This is how
I used to refer to Perseus in the before-time. Perseus is one of the first
Greek heroes (if not the first) who
will go on to found an entire dynasty. And so he gets special treatment.
Zeus
orders the gods to give him gifts, and he gets some truly wonderful toys. He
gets a wallet (pouch, knapsack, bag, etc.) to hold Medusa’s head, an adamantine
sword to chop her head off, winged sandals so he can fly about, a polished
shield so he could look at Medusa, and a helmet to make himself invisible.
With all of
this gear, he’s more or less invincible. He’s an invisible, flying warrior with
godlike armor and sharp sword. This is the main difficulty I have with Perseus.
He’s given all of these things. He didn’t have to work for them. They’re part
of his birthright. And while other heroes usually inherit or are given a single
trait from dear old dad or mom, such as Hercules’s strength or Achilles’s
invulnerability, Perseus has hit the mother-lode.
And doesn’t
that cheapen his heroism? Now it becomes a question of whether or not anyone
can accomplish the same feats with the same tools. Things only get worse when
he takes Medusa’s head, because then he’s packing the equivalent of a nuclear
weapon in the ancient world.