Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 3,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (earthquake, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorits): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1940)

The myth of Danae and analogous myths 455

iii. The myth of Danae and analogous myths.

The belief enunciated in the foregoing paragraph explains more
than one incident belonging to an early stratum of Greek mythology1.

Thus it was as a fall of golden rain that Zeus visited Danae2. Apart
fr°rn a few stray allusions3, the oldest version of her myth is that
given by Pherekydes of Athens, an ancient logographer who drew
from epic sources*. His narrative is preserved by the learned scholiast
°n Apollonios Rhodios in the following form5:

oj. Pherekydes in his second book tells how Akrisios married Eurydike, daughter
0 Lakedaimon. They had a child, Danae. But when her father consulted the
0racle about male offspring, the god at Pytho replied that a son would be born,
to him but to his daughter, and that he himself would be slain by that son.
br ereuP°n Akrisios returned to Argos and made an underground chamber of
and"26 'n *e courtyard °f n's house6. Here he brought Danae with a nurse,
kept watch over her lest she should give birth to a son. But Zeus was
r . 0ured of the maiden and poured from the roof in the likeness of gold. She
the 'V 11 'n ner D0S°m ; and Zeus manifesting himself had intercourse with
UajjJ?*1 n ' They had a son, Perseus. Danae and the nurse reared him
heard t0 Akrisios. But when Perseus was three or four years old, Akrisios
the ^e vo'ce °f tne child at play, and sent his servants to fetch Danae and
*lta UfSe" ^e ^atter he slew. The former with the child he brought to the
"f"ro° ^6US ^erketos, and asked her privily whence came the boy. She said
the ij^i ^eus'' He did not believe it, but put her and the boy into a chest, shut
'here DCast 'l 'nto tne sea- They drifted to the island of Seriphos, and
to lanc] 'ktys 'he son of Peristhenes when fishing with a net (diktyon) drew them
• Then Danae begged him to open the chest. He did so, and on hearing

ev were took them to his home and brought them up as his own kith
kin.'

Caniij.: 1 3 ^' See now M. P. Nilsson The Mycenaean Origin of Greek Mythology

2Hgw'^P:4.f.

1- 6, j. R°scher Lex. Myth. i. 946—949, Gruppe Gr. Myth. Rel. p. 187

^•Myth ^cher-Burkli in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. iv. 2084—2087, Preller—Robert
n, 6,_ •"■ 229 ft, H.J. Rose A Handbook of Greek Mythology London 1928 pp. 272, 284

l?n? f'' Hes' sc- Her- 216 ff-' Hekat frag. 358 {Frag. hist. Gr. i. 29 MUller)
T'S ^7oi i- } ,ra$'Sr- Hist. i. 13 Jacoby) ap. Herodian. irepX nov. Xe£. p. 912, 25 f. el Si
"'■ V AavS. ,

Preric j a"a °"TW* etprjrat trap' 'SxaraUfi, " Aavf pXayerai Zeis" k.t.\
1Se dat*1-----■ • — ~ - .. ~ ~...... ~ ....

'a'ur\r- uncertain: see \V. Schmid—O. Stahlin Geschichte der griechischen

l\rZ"Cl7 »9»9 i- 1. 711 n. 1.
ol)y) ap 'J''aS- 26 (Frag. hist. Gr. i. 75 Mttller) =Jrvg. 10 (Frag.gr. Hist. i. 61
£d the other AP-" Rh°d" 109'• Cp- E"dok. viol. 40, Favorin. lex. p. 98, 43 ff..

secondary authorities cited by J. Escher-Biirkli in Pauly—Wissowa Real-
Si a"'

9* *.r.\, ^"PVas eh "Apyos edXanov roiel x^X/coOk iv rfj av\rj 777s olrias Kara yfjs,

*a! iK(i, €US T^s TaiSos in rod 6p6<pov XPV(7V TrapairXricnos pel. t\ Si inroSixerai tlo
f^as airiv 6 Zeis rjj TraiSi /dyvvrat.