Introduction
Acrisius was the king of Argos and grandfather of the hero Perseus. Warned by an oracle that a son of his daughter Danaë would one day kill him, he locked her away in a bronze underground chamber to prevent her from conceiving.
Family
- No further family relationships recorded in this tree.
Prophecy and Downfall
Despite Acrisius's precautions, Zeus visited Danaë in a shower of gold, and she bore Perseus. Acrisius set mother and child adrift at sea in a chest rather than kill them outright, but they survived. Years later, Perseus accidentally struck his grandfather with a stray discus during athletic games, fulfilling the oracle exactly as foretold.
As with all figures of Greek heroic legend, sources diverge on many particulars; the account above follows the most widely transmitted classical tradition.