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Perseus, wearing a tunic, fish-scale armor, and a helmet crowned with a fish’s tail, trots his horse across a stream as a fish leaps from the water. He holds a golden cup in his left hand, the horse’s reins in his right hand.
Perseus
Rodney
Perseus
- son of Zeus by a mortal woman
- motivated by love of women in all of his adventures
- his grandfather had been warned by the Delphic Oracle that Perseus would kill him, so his grandfather cast them out to sea when he was an infant; they were taken under the protection of King Polydectes, who fell in love with his mother and resolved to kill Perseus since he objected to their union; Polydectes sent him to obtain the head of the Gorgon Medusa
- he was able to slay Medusa with the help of the Graeae, three crones who shared an eye between them and who knew the secrets of the future; Athene, who gave him a magic shield; Hades, who lent him his magic cap of invisibility; and Hermes, who lent him his winged sandals and a sickle
- on his way back, he rescued Andromeda from a sea monster and married her
- he turned Polydectes to stone by showing him Medusa’s head for trying to assault his mother while he was away, and then he, his mother and his bride returned to his birthplace, where he accidentally killed his grandfather and became king
- attribute of Aphrodite as love and fecundity and of Poseidon as power of the waters
- Metaphors/Proverbs:
- “to be like a fish out of water” is to be out of one’s own environment or area of expertise
- “other fish in the sea” means that there are additional choices, especially in relationships
- “a cold fish” is one who is unemotional or frigid
- “to be fishy” is to not quite be right
- “to fish for something” is to look for an answer
- feeling types who act and react according to their feelings instead of logic
- idealistic, romantic and sensitive as well as self-sacrificing
- they love to be in love and are romantic about everything
- kind, peace-loving and responsive to the woes of others
- champion of the underdog
- generous-hearted, sympathetic and understanding, although they can also be moody and irritable
- resourceful, inspirational and imaginative , but also nebulous, fanciful and lacking in cohesive identity
- the volatile, sensitive, changeable dimension of water, which like the stream is full of life and always moving
- image of the true romantic spirit; champion of women in distress; worshipper of love, beauty and truth; defender of high ideals who ceaselessly searches for that perfect love that ultimately exists only in the spirit but always seems to be right around the corner
- all that is gentle, idealistic and kind, although he is capable of sacrificing all in the name of his ideal or his beloved
- a romantic vision of being in love as a state that can and ought to remain forever
- courtly love of the Middle Ages – worship from afar, writing poetry to his beloved, offering his life to protect her
- worship of someone before whom one feels unworthy
- one for whom the thrill of the chase is more important than the trophy at the end
- rescuer of damsels in distress
- a lover of women
Rodney
