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Family

Acrisius was the son of Abas² and Aglaea³ (or Ocalea, depending on the author), grandson of Lynceus, great-grandson of Aegyptus. He was the twin brother of Proetus⁴ and the half brother of Lyrcus.⁵ Acrisius was the husband of Eurydice⁶ or Aganippe⁷ and thus grandfather of the hero Perseus through their daughter Danae. His other daughter was Evarete, wife of King Oenomaus of Pisa in Elis.⁸

Mythology

Rivalry of twins

Acrisius and Proetus were said to have quarrelled even in the womb of their mother and when Abas died and Acrisius had grown up, he expelled Proetus from his inheritance. On his exile, Proetus was supported by his father-in-law Iobates, the Lycian, Proetus returned, and Acrisius was compelled to share his kingdom with his brother by giving Tiryns to him, while he retained Argos for himself.

In one version of the myth, there is no mention of the dispute between the two brothers but they divided the kingdom, Acrisius remained where he was at Argos and Proetus took over the Heraeum, Mideia, Tiryns, and the Argive coast region.⁹

Death

Disappointed by his lack of luck in having a son, Acrisius consults the Oracle at Delphi, who warns him that he will one day be killed by his daughter’s son. Danaë is childless and to keep her so, he imprisons her in a bronze chamber open to the sky in the courtyard of his palace. Zeus impregnates her in the form of a golden shower (some accounts say it is her uncle, Proetus, who impregnates her).¹⁰ Danaë becomes pregnant with Perseus. Acrisius puts the child and Danaë in a chest and throws it into the sea. Zeus asks Poseidon to calm the water; he does and Danaë and Perseus survive, washing up on the island of Seriphos. A fisherman named Dictys, brother of King Polydectes, finds the pair and takes care of them.¹¹

Perseus grows up to be a hero, killing Medusa and rescuing Andromeda. Perseus and Danaë return to Argos with Andromeda, but King Acrisius has gone to Larissa. When Perseus arrives in Larissa, he participates in funeral games and accidentally strikes Acrisius on the head with a discus, killing him and fulfilling the prophecy.¹²

Founder of Delphic amphictyony

According to the Scholiast on Euripides,¹³ Acrisius was the founder of the Delphic amphictyony. Strabo believes that this amphictyony existed before the time of Acrisius,¹⁴ and that he was only the first who regulated the affairs of the amphictyons, fixed the towns which were to take part in the council, gave to each its vote, and settled the jurisdiction of the amphictyons.¹⁵

Argive genealogy chart

Notes

• Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths, Harmondsworth, London, England, Penguin Books, 1960. ISBN 978-0143106715
• Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition. Penguin Books Limited. 2017. ISBN 978-0-241-98338-6, 024198338X
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Strabo, Geographica edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Acrisius". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

References

1. Graves, Robert (2017). The Greek Myths - The Complete and Definitive Edition. Penguin Books Limited. pp. Index s.v. Acrisius. ISBN 9780241983386. 9780241983386 ↩

2. Pausanias, 2.16.2 /wiki/Pausanias_(geographer) ↩

3. Apollodorus, 2.2.1 /wiki/Bibliotheca_(Pseudo-Apollodorus) ↩

4. Pausanias, 2.16.2 https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.16.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Acrisius ↩

5. Pausanias, 2.25.5 https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.25.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Abas ↩

6. Scholiast ad Apollonius of Rhodes, 4.1091; Apollodorus, 2.2.2 /wiki/Scholiast ↩

7. Hyginus, Fabulae 63 /wiki/Gaius_Julius_Hyginus ↩

8. Hyginus, Fabulae 84 https://topostext.org/work/206#84 ↩

9. Pausanias, 2.16.2 https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.16.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Acrisius ↩

10. Smith, William, ed. (1867), "Acrisius", Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, Boston, MA, p. 14, archived from the original on 2007-10-11{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) https://web.archive.org/web/20071011191740/http://ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0023.html ↩

11. Apollodorus, 2.2.1 & 2.4.1; Pausanias, 2.16.2, 2.25.7 & 3.13.6; Hyginus, Fabulae 63 https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.2.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Acrisius ↩

12. Schmitz, Leonhard (1867), "Perseus", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 3, Boston, MA, p. 206, archived from the original on 2012-10-12, retrieved 2009-09-17{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) https://web.archive.org/web/20121012051805/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2539.html ↩

13. Euripides, Orestes 1087 /wiki/Euripides ↩

14. Strabo, 9. p. 420 /wiki/Strabo ↩

15. Comp. Libanius, Orat. vol. iii. 472, ed. Reiske. ↩