Читать книгу The Herodotus Encyclopedia - Группа авторов - Страница 74

CHRISTOPHER BARON

University of Notre Dame

Legendary king of ARGOS and father of DANAË (6.53.2). In Greek mythology, Acrisius received an ORACLE that his grandson would kill him. He imprisoned his daughter, but ZEUS visited her as a golden shower and PERSEUS was born. After Perseus had come of age and killed the Gorgons, he sought out his grandfather and found him at LARISSA in THESSALY. Acrisius died when he was struck by a discus throw from Perseus (apparently unintentionally) during an athletic competition (Pherecydes BNJ 3 FF 10–12; Gantz, EGM 299–303).

In his discussion of the Spartan kingship, Herodotus reports that the Greeks trace that lineage back to Perseus. He then emphasizes that the ancestors of Perseus, through Danaë and Acrisius, were Egyptians, according to both the Greeks and the Persians (6.53–54). Herodotus’ tone, however, might be taken to indicate that he swims against the tide here (see Scott 2005, 227–30).

SEE ALSO: Egypt; Myth; Source Citations; Sparta