The Mythology of Perseus in the Early Classical Period
„In two poems from the 490s, and one more of unknown date, Pindar focuses on Perseus’ actions after his return from his quest. …
The first treatment appears in two of Pindar’s epinician odes. Pythian 12 (490) describes the origin of the art which brought a pipe-player his victory – an art which Pallas Athena once invented by weaving together the dreadful lament of the fierce Gorgons; she heard it pouring forth from under the maidens’ unapproachable snaky heads in their labour, full of grief, when Perseus cried out, bringing the third part of the sisters as doom to sea-girt Seriphos and to its people. Indeed he blinded the awesome brood of Phorcys, and made wretched for Polydectes the feast, the strict enslavement of his mother, and the bed of compulsion, after cutting off the head of fair-cheeked Medusa – even Danaë’s son, whom we say was born from the flowing gold. Pindar, Pythian 12.11–18 The emphasis on Medusa’s beauty fits with a contemporary trend in visual art towards depicting her in that manner (p. 8 above). The description of Perseus’ exploit is immediately followed by the earliest reference both to his return to Seriphos and to the punishment of Polydectes for raping his mother, and of the people of Seriphos as a whole, presumably for supporting him; the brief reference to ‘the feast’ (something explained in surviving literature only in much later sources) implies his audience’s deeper knowledge of the myth. This mention is followed by a reference to Perseus’ origins, the first definite reference to the golden shower, …
Previously, in Pythian 10 (498), on mentioning the Hyperboreans, a mythical people dwelling in the distant north, Pindar describes how Perseus once came to them: Not on ships, nor by going on foot, could you find the wondrous way to the assembly of the Hyperboreans. Among whom Perseus, leader of the people, once dined when he came to their house, encountering them sacrificing splendid hecatombs of donkeys to the god; at whose feasts and words of praise in particular Apollo constantly rejoices, and laughs as he sees the beasts’ erect arrogance. … Breathing with his bold heart the son of Danaë once came, and Athena was leading, to the gathering of blessed men. He killed the Gorgon, and came bearing her speckled head, with its locks of serpents, as stony death to the islanders. For me nothing that the gods have accomplished ever seems to be unbelievable so as to create wonder. Pindar, Pythian 10.29–36, 44–50
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A third Pindaric treatment appears in Dithyramb 4, a poem of unknown date but which probably comes after the odes discussed above, since they were composed in the 490s and his career extended until at least 446: … was planning/planting for … mother … … and the bed of compulsion … trickery … … … The son of Cronus nodded assent … by necessity … … and the road of the immortals is long … … … was of concern to his father’s mind, … him, in his highest counsels. and from Olympus he dispatched to him Hermes of the golden wand … and the Grey-Eyed one, protector of cities. He brought it, and they saw things not to be seen … For indeed he brought about their utmost transformation; and they were manifested as stones instead of humans. … and he apportioned requital for passion to the general. Pindar, Dithyramb 4 = fr. 70d.14–18, 35–43 S–M
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References to Perseus occur in four other Pindaric poems, none datable. One is the poem of unknown genre in which Pindar cites Proetus’ rape of Danaë, just mentioned; this indicates that he dealt with her life before her arrival on Seriphos, something well attested in other sources of this period. A description of Perseus’ escape from the Gorgons is found in Dithyramb 1; although relatively brief in the preserved fragment, the introductory phrase (λέγοντι δὲ βροτοί, ‘and mortals report’) may suggest a subsequent correction to the myth, and thus more than casual engagement with it. In Isthmian 5 Perseus is a pre-eminent hero of Argos, on a par with the Oeneidae in Aetolia, Iolaus in Thebes, and Castor and Polydeuces in Sparta; in Nemean 10 ‘the deeds of Perseus concerning the Gorgon Medusa’ would take long to relate, the poet declares, again in a context praising Argos.
Tragedy, to be discussed in the next section, is also concerned with Perseus’ activities after his return; so are the visual arts. A handful of vases show Perseus’ confrontation with Polydectes. For instance, a red-figure pelike (wine-container) from Cerveteri, dating to c. 480 and signed by the painter Hermonax, shows Perseus revealing the Gorgon’s head, standing in front of a seated Polydectes. On the name vase of the Polydectes Painter, found in Bologna and dating to 450–440, the lower part of the seated Polydectes has already turned to stone as he sees the Gorgon’s head, held aloft by Perseus, who is standing in front of him; behind Perseus stands Athena, staring at Polydectes. The rape of Danaë is not depicted, however. The earlier part of the myth, before Perseus’ quest to kill Medusa, also begins to receive attention during this period, as the golden rain, and the construction of the chest, make their first appearances in art; ... Rain and chest are linked on a calyx-crater from Cerveteri, dated to c. 490–480 and attributed to the Triptolemus Painter, which on one side shows Danaë (named) lying on a couch as the golden shower falls into her lap, while on the other she descends into the chest while holding Perseus. Acrisius (named) looks on from her left, meeting her gaze, a staff symbolising authority in his left hand, his right arm outstretched in a gesture of farewell, or command; a carpenter busies himself to her right. The juxtaposition reveals the consequences of the mysterious shower, namely pregnancy and imprisonment; the undeserved nature of Danaë’s punishment, and her essential passivity, could scarcely be clearer.
Sometimes Danaë faces Acrisius alone on these vases; at other times she has female support. On a red-figure stamnos from c. 490, found at Cerveteri and attributed to the Eucharides Painter, Acrisius stands on the viewer’s left, the carpenter in front of him; on the far right stands a woman holding a baby, with one arm gingerly held out towards Acrisius, and in front of her, with both arms fully outstretched to implore the king’s mercy, stands another woman. The woman holding Perseus might be a nurse, the other one being Danaë; alternatively, Danaë holds Perseus, and her mother begs her husband on her behalf. This seems the more attractive interpretation, given both the strikingly direct manner in which the woman entreats the king, and the tendency for Danaë in other depictions to carry her baby son. A similar arrangement, albeit with a less remarkable entreaty, occurs on a contemporary red-figure hydria from southern Italy or Sicily attributed to the Gallatin Painter. One vase on which two supporting women are present is another red-figure hydria, from c. 440–430, from Cumae, name vase of the Danaë Painter. Three figures stand on the left, facing the chest containing Danaë and Perseus on the right: first Acrisius, then a woman, then a shorter woman, perhaps a girl. Whether the two women are Danaë’s mother and a nurse, or whether they are simply anonymous supporters of Danaë’s interposed between her and the cruel king to offer some feminine sympathy, is unclear.
A unique depiction on an oil-flask (lecythos) from c. 470 shows Danaë and Perseus in a chest, birds flying about them. This same moment had been the subject of a long lyric poem of Simonides (active late sixth/early fifth centuries), of which a substantial fragment survives, describing that early episode in Perseus’ life, through a speech delivered in his presence by his mother Danaë, when they are shut up in a chest tossing on the sea. The next stage in the chest’s adventure, its arrival on Seriphos, is the subject of four images from Attic red-figure vases from approximately 470–450. A bell krater shows a man wearing a short chiton, probably meant to be a fisherman, lifting the lid of the chest, from which emerge Danaë and Perseus, to be greeted by a different fisherman on the other side; a fragment attributed to the Karlsruhe Painter shows a man wearing a leather cap lifting a lid and looking at a female face; a fragment of a bell krater shows Polydectes on the left, wearing a cloak and carrying a sceptre, looking at Dictys, who assists Danaë as she steps out of the chest, carrying Perseus; a fragmentary pyxis (box) attributed to the Wedding Painter shows Danaë and Perseus being introduced by fisherman to Polydectes. … The mid-fifth century also sees a few depictions of Perseus’ first encounter with Andromeda, though now not during the conflict with the monster, but either during or after Andromeda’s binding.”
- Euripides and the Myth of Perseus. Two Lost Greek Tragedies Illuminated by a New Papyrus by P.J. Finglass