Perseus Perseus In Greek mythology, Perseus (; ) is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty, who, alongside Cadmus and Bellerophon, was the greatest Greek hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. He beheaded the Gorgon Medusa for Polydectes and saved Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus. He was the son of Zeus and the mortal Danaë, as well as the half-brother and great-grandfather of Heracles. Because of the obscurity of the name Perseus and the legendary character of its bearer, most etymologists presume that it might be pre-Greek; however, the name of Perseus’ native
Sea monster "Carta marina". This practice died away with the advent of modern cartography. Nevertheless, stories of sea monsters and eyewitness accounts which claim to have seen these beasts persist to this day. Sea monster accounts are found in virtually all cultures that have contact with the sea. For example, Avienus relates of Carthaginian explorer Himilco's voyage "...there monsters of the deep, and beasts swim amid the slow and sluggishly crawling ships." (lines 117-29 of "Ora Maritima"). Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed to have encountered a lion-like monster with "glaring eyes" on his return voyage after formally claiming St. John's, Newfoundland (1583) for