Perseus and Bellerophon

I. Names to Remember

Bellerophon, Chimera, Pegasus, Danaïds
Danaë, Acrisius, Argos, Tiryns, Perseus, Graeae, 
Gorgons, Medusa, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Ethiopia

II. Lecture Outline

1. The Danaïds (Daughters of Danaüs)
1. Descendants of Io
   
2. Brothers: Danaüs rules Libya; Aegyptus rules Egypt
   
3. Danaüs moves to Argos with his fifty daughters (Danaïds)
   • Aegyptus' fifty sons woo them, are killed by the Danaïds on wedding night
   • Danaïds punished in underworld: endless labor (filling leaky basin with water)
     
   • One Danaïd, Hypermestra, spares her husband, Lynceus
     
   • Their grandsons = twins Proetus and Acrisius
   • Acrisius rules Argos, Proetus rules Tiryns
2. Bellerophon
1. Grandson of Sisyphus, king of Corinth
2. B. is exiled from Corinth and comes to Proetus at Tiryns
• Sthenoboea, wife of king Proetus, falls in love with him
• Rebuffed, she accuses him of seduction/rape
3. B. is sent away to the King of Lycia (S.'s father) 
• B. delivers a sealed letter that orders the King to kill the person delivering it
  
• The king orders B. to kill the Chimera (goat/lion/snake)
4. B. rides the winged horse Pegasus (given to him by Athena)
5. He kills the Chimera and marries king's daughter
6. Tries to fly to Olympus; falls to earth and dies an outcast
   
3. Perseus
   1. In Argos, Acrisius receives prophecy that his grandson will kill him
   2. Imprisons unmarried daughter Danaë to prevent pregnancy
      • Zeus comes in a shower of gold; Perseus is born
        
   3. Acrisius puts D. and Perseus in a box and throws it in the sea
   4. D. and P. wash ashore on the island of Seriphos, 
   5. Polydectes, king of island, falls in love with Danaë
      • Sends Perseus to fetch a Gorgon's Head
   6. Hermes and Athena send P. to the Graeae
      • One eye and tooth for three sisters
      • In exchange for eye, they send P. to nymphs for magic items
      • Winged Sandals; Helmet of Invisibility; Magic Pouch
      • Hermes gives him the falx - curved sword  or sickle
        
   7. P. cuts off the head of Medusa (the only mortal of the three Gorgon sisters)
   • Medusa had been raped by Poseidon and impregnated
   • From her corpse, the winged horse Pegasus is born
   • NOTE! Perseus does NOT ride Pegasus
     
   8. Petrification of Atlas
      
      • Atlas Mountains, Morocco
   9. Andromeda
      • Her mother Cassiopeia, the Ethiopian Queen, is too boastful
      • As punishment a sea monster terrorizes the Ethiopian coast
      • Perseus kills monster, marries Andromeda
   10. Phineus vs. Perseus
       • Former suitor Phineus and his friends crash the wedding party
       • Perseus uses Medusa's head to turn them into stone
   11. Final Episodes
       • On Seriphos, Perseus uses Medusa's head to petrify Polydectes
       • Perseus goes back to Argos as heir to the throne of Acrisius
       • Acrisius flees because of the prophecy
       • At athletic games, Perseus inadvertently kills Acrisius with discus
   12. Heroic Quest narrative: see chart here
       

III. Images

1. Chimera. Etruscan bronze from Arezzo, Italy, 5th-4th c. BCE. Berlin.
2. Bellerophon, Pegasus, and the Chimera. Laconian Black-figure kylix, attributed to the Boread painter, c. 570-565 BCE. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu.
3. The Danaides. J.W. Waterhouse, 1906. Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum.
4. Danae on her bed beneath the golden rain (Zeus). Attic Red-figure kalyx krater by the Triptolemos Painter, c. 490-480 BCE. St. Petersburg.
5. *Danae. Titian, c. 1560. Kunsthistorische Museum, Vienna.
6. Danae. Gustav Klimt, 1907-1908. Private collection, Graz.
7. Danae and Perseus. Danae Painter, c. 450 - 440 BCE. Attic hydria. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
8. The Arming of Perseus (unfinished). Sir Edward Burne-Jones, 1885. Private collection.
9. Medusa. Giancarlo Bernini. Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome.
10. *Medusa. Caravaggio, 1598. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
11. Perseus, attended by Athena, slaying the Gorgon Medusa, c. 560 - 550 BCE. Metope, Temple C at Selinus (Selinunte). Museo Archeologico, Palermo.
12. The Birth of Pegasus and Chrysaor from the blood of Medusa. Sir Edward Burne-Jones, 1876-1885. Southampton City Art Gallery.
13. *Perseus. Benvenuto Cellini, 1545-1554. Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence
14. Perseus Carrying the Head of Medusa. Antonio Canova, 1804-1808. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
15. Perseus Freeing Andromeda. Piero di Cosimo, 1515. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
16. Perseus and Andromeda. Charles-Antoine Coypel, c. 1726-1727. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
17. The Baleful Head. Sir Edward Burne-Jones, 1886-1887. (Perseus showing Andromeda the head of Medusa in a reflecting pool in a garden.) Staatgalerie, Stuttgart.
18. Perseus turning Phineus to Stone. Luca Giordano, c. 1680. National Gallery, London.