Aconteus
Young hunter who was turned to stone by the sight of Medusa's head at the wedding of Perseus and Andromeda
The Legend of Aconteus
Aconteus was a young warrior or hunter who attended the wedding feast of Perseus and Andromeda. When Phineus, the jilted former betrothed of Andromeda, arrived with armed men to disrupt the celebration and claim the bride by force, a violent battle erupted. During the chaotic fighting, Perseus was outnumbered and resorted to his most powerful weapon: the severed head of the Gorgon Medusa. He warned his allies to look away and then raised the head, turning his enemies to stone. Aconteus was among those who gazed upon the Gorgon's face and was instantly petrified, frozen in the very act of combat. Ovid describes him caught mid-motion, his body turned to marble while he was still reaching for his weapon, a permanent monument to the terrifying power of the Gorgon.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
Ovid describes Aconteus being petrified mid-stride, preserving his exact fighting posture for eternity in stone
Explore Further
Anaxarete
🗡 heroCruelty, petrification
Cypriot noblewoman turned to stone for her cold-hearted rejection of her devoted suitor Iphis
Atalanta
🗡 heroThe virgin huntress who outran every suitor
The swift-footed huntress who drew first blood against the Calydonian Boar and was only beaten in a footrace by divine trickery.
Perseus
🗡 heroHero who slew Medusa
The son of Zeus and Danae who beheaded Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and founded the Perseid dynasty of Mycenae.
Andromeda
🗡 heroPrincess chained to a rock, saved by Perseus
Andromeda was an Ethiopian princess chained to a sea cliff as sacrifice to a monster — rescued by Perseus, who petrified the beast with Medusa's head.
Polydectes
🗡 herovillainy
King of Seriphos who desired Danae and sent Perseus to fetch Medusa's head, expecting the quest to kill him.
Caenus
🗡 heroTransformation, Invulnerability, Gender
Lapith warrior transformed from a woman into an invulnerable man by Poseidon, killed by Centaurs pounding him into the earth.
Cepheus
🗡 heroNone recorded
King of Aethiopia who nearly sacrificed his daughter Andromeda to a sea monster
Peleus
🗡 heroMortal who married a goddess
The king of Phthia who wrestled and won the sea-nymph Thetis, fathering Achilles — the greatest warrior of the Trojan War.
Euphorbus
🗡 heroCombat, beauty
Trojan warrior famed for his beauty who first wounded Patroclus before Hector delivered the killing blow
Leodes
🗡 heroNone recorded
Reluctant suitor and sacrificial priest who failed to string Odysseus' bow
Peleus
🗡 heroheroism
King of Phthia, Argonaut, and father of Achilles who wrestled the shape-shifting sea goddess Thetis to win her as his bride.
Idas
🗡 herostrength
Strongest of the Argonauts, who kidnapped his bride from Apollo and later died fighting the Dioscuri.