King Acrisius ruled Argos but possessed no heir who could take over the kingdom when he died. His only child was a lovely maiden, Danaë, but girls did not count for much then. Acrisius went to an oracle that informed him he would have no son, but that his own grandson would kill him. Greatly alarmed, the king had an underground chamber built, one with a skylight, and he imprisoned his daughter there in order that she might bear no children. However, Zeus saw the beautiful Danaë in her bronzed chamber and visited her in the form of a golden shower. Nine months later she gave birth to a son, Perseus. When Acrisius learned of this he hesitated to put them both directly to death, so instead he had his daughter and grandson sealed in a chest and cast adrift in the sea.
At length the chest landed on the beach of an island, where it was found and opened by a fisherman named Dictys. Being a kindly person, Dictys took the forlorn Danaë and her infant son home to his wife. The couple decided that they would care for Danaë and raise Perseus as if he were their own son, since they themselves were childless. Thus Perseus grew to manhood in congenial circumstances.
Danaë did not lose her beauty with the passing years, and Dictys' brother, the tyrannical king Polydectes, wished to make her his wife. But Polydectes regarded Perseus as a hindrance to his plans. Therefore he announced that he was going to marry another woman, which meant that everyone would have to present him with a gift. At the gift-giving feast Perseus was the only person present without anything to bestow upon the king. In his mortification Perseus rashly promised to bring the head of the Gorgon Medusa back as a gift. Polydectes was pleased, knowing that Perseus would die in the attempt, for one look from that hideous snake-headed monster turned men to stone. And even if Perseus should succeed, Polydectes would have a coveted trophy.
