Perses Greek Mythology: An Account of the Story of Perses
Perses Greek mythology is an account of two characters with the same name. One of them was a Titan who was famous for fathering more important Greek figures. The other one hails from Colchis who was tasked with protecting the golden fleece. This article will take a look at the stories of both characters.
Who Was Perses The Titan?
Perses, the Titan god, was born to Crius and Eurybia, the goddess of mastery and power over the seas. He had two brothers, namely Pallas and Astraeus, an astrological deity often associated with the four winds. Perses’ wife was Asteria, the daughter of the Titans Phoebe and Coeus.
Preses’ Family
Perses’ mother-in-law, Phoebe, was the goddess of the Oracle at Delphi before handing it to her grandson Apollo. Perses the Titan god and his wife Asteria bore Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, magic, and necromancy.
Various accounts of the myth indicate that Zeus highly regarded Hecate, who had domains in the earth, sky, and sea. Other sources name him the father of Chariclo, the wife of the centaur Chiron. Perses the Titan knows little except for his marriage to Asteria and his family tree.
The Daughter
Hecate was the only child of Perses the Titan and his wife, Asteria. She was regarded as the goddess of boundaries and a mediator between the Titans and Olympians. She was also known as a mediator between the Titans and Olympians. Some ancient Greeks also associated her with the Underworld, and she was often depicted holding keys that could open both realms of the living and the dead.
As centuries passed, Hecate’s functions and roles changed, and she became known as the goddess of sorcery, witches, and magic. She was often compared to Cerberus, the dog of the Underworld, whose duty included preventing the dead from entering the world of the living and vice versa. Later, she became associated with the Moon and the Roman goddess of hunting, Diana. Some literary works cited the Sun god Helios as her consort, and the couple was often depicted in some artworks.
His daughter had a huge following alongside other deities, and the ancient Greeks often viewed her as a household deity. She was often associated with dogs, roads, and spirits of the dead. Pausanias, a Greek scholar, noted that a black female puppy was once sacrificed in the city of Colophon to Hecate as a goddess of the road. Plutarch also observed that the Boeotians killed dogs at crossroads as part of purification ceremonies in honor of the daughter of Perses.
Greek Mythology Powers
Perses was the god of destruction and possessed superhuman strength and stamina. He also personified the chaos that arises from war; the loss of lives and property. Though he was destructive, he symbolized peace and tranquility.
The Depictions of Perses the Titan
The ancient Greeks thought of Perses as having animalistic features and were portrayed as a giant among men. He is depicted with canine features while his brother Pallas and Astraeus portrays features of a goat and a horse respectively. Their father, Crius, symbolized a ram.
Prominent Greek Characters from the Lineage of Perses the Titan
The Children of Perses’ Brother Pallas
Perses was the uncle of Zelus, Bia, Nike, and Kratos who dwelled with Zeus on his throne and enforced his rule. Zelus was the god of zeal while Bia personified anger and force. Nike was the goddess of victory while Kratos was the personification of raw strength.
These deities betrayed their father, Pallas who was the brother of Perses, by fighting alongside the Olympians in the Titanomachy. Their efforts caught the eye of Zeus who elevated their statuses to serve in his palace. The siblings were instrumental in punishing Prometheus after he stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans.
After Zeus pronounced Prometheus guilty and sentenced him, he tasked the siblings to tie Prometheus to a rock. Kratos, the god of strength, tried tying Prometheus to the rock but he failed. It took the intervention of Bia, the personification of force, to tie Prometheus to the rock after which a bird came to eat his liver during the day. During the night, Prometheus’ liver regenerated and the bird came back to eat it which began a cycle of endless torment for Prometheus.
The Uncle of the Anemoi
Perses was also the uncle of the Anemoi which were the four wind gods that described the direction from which they blew. They were the children of Perses’ brother Astraeus and his wife Eos, the goddess of the dawn. The Anemoi comprised Boreas, Notus, Eurus, and Zephyrus.
Boreas was the god of the wind from the north that brought winter, thus he was regarded as the god of winter. The god of the south wind was Notus and he was famous for the hot wind during the summer that brought heavy storms. Eurus personified the east or southeast strong winds that tossed ships on the seas while Zephyrus represented the west wind which was the calmest of all the Anemoi.
These gods were associated with the seasons and climates in ancient Greece. They were regarded as minor gods and were subjects of Aeolus the god of the winds. The Greeks sometimes depicted them as gusts of wind or bearded old men with shaggy hair. Other illustrations showed the Anemoi as horses in the stable of Aeolus.
Perses Greek Mythology Son of Helios
Perses of Colchis was a Greek character who was tasked with keeping the golden fleece safe. He was the son of the sun-god Helios and his wife Perse or Perseis, a nymph from the ocean. His siblings include Aloeus, Aeetes, Pasiphae, and Circe. According to the legend, Perses and Pasiphaë were thought to be twins because they were born so close together.
Helios gave Aloeus control over the district of Scyon while Aeetes ruled the kingdom of Colchis. Circe, a sister of Perses, was a sorceress who was famous for her knowledge of potions and herbs while Parsiphae became a goddess of witchcraft.
The Mythology from Colchis
In the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, Jason, the hero of the story was on a hunt for the golden fleece to enable him to reclaim his throne. He organized several heroes known as Argonauts to help him retrieve the fleece which was guarded by a dragon in Colchis. At the time, Aeetes, the brother of Perses, was the king of Colchis and had been warned through a prophecy to guard the golden fleece diligently. The prophecy stated that he would suffer great harm if he lost the fleece.
Perses Deposes His Brother
However, Jason and the Argonauts succeeded in stealing the golden fleece with the help of Aeetes’s daughter, Medea. True to the prophecy, Perses deposed his brother, Aeetes, and took control of the Kingdom of Colchis. During his kingship, a prophecy was told that Perses would be killed by his own relative which was fulfilled when Medea killed him and returned the Kingdom to her father. According to one version of the myth, Medea’s son, Medus, came to Colchis where he was arrested and brought before Perses.
Medus, on realizing that he was in the presence of his wicked uncle Perses, assumed the identity of Hippotes, the prince of Corinth. However, Perses investigated and threw Medus into prison for he was wary of the prophecy that his kin would kill him. A great famine ravaged the city of Colchis and the citizens died of hunger and thirst.
Medea Arrives in Colchis
Hearing of the plight of the people of Colchis, Medea impersonated a priestess of Artemis and arrived in the city on the back of two yoked dragons. He went to Perses and informed him of her mission to stop the famine in the land.
Furthermore, Perses also informed her of a certain Hippotes he was holding in prison. Medea convinced the Perses that the said Hippotes may have been sent by the King of Corinth to come and depose him. Therefore, he should hand over the prisoner to her to use as a sacrifice to appease the gods and end the famine.
All this while, Medea didn’t know that the said Hippotes was, in reality, her son Medus. When Hippotes was brought to her for the sacrifice, she recognized him as her son Medus and told Perses that he wanted to have a word with the prisoner before sacrificing him.
When Medus got closer, Medea gave him a sword and told him to kill Perses for usurping the throne of his grandfather, Aeetes. Thus, Medus killed Perses and returned the throne to Aeetes.
Other accounts of the myth cite Medea as the one who killed Perses with the sacrificial sword. Another version says Medea restored the throne to her father after Perses had usurped it.
Conclusion
This article studied the lives of two Greek characters named Perses and their exploits in the Greek tradition. Here is a recap of all that we’ve discovered so far:
- Perses was a Titan deity of destruction and the son of Eurybia and Crius in Greek mythology who gave birth to two other sons aside from Perses; Astraeus and Pallas.
- He married Asteria, the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, and had one child with her named Hecate.
- Perses symbolized destruction and peace and was depicted as a giant with the features of a dog while his father, Crius, had the features of a ram.
- Perses from Colchis was the son of Helios and Perse and a wicked King who deposed his brother, Aeetes, and took over his kingdom.
- Later, Medea returns to Colchis after a while and avenges the wrongs done to her father, Aeetes, by killing Colchis and returning the throne to him.
Other accounts of the myth have Perses killed by Medus, the son of Medea, instead of Medea. The death of Perses fulfilled a prophecy that stated that he would be killed by his relative.
