Perseus: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The king of the island of Seriphos, Polydectes, made a deal with Perseus that if he could not kill Medusa, then he would date his mother. Perseus ended up beheading Medusa, winning the challenge.
Cassopeia, queen of Ethiopia, claimed that her daughter Andromeda (the future wife of Perseus) was more beuatiful than even the sea nymphs. This insulted Poseidon, who then flooded the kingdom.
Perseus' father, according to mythology, was the king of the gods, Zeus. The character Percy Jackson, based on Perseus, is the son of the god Poseidon.