Perseus was a son of Jupiter who was once sent to conquer Medusa, a terrible monster whose sight turned every living being into stone. All around Medusa’s cavern were stony figures of humans and animals who had made the mistake of looking at her. Perseus approached Medusa when she was asleep. He did not look directly at Medusa, but at her reflection in his bright shield. He cut her head off with his sword.
Perseus had wings and was flying back with Medusa’s head when he happened to look down and saw a girl chained to a rock. He flew down and was told that she was Andromeda, daughter of Cepheus, the king of Ethiopia, and Queen Cassiopeia.
The queen had been proud of her beauty and compared her to the sea nymphs who got angry and sent a sea monster to ravage the coast. To appease the monster, an Oracle had asked Cepheus to sacrifice his daughter to him.
As the sea monster appeared on the scene, Perseus asked Andromeda’s parents to marry her to him if he were able to save her from the monster. The hapless parents agreed. Perseus soared into the sky and landed on the sea monster’s back, plunging his sword into its shoulder.
The monster attacked Perseus, but he evaded it. Water splashed onto Perseus’s wings and he could fly no more. He alighted on a rock projecting from the sea and waited for his chance. When the monster floated near, Perseus gave it a deadly blow.
Andromeda’s joyful parents began preparations for their marriage. They were interrupted by Phineus, to whom Andromeda had been engaged, and his followers. Cepheus told Phineus that he should have claimed Andromeda when she lay bound to a rock waiting to be devoured by the sea monster.
Her fate had dissolved all engagements, just like death would have. Phineus did not agree and threw his javelin at Perseus, but it missed its mark. Phineus ran and hid behind an altar. This was a signal to his followers to launch an attack. Perseus and his friends resisted them, but they were vastly outnumbered.
Suddenly, Perseus had an idea. He shouted, “If I have any friend here, let him turn his eyes away.” Then he took Medusa’s head and held it out. Phineus’s friends all froze in their acts of attack. Phineus called out to his friends but received no response. He touched them and found them to have turned into stone.
He turned his head away and begged Perseus for mercy, but Perseus held Medusa’s head to the side where Phineus was looking. Phineus was kneeling with his hands outstretched and face averted. In this pose itself, he turned into stone.