Dictys

Dictys is a name associated with two figures in ancient literature, one mythological and one literary-historical, whose attributions differ in time and genre.

Dictys of Seriphus, in Greek mythology, is a fisherman of the island of Seriphus (Seriphos). He is described as the brother of Polydectes, the king of Seriphus. According to the myth of Perseus, Danaë and her infant son Perseus are cast into the sea in a chest and are rescued by Dictys, who raises them as his own. He provides shelter and protection during their exile, and Perseus later receives guidance and aid from the gods on his quest to slay Medusa. After Perseus returns, Polydectes schemes against Danaë and Perseus, and Perseus defeats Medusa and uses her head to turn Polydectes and his courtiers to stone. In many versions, Dictys is rewarded for his hospitality and becomes ruler of Seriphus or is otherwise honored as a benefactor.

Dictys Cretensis, or Dictys of Crete, is the name given to a supposed 1st-century CE eyewitness chonicler of the Trojan War. His work, often cited as a rival or companion to Dares the Phrygian, presents an alternate account of Trojan War events. Modern scholarship generally views Dictys Cretensis as a pseudonymous or fictional figure, and the original text survives only in later Latin summaries or references. Nevertheless, the Dictys tradition influenced later medieval and early modern retellings of Trojan War narratives as part of the broader historiography surrounding the war.