Acrisius
King of Argos who imprisoned his daughter Danae and was killed by his grandson Perseus with a discus, fulfilling the oracle he tried to escape.
The Legend of Acrisius
He locked his daughter in a bronze tower to prevent a prophecy — and Zeus entered as a shower of gold. An oracle told Acrisius that his daughter's son would kill him. He imprisoned Danae in an underground bronze chamber. Zeus entered as golden rain and fathered Perseus. When Acrisius discovered the baby, he set Danae and Perseus adrift in a wooden chest. They survived. Years later, at athletic games in Thessaly, Perseus threw a discus that was caught by the wind and struck Acrisius in the head, killing him instantly. The prophecy fulfilled itself through pure accident — Perseus did not even know his grandfather was in the crowd. No amount of bronze or exile can outrun fate.
Parents
Abas
Children
Danae
Symbols
Fun Fact
The discus that killed Acrisius was caught by the wind — fate used a random gust to fulfill prophecy.
Explore Further
Danae
🗡 heroNone recorded
Princess of Argos imprisoned in a bronze tower, mother of Perseus by Zeus
Eurystheus
🗡 herofate
King of Mycenae who assigned Heracles his twelve labours, born prematurely through Hera's manipulation to gain power over the demigod.
Danaë
🗡 heroMother of Perseus, imprisoned in bronze
Danaë was a princess locked in a bronze tower by her father to prevent a prophecy — but Zeus came to her as a shower of golden rain, and she bore Perseus.
Oedipus
🗡 heroKing who fulfilled the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother
The tragic king of Thebes who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, fulfilling a prophecy he had spent his life trying to avoid.
Laius
🗡 heroNone recorded
King of Thebes whose attempt to cheat fate led directly to the Oedipus tragedy
Perseus
🗡 heroHero who slew Medusa
The son of Zeus and Danae who beheaded Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and founded the Perseid dynasty of Mycenae.
Mopsus
🗡 heroprophecy
Son of Manto and grandson of Tiresias who defeated the great seer Calchas in a divination contest, causing Calchas to die.
Rhesus
🗡 herofate
Thracian king who brought white horses to Troy and was killed in his sleep by Odysseus and Diomedes on his first night.
Jocasta
🗡 heroNone recorded
Queen of Thebes who unknowingly married her own son Oedipus after his return
Myrtilus
🗡 herocurse
Charioteer of King Oenomaus bribed by Pelops to sabotage his master's chariot, then murdered by Pelops and the origin of the Pelopid curse.
Amphiaraus
🗡 heroThe prophet who foresaw his own death at Thebes
A warrior-prophet who knew the Seven Against Thebes would fail but marched to his death anyway, swallowed by the earth.
Althaemenes
🗡 heroFate, exile
Cretan prince who fled to Rhodes to avoid a prophecy that he would kill his father, only to fulfil it