n.
In Greek mythology , the slayer of the Gorgon Medusa .
He was the son of Zeus and Danaë . His grandfather had him thrown into the sea in a chest with his mother as an infant because of a prophecy that Perseus would kill him. Perseus and his mother survived, and as a young man Perseus set out to gain the head of Medusa. On his way home he rescued the Ethiopian princess Andromeda from a sea monster, and she became his wife. When he took his mother back to her native Argos, he threw a discus that accidentally killed his grandfather, thus fulfilling the prophecy.
Perseus , bronze sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini, 154554; in the ...
Alinari/Art Resource, New York