#perseus

[thereinart]

I did a Danaé mini comic cause my heart aches for her

Hope you like it :3

[pumpkindevourer]

Not at all..

I’m one in a krillion

We ask your questions anonymously so you don’t have to! Submissions are open on the 1st and 15th of the month.

[dobl3b]

"Perseus with Minerva Showing the Head of Medusa", by Jean-Marc Nattier (1718)

[sarafangirlart]

Crazy how Perseus doesn’t have a single myth where he cheats on Andromeda, even bizarre late Roman/medieval sources don’t have him cheat they either say their OC child of Perseus is Andromeda’s child too or they don’t mention a mother at all. There isn’t even a myth where he loved a woman before Andromeda, Hermes may have had a thing for Perseus but it’s rather vague. Even Bellerophon has Asteria, tho tbf it’s from a late source and he could’ve been with her before marrying Philonoe.

[joana-de-artes]

Perseus and Andromeda, very young and very early into their happy marriage

I'm really happy with Andromeda's design, I think she turned out very cute! She's based on the depictions of Nubians in ancient Egyptian artwork

[beautiful-contrast]

Perseus with the Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini, Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence - Italy

[galusandmalus]

oh shit age accurate perseus jumpscare wtf

lmao yeah i always forget hes like a teenager when he finds medusa lmao this mf jumpscared me

150BC-50BC gee britian museum give me some more info would you damn

[aliciavance4228]

I've been thinking about this for a while... the Trojan War took place about at least one century after Perseus killed Medusa. He was dead, which means that his image probably already started to become distant and vague, and he began to be viewed as a legend rather than a person. He founded Mycenae on top of that and became the ancestor of many other heroes or important figures, thus building an entire legacy.

I cannot help but wonder wheter or not the people from that mythological timeline idealized him and viewed him as a symbol of greatness and masculinity, as the ultimate image of a hero that must be achieved above anything else. After all, Alexander the Great idealized the shit out of Achilles and wanted to become like him as well, without understanding him to begin with.

Speaking of Achilles though, one major aspect that should be pointed out is the misinterpretation of said heroic image. I bet people would've talked about Perseus as the demigod son of Zeus who gloriously fought Medusa and then eventually became king, but don't go too much into details and point out that he did everything in order to save his mother from an unwanted marriage above it all. Most of the original heroes had noble purposes, and sought justice above wealth, glory or fame at the time when they achieved their greatest deeds. Achilles, on the other hand, found meaning in his role as a warrior and felt purposeless whenever this role was questioned. He became easily vulnerable when his pride was crushed and did a lot of reckless things out of ego rather than strenght. He wasn't able to seek anything meaningful beyond fame and glory, which should technically make people realize that the real tragedy of this man was the emptiness of his character.

So I'm wondering wheter or not Achilles heard stories and legends about Perseus back when he was little, but instead of understanding him he only took the heroic image of Perseus, whom he then romanticized to the point of not only loving, but also identifying with it, thus misinterpreting the real meaning behind it instead of asking himself how did Perseus remained one of the few heroes who had a happy ending in the first place.

It becomes even more interesting once you go deeper into their different philosophies and perceptions on their actions. For instance, this is a line from Euripides' Andromeda:

In other words, Perseus had a "Karma" type of mentality: Both good and bad luck are consequences of your previous actions. And this type of mentality specifically, as simply as it may seem, actually means a lot considering the fact that all the people Perseus harmed deserved it in one way or another. And most of the heroes who haven't considered the consequences of their own actions, including Achilles, are those who ended up having a tragic ending.

And yet the way they two are perceived by the modern people speaks to itself. Perseus is generally presented as this flawless, unidimensional Mary Sue-kind of hero who is here to save the entire world, which is perhaps part of the reason why a lot of people with a surfface-level of knowledge in Greek Mythology developed an unnecessary hatred towards him, due to his non-relatability. Achilles, on the other hand, ended up being admired less for his warrior persona and more for his complexity (and bisexuality) that are highlighted in pieces of Media such as The Song of Achilles. However, this approach that is supposed to be more nuanced leads to Achilles having his flaws getting glamorized, and ultimately encourages a romanticized perception on his destructive behaviors. He ends up becoming a toxic idol, whereas Perseus becomes an unachievable pattern of heroism. What both of them have in common though is misinterpretation: possibly of Perseus' character by Achilles, but surely of both of their characters by the modern audience.

[dream--interrupted]

Danaë&Perseus

[balu8]

Didier Tarquin: Perseus

[grecoromanyaoi]

had this idea to draw perseus & andromeda w andromeda as an ethiopian princess.

[officialspec]

characters for a comic idea im developing. like mother like daughter

[without-ado]

Atik, Omicron Persei in Perseus l Lee-Anne Gibbon

[kurzler]

psst. "feminist" retelling writers. yes, i'm talking to you. i have a gift for you: here are some interesting women from greek mythology that you can write about that are NOT medusa, persephone or clytemnestra! there ARE other women, shocking i know!

-medea: she literally killed her brother and her children, i thought "female rage" girlies would be all over her

-danae: her life is so crazy, imagine being imprisoned by you father, getting impregnated by a god, being locked in a box and left to die at sea and then basically becoming a hostage to a king while your son is sent to kill a monster. and she's one of the only ones who, to my knowledge, actually gets a happy ending!

-atalanta: basically the only female hero in greek mythology!! and she was an argonaut!! c'mon now there is so much potential here, why does nobody care for atalanta

-the amazons: penthesilea! hippolyta! literally any of them! you're telling me there is a whole society of female warriors and so called feminist writers aren't jumping at the opportunity??

-hecuba: such a tragic and interesting figure, being the queen of troy, she lost her whole family in the war, i wish more people explored her relationship with her children (especially paris) and apollo

-andromache: i'm shocked andromache isn't more popular with the "tragic female characters" people, she literally lost everything basically because of men

-cassandra: i know cassandra is fairly popular, but i love her so much and i want more people to explore her relationship with her family, every dynamic has the possibility to be SO interesting

-electra: this whole family is a MESS and yet i see people mainly focusing on clytemnestra (with iphigenia), but not exploring the relationship between electra and clytemnestra is such a missed opportunity

-helen: i just want the focus of her story to be shifted from paris to the other people in her life, like her daughter hermione! how did they rebuild their relationship after troy? or her sister clytemnestra! what happened to her bond after the murder of agamemnon? or her brothers, castor and pollux! there is so much untapped potential

-demeter: there is a story about a mother's grief for her daughter, her journey looking for her, her anger, and yet every retelling of the homeric hymn to DEMETER focuses HADES to make him a dark romance mafia boss?? come on

and more!

conclusion: i'm tired of seeing the same stories being retold over and over again when there are so many characters to explore

[sarafangirlart]

Perseus being the only hero to get a happy ending is interesting, tho I don’t think it’s necessarily bc he’s a good guy bc plenty of good ppl go through horrible things through no fault of their own in mythology, but it’s bc he was being smart with his actions, whenever he does something extreme like disrespecting a god or killing someone he always does something to make up for it, get good karma basically.

- Killing Polydectes: he kills his Polycectes followers too so they wouldn’t avenge him, puts Dictys in charge then leaves Seriphos for Argos. It’s not really explained why he leaves Seriphos but he probably guessed that things wouldn’t be quite the same after he killed so many ppl so he decided that leaving was the best option.

- Killing Cetus: now this one he was just kinda lucky, the nereids + Poseidon decided not to press charges for one reason or another, coincidentally both the nereids and Poseidon have myths where they rescue baby Perseus when he was in a box. But what Perseus does is make sacrifices for the gods, specifically Hermes, Athena and Zeus for helping him so if Poseidon chose to remain angry then the other gods would protect Perseus.

- Killing Acrisius: He doesn’t return Argos nor claim its throne out of guilt, instead he builds Acrisius a shrine and goes on to found a new kingdom.

- Fighting against Dionysus: Wether Perseus wins or they’re forced into a truce, Dionysus still gets what he wants and gets worshipped in Argos, but at least on Perseus’s terms… kinda… a little.

So it’s poetic that the one loose end Perseus doesn’t tie is with him killing Proetus, since it’s Proetus’s son Megapenthes who kills him to avenge his father.

[tinymusicalgeek]

Perseus vs Medusa

I don't know if anyone has pointed it out before, but i really like the parallel of Percy holding up Medusa's head the same way statue Perseus does.

Like, the ⭐️symbolism⭐️ of Medusa meeting the same exact fate, despite having her story rewritten and told.

And the foreshadowing of Percy becoming as great of a hero as his namesake.