Chapter 10, Perseus and Bellerophontes: Part 1
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♠ Pindar, Pythian 12.14-15
he [Perseus] repaid Polydectes with a deadly wedding-present for the long [15] slavery of his mother and her forced bridal bed. Greek Text
♠ Palatine Anthology 3.11 – Greek Anthology, ed. W.R. Paton, vol. 1, pp. 100-101. Cambridge, Mass. 1916.
In 11, Polydektes, king of the Seriphians, petrified by Perseus with the head of the Gorgon after sending him off for the sake of marriage with his mother, received himself, by the providence of Justice, the very death which he devised to happen to another:
Even you, Polydektes, dared to pollute the couch of Danae, repaying Zeus with infamous bedding; for which Perseus unleashed here the eyes of the Gorgon, stoneworking your limbs, pleasing his mother. (Transl. Silvio Curtis) Greek Text and English translation
♠ Hyginus, Fabulae 63
He [Dictys] took them to King Polydectes, who married Danaë and brought up Perseus in the temple of Minerva. When Acrisius discovered they were staying at Polydectes’ court, he started out to get them, but at his arrival Polydectes interceded for them, and Perseus swore an oath to his grandfather that he would never kill him. When Acrisius was detained there by a storm, Polydectes died, and at his funeral games the wind blew a discus from Perseus’ hand at Acrisius’ head which killed him. Latin Text
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Edited by Silvio Curtis, Teaching assistant, Department of Classics, Univ. of Georgia, spring 2014.
Updated by Elena Bianchelli, Retired Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, May 2023.
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