2. Allen: "A title [for Perseus] popular at one time, and still seen, was the Rescuer, for, according to the story, Perseus, when under obligations to furnish a Gorgon's head to Polydectes, found the Sisters asleep at the Ocean; and using the shield of Minerva as a mirror, that he might not be petrified by Medusa's glance, cut off her head, which he then utilized in the rescue of Andromeda ..." "In Greek mythology, King Polydectes ... was the ruler of the island of Seriphos, son of Magnes and an unnamed naiad. Polydectes fell in love with Danaë when she and her son Perseus were saved by his brother Dictys ... Dictys was a fisherman and brother of King Polydectes of Seriphos, both being the sons of Magnes by a naiad. He discovered Danaë and Perseus inside a chest that had washed up on shore. He immediately fell in love with Danaë and wanted to marry her, but Danaë didn't want to marry him. He treated them well and raised Perseus as his own son ... Perseus was very protective of his mother and wouldn't allow Polydectes near Danaë. Therefore, Polydectes wanted to get rid of him so he could marry her. He thereby hatched a plot. Polydectes went under the pretence that he was going to marry Hippodamia, a princess from another land and ordered every man in Seriphos to supply him with suitable gifts. Perseus, however, could not afford an extravagant gift and turned up in the king's court empty handed. Polydectes jeered at the young lad and encouraged the rich nobles to do the same. This caused Perseus to speak up and pledge to get the king anything he desired. Polydectes then announced that he wanted nothing more than the head of the Gorgon, Medusa. Perseus agreed and Polydectes told him that he could not return to the island without it. Therefore Polydectes, unknowingly, sealed Perseus's fate to achieve a place in the Hall of Heroes. Perseus slew Medusa, supposedly avoiding her deadly gaze by using his shield as a mirror. When Perseus returned to Seriphos with the Gorgon's head, he found that, in his absence, his mother was threatened and abused by Polydectes, who made her work as a palace slave. Perseus was outraged and strode into the throne room where Polydectes and other nobles were convening. Polydectes was surprised that the hero was still alive and refused to believe Perseus had accomplished the deed he was sent out to do. Perseus professed that he did slay the Gorgon named Medusa (the only Gorgon who was mortal), and as proof, he revealed her severed head. When Polydectes and his nobles gazed upon the prize, they were then turned to solid stone." (Wikipedia) The mirror explains why Perseus must turn his back towards Medusa and in myth a mirror naturally and evidently must be a sign for reversal, e.g.: ... But the time of his predestined defeat by the dark brother, Tezcatlipoca, was ever approaching, and, knowing perfectly the rhythm of his own destiny, Quetzalcoatl would make no move to stay it. Tezcatlipoca, therefore, said to his attendants, 'We shall give him a drink to dull his reason and show him his own face in a mirror; then, surely, he will be lost' ... The reversal is here the change of rule from that of the Sun King to that of his dark brother ('The Smoking Mirror'). The intoxicating drink to dull his reason could be alcohol: '... The star that Ptolemy called ‘the bright one in the Gorgon head’ is Beta Persei, named Algol from the Arabic ra’s al-ghul meaning ‘the demon’s head’. (As an aside, al-ghul is also the origin of our word alcohol - quite literally ‘the demon drink’.) ... The expression 'stone drunk' has now been explained. The Gorgon sisters asleep at the edge of the Ocean could allude to the Pleiades, some of them above and some of them below 24º N:
The Gorgon sisters were 3 in number, not as many as the Pleiades sisters, but maybe we should count also the 3 'Grey Ones': ... The myth is that Perseus was sent to cut off the head of the snaky-locked Gorgon Medusa, a rival of the Goddess Athene, whose baleful look turned men into stone, and that he could not accomplish the task until he had gone to the three Graeae, 'Grey Ones', the three old sisters of the Gorgons who had only one eye and one tooth between them, and by stealing eye and tooth had blackmailed them into telling him where the grove of the Three Nymphs was to be found ... The 'Mortal' (Merope) is the lowest of the stars in the Pleiades, therefore she could be the same 'person' as the mortal Gorgon sister (Medusa). Maia and Asterope would then be equal to the pair of immortal Gorgons, and - we can guess - the 3 greyold sisters of the Gorgons (with only a single tooth and a single eye between them) would be the 3 first of the Pleiades sisters to rise. The last of the 6 'stones' to rise is Merope. However, Medusa (Algol) is not at the same place as Merope, they are 10 days and 17º apart:
Therefore they can hardly be the same 'person'. It is the structrue which is the same. If we count 2 + 2 = 4 oranges and then 2 + 2 = 4 bananas we cannot say that the oranges and the bananas are the same fruits. But by abstracting we can say that the operations are the same. |