Acrisius

Acrisius is a figure in Greek mythology known as the king of Argos. He is described as a son of Abas and the brother of Proetus, and he is the grandfather of Perseus. According to the myth, the Delphic oracle foretold that a son of Acrisius’s daughter Danaë would kill him. To forestall the prophecy, Acrisius locked Danaë in a bronze chamber, but Zeus visited Danaë in the form of a golden shower and she bore Perseus.

To avoid the child fulfilling the prophecy, Acrisius cast Danaë and the infant Perseus adrift in a chest at sea. They were rescued by Dictys, a fisherman on Seriphus, and Perseus grew up under his care. As an adult, Perseus set out to fetch Medusa’s head. With aid from Hermes and Athena, he learned the way to the Graeae, received the tools needed to slay Medusa, and decapitated the Gorgon. He placed Medusa’s head in a secure bag and returned home, using the head to turn Polydectes to stone and thus freeing his mother.

On the voyage back to Argos, a misfortune fulfilled the oracle: Perseus’ discus struck Acrisius during a sporting event, killing him. Thus the prophecy came to pass, though unintentionally. Acrisius’s death ended his line in the myth, and various accounts describe different outcomes for the Argive throne afterward, sometimes favoring Dictys or Perseus as successor.