Polydectes

King of Seriphos and the antagonist who sets the plot of Perseus's quest in motion. When Danaë and the infant Perseus washed ashore on his island in the chest Acrisius had sealed, it was his brother Dictys the fisherman who took them in; but the king wanted Danaë for himself and, as Perseus grew, devised a way to be rid of the son. He announced he would wed Hippodameia of Elis and held a wedding-gift feast at which each guest was to bring a horse; Perseus had no horse and volunteered anything else — even, rashly, the head of Medusa. Polydectes took the offer on the spot (Apollodorus *Bibliotheca* 2.4.2; Pherecydes fr. 11 Fowler; Pindar *Pythian* 12.14). While Perseus was gone the king pressed Danaë openly; she took refuge at an altar with Dictys. Perseus came back with the Gorgon's head in the kibisis, walked into the banquet-hall, and held it up: the king and his sycophant nobles turned to stone where they sat (Apollodorus *Bibliotheca* 2.4.3).

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