Expert: Maria - 12/18/2007

Question
Dear Maria,

My name is Nick and I am doing a school project on Perseus. I am in 4th grade.  I already know the basic story of Perseus but i want to fill in the cracks of things I don't know.  Can you help me?

Did Perseus fight a Chamera(sp) on his way to fight Medusa?  A Chamera has the head of a lion, the tail of a snake, and a goat's head coming out of it's back.  Did he get the "helmet of Invisibility" from the nymphs or did he get that from Hades?  Did Perseus cut off the sea monster's head or did he use Medusa's head to turn the sea monster to stone?

I hope that you know the answers and whether you do or not, thank you for your time,
Nick

Answer
Hello Nick,

Here are my answers to your questions:

-1st.QUESTION: “Did Perseus fight a Chamera(sp) on his way to fight Medusa?”  
ANSWER:I think you want to say “Chimera”(Greek “Chimaira”; Latin “Chimaera”) that however has nothing to do with the myth of the hero Perseus as this monster  was killed not by Perseus, but by another hero named Bellerophon, with the help of the winged horse Pegasus.

-2nd.QUESTION: “Has the Chimera  the head of a lion, the tail of a snake, and a goat's head coming out of it's back?”
ANSWER: It’s so. We read in Homer Iliad VI, lines 179-182 that the Chimera was "a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire”.

-3rd.QUESTION :”Did Perseus get the "helmet of Invisibility" from the nymphs or did he get that from Hades? “.
ANSWER: Perseus got  the "helmet of Invisibility" from the nymphs, not from Hades, though ordinarily the helm of invisibility belonged to Hades, the god of the dead and the Underworld.

-4th.QUESTION: “Did Perseus cut off the sea monster's head or did he use Medusa's head to turn the sea monster to stone?”
ANSWER: Perseus, returning from having killed the Gorgon Medusa, found  Andromeda, the princess of Ethiopia, who was chained to a rock to be a sacrifice to a sea monster as divine punishment  for her mother's arrogance. Perseus  slew the monster, that was not turned to stone.
Perseus used Medusa's head to turn to stone not the sea monster that threatened Andromeda, but  the Titan Atlas.  In fact Perseus asked Atlas for  hospitality, when he came to the realm of Atlas in north western Africa, but Atlas refused. In response, Perseus showed Atlas the head of Medusa, which turned him to the stone that is now known as  Mount Atlas (Morocco).

Hope this helps,
Maria
___________________________________________________________
Please note that actually  you should have asked this question in the category MYTHOLOGY, not in the category Ancient/Classical History, as Perseus is not a historical character, of course.