Danaë
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.
The Legend of Danaë
Daughter of King Acrisius of Argos, Danaë was locked in a bronze chamber after an oracle at Delphi warned that her son would kill Acrisius. Zeus entered as a shower of golden light and fathered Perseus. Acrisius set mother and child adrift in a chest; Poseidon calmed the seas, and they washed ashore on Seriphos. There the fisherman Dictys raised Perseus, who later slew Medusa with Athena's shield and Hermes' winged sandals. Returning to Argos, Perseus accidentally killed Acrisius, fulfilling Apollo's prophecy and founding the line that produced Heracles.
Parents
Acrisius and Eurydice
Symbols
Fun Fact
Klimt, Titian, Rembrandt, and Correggio all painted Danaë receiving Zeus's golden rain — it's one of art's most revisited scenes.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Danae
🗡 heroNone recorded
Princess of Argos imprisoned in a bronze tower, mother of Perseus by Zeus
Perseus
🗡 heroHero who slew Medusa
The son of Zeus and Danae who beheaded Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and founded the Perseid dynasty of Mycenae.
Acrisius
🗡 herofate
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.
Agraulos
🗡 heroNone recorded
A daughter of Cecrops, the first king of Athens, who disobeyed Athena by opening a forbidden chest and was driven to leap from the Acropolis
Nisus
🗡 heroNone recorded
A king of Megara whose city was invulnerable as long as a magical purple lock of hair remained on his head, betrayed when his daughter Scylla cut it for love of Minos
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.
Anaxibia
🗡 heroMarriage, royalty
Mycenaean princess who married Strophius of Phocis and raised the young Orestes in secret
Ino
🗡 heromadness
Theban princess who raised the infant Dionysus, was driven mad by Hera, and leaped into the sea to become the goddess Leucothea.
Cassiopeia
🗡 heroNone recorded
Vain queen of Aethiopia whose boast brought a sea monster upon her kingdom
Cassiopeia
🗡 heroQueen whose vanity endangered her daughter
Cassiopeia was the queen who boasted her beauty exceeded the sea nymphs — provoking Poseidon to demand her daughter Andromeda as sacrifice.
Paris
🗡 heroPrince who caused the Trojan War
Paris was the Trojan prince whose judgement of three goddesses and abduction of Helen ignited the Trojan War — the most consequential act of desire in Western mythology.
Cadmus
🗡 heroFounder of Thebes
Cadmus was the Phoenician prince who founded Thebes, sowed dragon's teeth, and brought the alphabet from Phoenicia to Greece.