Danae

Danae was the daughter of King Acrisius of Argos and Queen Eurydice, in Greek mythology, and the mother of the hero Perseus by Zeus. Her father, warned by an oracle that his daughter’s son would kill him, shut her away, but Zeus reached her in the form of golden rain. She and her baby were then cast into the sea in a chest and came ashore on Seriphus.

Family

According to Apollodorus, Acrisius, the king of Argos, had a daughter Danae by Eurydice, a daughter of Lacedaemon (Apollodorus, Library 2.2.2). Danae is the mother of Perseus, whom Zeus himself names among the women he has loved when he speaks to Hera in Homer (Iliad 14.319–320). Acrisius had a twin brother, Proetus, with whom he had quarreled for the throne since before birth (Library 2.2.1).

The Oracle and the Brazen Chamber

Acrisius was disappointed that he had no sons to give his throne, and asked an oracle how he might get male children. The god answered that his daughter would give birth to a son who would kill him. To prevent this, Acrisius built a brazen chamber under the ground and guarded Danae there (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.1). Sophocles recalls how Danae, though of noble birth, endured having to exchange the light of heaven for brass-bound walls, in a chamber that was both tomb and bridal bed, where she kept the seed of Zeus that fell in a shower of gold (Sophocles, Antigone 944–950).

Danae and Zeus

In the best-known version, Zeus came to Danae in the form of a stream of gold that poured through the roof into her lap (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.1). Apollodorus also preserves a different account, that Danae was seduced by Proetus, which was the cause of the quarrel between the brothers; in that version there is no divine father (Library 2.4.1). A child, Perseus, was born.

The Chest and Seriphus

When Acrisius learned that Danae had a child, he would not believe that Zeus was the father. He put his daughter and the baby in a chest and threw it into the sea. The chest was washed ashore on the island of Seriphus, and Dictys, who found it, took the boy up and brought him up (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.1). Dictys was a brother of Polydectes, the king of the island; the two were sons of Magnes (Library 1.9.6).

Polydectes fell in love with Danae, but now that Perseus was grown up he could not get access to her. So he called his friends together, Perseus among them, saying that he was collecting contributions toward a wedding gift for Hippodamia, daughter of Oenomaus. Perseus said that he would not refuse even the head of the Gorgon; Polydectes asked the others for horses, and since Perseus brought none, ordered him to fetch the Gorgon’s head. Perseus succeeded with the help of Hermes and Athena (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.2–3). Perseus returned to find that Danae and Dictys had taken refuge at the altars from Polydectes’ violence. He entered the palace where Polydectes had gathered his friends, held up the Gorgon’s head with averted face, and turned them all to stone. Perseus then made Dictys king of Seriphus (Library 2.4.3).

The Fulfilment of the Oracle

Perseus now hurried to Argos with Danae and his wife Andromeda to see Acrisius. But Acrisius, learning of this and dreading the oracle, left Argos for the Pelasgian land. Perseus came to Larissa, where its king, Teutamides, was holding athletic games in honor of his dead father; in the pentathlon, Perseus threw the discus and struck Acrisius on the foot, killing him at once. Perseus buried his grandfather outside the city. Ashamed to claim the inheritance of the man he had killed, he exchanged kingdoms with Megapenthes, son of Proetus: Megapenthes ruled Argos and Perseus ruled Tiryns, fortifying Midea and Mycenae (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.4).

Danae in Italy

Virgil gives Danae a later home in Italy. In the Aeneid, Ardea, the city of the Rutulians, is said to have been founded by Danae with her Argive colonists, who had been carried there by the south wind (Virgil, Aeneid 7.408–411). None of these accounts tells how Danae died.

Danae Sources

Apollodorus, Library 1.9.6, 2.2.1–2 and 2.4.1–4; Homer, Iliad 14.319–320; Sophocles, Antigone 944–950; Virgil, Aeneid 7.408–411.

See Also: Acrisius, Perseus, Eurydice, Zeus, Medusa, Polydectes, Andromeda