Dictys and Danae Avenged; The Death of Acrisius

Here is chapter 6 in the book that I am publishing, currently titled "The Historical Account of Perseus and Medusa."  Enjoy.

Polydectes was having a royal fit.  He had recently learned that Perseus had survived his encounter with Medusa/Neith.  Not only that, he succeeded in killing her, a feat long thought impossible.  He took to using violence against his people, if nothing more than he thought they looked at him wrong.

Danae and Dictys were no exception.  In order to escape persecution, they sought refuge in the LORD's temple, for Polydectes regarded it as holy, even though he had not respect to God.

After a number of days, he decided to throw a party for himself and his friends.  A banquet was set, candles were lit, and there was much music.  When Perseus had learned that Polydectes was in his palace, he proceeded there with Neith's head (he previously had put Andromeda in the temple with Danae and Dictys so that she wouldn't suffer any hurt.)

King Polydectes' spine began to soften at the sight of Perseus.

"Perseus!  Welcome back.  I have heard that you just got back from your quest.  Were you able to succeed in bringing me my gift?"

"I was," replied Perseus.  "I also picked up a few other things along the way."  This Perseus said regarding his new wife Andromeda, and the fact that Polydectes was persecuting his people, especially his mother and father (Dictys eventually adopted him,) howbeit he did not tell Polydectes these things.  "Here, my king.  A gift for your wedding."

With that, Perseus proceeded to pull out Neith's head from the kibisis and present it to King Polydectes and his friends.  The sighte of Neith's head, with the serpent scales and beads in it, and the sound it made frightened the king and his friends so that they died.

Upon seeing that King Polydectes and his friends were dead, Perseus sent word to Dictys, Danae, and Andromeda in the LORD's temple that it was safe for them to come out, that Polydectes was dead, and their persecution was over.

Word spread quickly that Polydectes was dead.  The land was without a king and violence would become widespread in the vacuum unless a new one was appointed.

Perseus sensing this, immediately called for the townspeople to gather at the palace.

"In as much as the LORD my God has delivered the King Polydectes into my hand, his life was made forfeit against his wickedness," Perseus said.  "However, the LORD has not saw fit to make me king over Seriphos, but he has chosen Dictys to be king instead.  He will be a good king, one that is familiar with the suffering of his people, and will rule over you with equity.  Long live the King!"

"Long live King Dictys!" the people shouted.

After this, Perseus and Andromeda went to Argos to see King Acrisius.  Perseus had wanted to tell Acrisius that he bore him no ill will, even despite trying to kill him and him mother, and to tell him all was well with both of them.  Acrisious, however, remembered the oracle that he had received those 30+ years ago, that a son of Danae would kill him.  Hearing that Perseus was on his way to see him, and not believing that Perseus had forgiven him, King Acrisius left Argos and headed for Pelasgian lands.  (Pelasgian means lands of Pallas.)

It was at this time in the land of Larissa that Teutamides the king, had recently buried his father, Amyntor.  In honor of his father, Teutamides decided to hold an athletic contest.  It also happened that Perseus and Andromeda were passing through at the same time on their way to Argos.  Deciding on a brief stop to rest up, and hearing that his grandfather, King Acrisious had fled from him, he thought that by participating in the games it would cheer him up a bit.

The event was the pentathalon.  Perseus, after having made it through the first two events had his try at the discus throw.  Perseus spun around and let the discus fly.  Perseios intended for the discus to travel down field, however, at the last moment, Perseus tripped, and the discus went sailing into the crowd.

Unbeknownst to Perseus, King Acrisius was in the group of people that the discus flew into.  The discus hit Acrisius in the foot, causing him to go bend forward in extreme pain.  King Acrisius managed to free his foot from the weight of the discus.  Unable to withstand the pain, he passed out, stumblimg backwards, hitting his head on a rock, killing him instantly.

Perseus, upon learning what was done, buried King Acrisius outside the city.  As Acrisius had no male heir to pass on his kingdom to, and Danae having been married to Dictys and becoming Queen of Seriphos, changing her name to Clymene, it fell to Perseus that he should be king of Argos.

Perseus, however, was ashamed at what he had done, even though it was an accident.  So instead of taking possession of Argos himself, he went to see Megapenthes the son of Proitos at Tyrins and made a trade with him.  Perseus handed him control over all Argive lands, and Perseus became king of Tiryns, Mideia, and Mykenai, making fortified cities of both Mideia and Mycenai.

Atlas vs. Perseus

Below is a portion of a book that I am writing called "The Historical Account Of Perseus And Medusa."  This part focuses in on Perseus immediately after Perseus kills Medusa, who was a member of the Gurage tribe of Ethiopia.



CHAPTER 4:  THE DEATH OF ATLAS


Now it happened that after Perseus (also called Eurymedon) had killed Keren-happuch, he headed back to Seryphos by way of eastern Libya (modern Saudi Arabia).  (The continent of Africa was after the flood knocked for a loop as it were.  When the continents were broken up and set adrift, Africa began to spin winding upside down.  It is for this reason that the nation of Egypt as we now know it was called Lower Egypt and modern Ethiopia, then a part of Egypt, was called Upper Egypt.)  On his way, he met a man of great strength who today is called Atlas, but in old times was called Tubal.  Tubal was very wealthy, and was the king of a number of lands in north-western Africa.  His hair was very coarse, ofttimes being compared to trees.  He also had bony protrusions on his shoulders, hands, and head, as his mother was the grand daughter of what is called a devil.  It is also through his (Tubal's) mother that the bloodline of Cain, the brother and murderer of Abel, survived.

Tubal also carried a heavy heart, in that Atlantis, the great island of the world, had sunk beneath the ocean.  After the great flood, much of the earth's landmasses were broken up and set adrift.  Atlantis, being aftoretime located just above what is now Greenland (Greenland's position on the earth was more southerly than what it is now), had sunk into the sea, the grave of which can be seen in the Azore islands in the north Atlantic.  Tectonic plate movements at the time had caused a great rift in the ocean floor.  The drifting Atlantis, not being anchored on solid ground, sank very swiftly, both beneath the ocean floor and into what is now considered mythology.

It happened to be that Keren-happuch was precious in the sight of Tubal, though how or why this relationship developed I do not know.  Perseus, knowing his ancestry from King Acrisius, discovered that he was the descendant of Belus the Egyptian, who is identified in mythology as Marduk, and in Judeo-Christian scriptures as Nimrod, knew that Tubal was his cousin, albeit an old connection.  Perseus had heard tales of Tubal's great strength and looked up to him as a role model.  Unbeknownst to Perseus, however, was the fact that Neith was favored of Tubal.  Only on his heading back to Seriphus did Perseus learn of the connection.

Perseus was eventually brought before Tubal, seeking permission to lodge in his palace for a night.  He had learned beforehand that Tubal loved two things:  genealogy and adventure.  In an attempt to persuade Tubal to let him stay, Perseus began to tell him of his descendancy from that thing he called Zeus, and would have told him tales of his deeds in the army of King Polydectes had Tubal not cut him off from speaking.  Tubal had been warned beforehand by Themis, the daughter of Reu, a.k.a. Caelus and Uranus, and Gaia, the daughter of Nimrod, who is called Chaos; he had been warned beforehand by Themis that one claiming to be a descendant of Zhe-ut (Zeus) would steal his admiration among men.  Tubal, fearing this, had hired men from Assyria to guard his orchard continually.

It came to pass that Perseus had come before Tubal at the time of harvesting, requesting lodging from him.  Tubal, upon hearing of Perseus' ancestry, told him to leave, saying that his deeds were fake and that even Jehovah whom Perseus worshipped (who was corruptly called Jupiter), could not save him, as Tubal had purposed in his heart to kill Perseus.

Perseus was greatly offended at this.  Perseus replied to Tubal, "Since you hold my love for you so light a thing, this is a gift I have brought you."  Perseus then pulled Keren-happuch's head out of the bag.  When Tubal saw this, he straightly had a heart attack and died.  Perseus departed, but not before entombing him in a cave in the highest mountain of what is now called the Atlas mountains.  Perseus buried him in the mount that is called Toubkal, so named after Tubal, the son of Japheth, who is the son of Noah