atlant once. The goddess Themis predicted Atlanta that he would die at the hands of the son of Zeus, and he thought it would be Perseus, and did not receive him, but drove him away sharply, for which Perseus showed him the head of Medusa and turned it into a stone statue.
Several paintings also narrate about the meeting and rescue of Andromeda: the artist Rubens and J. Vasari created canvases dedicated to this event.