\paperw4260 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 \cf7 While\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht11618 Perseus\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 \cf7 was living on Seriphos with his mother Danaδ, the local tyrant Poly
dectes insisted that he carry out an extraordinary and extremely dangerous exploit: cutting off the head of\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht11307 Medusa\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , one of the terrible\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht10706 Gorgons\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 .\par
Guided by \b \cf15 \ATXht12 Hermes\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 \cf7 and\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht6 Athena\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , Perseus went to the \b \cf15 \ATXht10708 Graeae\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 and, taking from them the single tooth and one eye that they shared between them, forced them to show
him the way to find the nymphs who kept the instruments he needed to succeed in his adventure: the winged sandals, the helmet of \b \cf15 \ATXht10800 Hades\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 that made its wearer invisible, and the \i kibisis\i0 , the magic wallet in whic
h he would carry his trophy. Hermes also gave him a sharp sickle of steel and Athena presented him with a polished bronze shield.\par
When the hero came to the place where they lived, the Gorgons with their wings of gold, who could turn anyone who looke
d them in the face into stone, were sleeping soundly on the ocean shore, in the vicinity of the Pillars of\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht10812 Hercules\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . Perseus, rendered invisible by the helmet of Hades, approached Medusa with his winged sandals
and, using her reflection in the polished shield to guide his hand, cut off her head with HermesÆs sickle, without ever looking at her directly. He put the lethal head in the wallet and fled. On his way back he used the severed head of Medusa to win the
hand of\cf0 \b \cf15 \ATXht1053 Andromeda\b0 \ATXht0 \cf7 and then gave the trophy to the goddess Athena, who set it in the middle of her own shield, or on the armor that protected her.\par
