Perseus
The Youth of Perseus
by John R. Salverda
The Anakim (the Greek Inachids) were flushed out of Hebron by Caleb in the days
of Joshua and fled to Argolis in Greece. These worshipped the "Queen of Heaven,"
Hera (Ashtoreth) and his champion (Argos) against the monstrous Echidna. Not
long after that, in the days of Deborah and Barak, the Danites, having had a
falling out with the sons of Jacob, quit their homeland and joined the Anakim in
Greece. (These were the Danaans fleeing from the sons of Aegyptus.) They brought
the story of Moses and the Exodus with them to Greece as the story of Io, with
Moses therein referred to as Hermes Argiophontes. A later version of the story
was brought over by later waves of Danites who came to Argos from the city of
Joppa over an extended period of time starting about six years after the death
of Solomon. To these Danites, whom we can call the "Perseids," Moses was not
deified as the god Hermes, (a telling adjustment in theology) but was merely a
hero called Perseus, a human son of the chief god. The story of Perseus is the
story of Moses and the law giving, as told by these and subsequent waves of
Danite emigrants from Palestine. (Those mythographers who told more recent "Perseus"
version of the Exodus must have known that the already extant "Hermes
Argiophontes" version was the same story, for the god Hermes was liberally
written into the story of Perseus. "Perseus ' received from Mercury [Hermes],
who is thought to have loved him, talaria and petasos, and, in addition, a
helmet which kept its wearer from being seen by an enemy. [Hyginus Astronomica
2.12])
The myths of Perseus meeting the Graeae, and that of Perseus verses the Gorgons,
as well as Perseus killing the sea serpent, are most likely two or three
separate versions of the Moses story that were brought to Greece over a
prolonged period of time, about three or four generations, and were forged into
episodes of the same tale. These various episodes display the influence from at
least three distinct groups of people. The rendition of it that contains the "Graeae,"
reveals a more Arabian, and Egyptian, flavor that can be traced to it's Idumean,
and Hagarite, origins. The "Gorgon" interpretation of the Perseus story, shows a
strong post-Solomonic, Israelite bias. The episode where Perseus kills a "sea
serpent" at Joppa is even later still and leans heavily upon a Midianite/Ethiopian
and Danite/Philistine faction, for it's point of view.
These Danaans, (the Greeks of Argolis) themselves claimed to have come up out of
the land of Egypt. Herodotus has something interesting to tell us in this
regard, he says that while the Greeks considered the Danaan royalty to be
Egyptians, the Persians, who also claim to be descendants of Perseus, argue that
Perseus was not an Egyptian at all but was an Assyrian. Ovid, on the other hand,
says that the Danaans were of the Cadmean (Phoenician) race and he even refers
to Perseus at least once as "Agenorides," a descendant of Agenor, the father of
Cadmus, Europa and Phoenix. Herodotus even mentions the name of the Egyptian
city from which came these Danaans, he calls it Chemmis and says, "The Egyptians
are averse to adopt Greek customs, or, in a word, those of any other nation.
This feeling is almost universal among them. At Chemmis, however, which is a
large city in the Thebaic canton, near Neapolis, there is a square enclosure
sacred to Perseus, son of Danae. ... Inside this precinct is a temple, and in
the temple an image of Perseus. ... I made inquiries of the Chemmites why it was
that Perseus appeared to them and not elsewhere in Egypt, ... to which they
answered, "that Perseus belonged to their city by birth. Danaus and Lynceus were
Chemmites before they set sail for Greece, and from them Perseus was descended,"
they said, tracing the genealogy; "and he, ... paid them a visit, and
acknowledged them for his kinsmen he had heard the name of their city from his
mother '". (Herodotus Book 2 Page 91)
The Danaans then, were a group whom the Greeks thought of, at first, as coming
up out of the land of Egypt, but about seven generations later these same
Danaans were coming out of Joppa in Phoenicia. This is just what we would expect
of the Biblical Danites who did come up out of Egypt to live in the seaport of
Joppa.
Having explained a bit about the people who told the story of Perseus, we shall
begin to cover the individual motifs of the story itself. First of all there is
the virgin birth; If Perseus is Moses, then Why isn't Moses born of a virgin
like Perseus' Well he is, because Israel is the Virgin. In the book of
Deuteronomy chapter 18 verses 15 through 18, God promises to Moses that He will
raise up a special prophet who will be born to the nation of Israel like he was.
It is not unusual for a nation, a city, a church, or a population, to be
figuratively symbolized as a female character. Even modern nations, (without,
presumably, resorting to idolatry), have similar traditions. The U.S.A. has it's
"Columbia," the U.K. has "Britannia," and Rome had it's "Roma," all feminine
personifications that are symbolic of each their own national spirit. The nation
of Israel was also referred to as a "woman," and the "maiden," and the "virgin,"
she was known as Zion (or Jerusalem) and called the "bride," or "wife," of God.
The slaying of Medusa is portrayed as a prerequisite to freedom for the captive
mother of Perseus, "Danae." Danae was the earthly wife of Zeus, and she was
being held captive by an earthy king, there can be no mistake in identifying her
with Zion, the nation that gave birth to Moses. It is evident that while in
Egypt, the Israelites pronounced the name "Zion," as "Zoan," it was the name of
the City-state of their captivity, "the field of Zoan." The classical Greeks
knew of this place and called it "Tanis," they identified the goddess, who was
named after this place, with "Athena." In the Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions,
the same Egyptian district was called, "Sinu." A clever philologist can find
this far famed woman's name throughout ancient literature, besides those already
mentioned, here is a partial list of the name Zion transliterated; Diana, Dione,
Deino, Dion, Dinah, Sinai, Hesione, Thyone, (even backwards) Anath, Neith, and
Nut.
Robert Graves, in book 1 of his two volume work, "the Greek myths," (60.1,3)
says that the Greek Danae was called, by the Hebrews, Dinah. Perhaps by way of
explanation he previously intimates, that the Danaans who told her story, were
part of a group of early arriving Helladic colonists from Palestine. In the
Scriptures Dinah is the virgin daughter of Israel. Some did not believe that
Perseus was the son of Zeus, neither did they accept the notion of his virgin
birth, but instead they impugn his birth by insisting that he was the product of
an incestuous relationship between Danae and her uncle Proetus. Perhaps this
version of the birth owed some of it's origin to the Scriptural one, it is
similar to the parentage of Moses because he also was said to have been the
product of an incestuous relationship. The father of Moses, a man named Amram
had taken his aunt Jochabed to be his wife (Amram was thus not only the father
of Moses but his uncle as well,) and Moses was their issue. According to the
Greek myths, Acrisius, who has previously been identified with the Hebrew
patriarch Israel, was the father of Danae, the mother of Perseus, while the
Scriptural Israel was the father of Dinah, he was also grandfather (via Levi,
whom the Greeks appear not to know about) of Jochabed, the Biblical mother of
Moses.
Like the "seed of the woman," the birth of Perseus was predicted before hand,
and the king sought to prevent his birth, but like Pharaoh, and Herod, his
attempt was to no avail. Should anyone claim to be the "son of God," the Law
would be in place to put him to death, thus, upon the birth of Perseus, the king
proclaimed that he must die, the instrument of his attempted death, (and,
incidentally, his salvation) was an ark, and the Ark, symbolizes the Law. Their
was a pre-birth royal decree in place to prevent the arrival Moses as well, and
at his birth he was placed in an ark, (even Sargon the Great of Akkad, and
Osiris, the Egyptian god, had an attempt made upon their lives in an ark). The
identification of Perseus with Moses, goes way beyond their both being placed in
an ark and set adrift on the water, but it includes an entire series of shared
motifs; Both had their arks discovered by a relative of the king, both were
raised at the court of the king, and each had a happy childhood until the king
had a change of heart.
An objection might be made that the mother of Moses was not in the ark like the
mother of Perseus was. Yes, but it is also known that one of the first things
that those who found the baby Moses did, was to send for a Hebrew woman to serve
as a nurse for the child, who turned out to be none other than the actual mother
of Moses, Jochabed. Therefore, as it was in the story of Perseus so it was in
the story of Moses, the mother in each case was with the child from his very
infancy throughout his life in the court of the King/Pharaoh, however, also in
each case, she was there as a servant only.
While most Mythographers agree that Perseus was raised at the royal court they
usually refer to the situation of his mother, the virgin Danae, as being held
captive against her will. As if to reinforce my theory that Danae was Zion,
there is one very important ancient source, no less than the great Greek poet
Pindar, who wrote about 480 BC in his Pythian Ode (12 Str1-3) who plainly refers
to Danae as being held in slavery! The quote from Pindar runs thus; "Perseus ...
had made blind the grim offspring of Phorcys (Medusa), ' thus to end his
mother's long slavery...". What the nature of the slavery that Danae was forced
into we are not told, but it is apparent that Pindar knew of the tradition so
saying that Perseus had freed his mother from "slavery" by his act.
Perseus wanted to take Danae and leave, just as Moses wanted to take Zion and
leave, but the king would not let her go. However Perseus did go somewhere, for
he first, like Moses, had to perform a task in the wilderness, which would give
him the divine authority which he would need to acquire freedom for Danae. This
is the point in the combined rendition of the account, that has come down to us,
where the mythographer has inserted the Hagarite version of the story, that
features the Graeae, it is also the point in the Scriptural story where Moses
has his first meeting with God at Mount Sinai.
The Hebrew story has Moses taking a pre Exodus wilderness adventure to Mount
Sinai, where he lives among the Midianites for quite some time. The Scriptures
make this adventure to be a prerequisite to the main adventure of Moses, for
there he learns to worship the one God of Abraham at His holy mountain, He there
tells Moses, not only His name, but also gives him instructions and three
"magic" tricks that he can use to deliver Zion from her slavery (Ex. 4:1-9).
Perseus also had "divine" training sessions prior to his actual adventure. The
gods, Athena (delivered from the head of Zeus), and Hermes (the messenger of
Zeus and deliverer of Io), each had experience to lend this new deliverer
Perseus. What has Athena to do with the Exodus' Athena (Parthenos) was a female
personification of the city state of Athens, in the same way that (the Virgin)
Zion was a female personification of Jerusalem. In truth, the "myth" about the
founding of Athens is clearly derived from the history of the Jews. Cecrops the
anguipede (serpent footed, this is noteworthy because wayward Jews blasphemously
pictured Yahweh as an anguipede. This is such an outrageous claim that I implore
the reader to look it up on his own. Furthermore, don't let the fact that the
history of Athens is full of serpents throw you off, because the tribal chief of
Judah, the man who lead the Jews up out of the land of Egypt under Moses, was
named "Nahshon," the usual Hebrew word for "serpent.") was the Athenian version
of Moses, (or perhaps Nahshon) he lead the Athenians up out of Egypt (Sais =
Zoan = Tanis = Tanit = Athena = Zion), gave them their laws and divided the land
into twelve districts. He instituted monogamy, and was the first to recognize
paternity (Egypt was a matrilineal society). Although the religion of the
Athenians was corrupted by their worship of Baalath (Pallas/Athene = Baalath/Zion
= Palestine = Philistine), still, intricate doctrines of the Jewish belief
system, permeate the myths of Athens. There was a contest with Poseidon (Dagon's
alias Apsu-Adon), the symbol of the olive branch (Salem = peace). The daughters
of Cecrops carried with them an ark and were given instructions not to look upon
the contents, namely, a baby born to be the dynastic King (Erecthonius, also an
anguipede) to the Athenians, while the Jewish Ark contained the Messianic
promise that a baby would be born who would be the King of Kings (thus the
little understood but widespread symbol of the baby in an ark, such as Sargon,
Adonis, Etc.). The Mythographers who inserted the story of Athena into the story
of Perseus must have known what they were doing. This is also true of the story
about Hermes delivering Io (the "Jew"), which I have explained elsewhere. All
three stories contain maidens who are freed in accordance with the will of Zeus,
by smitten heads.
Join the Brit-Am Ephraimite Discussion Group
Just Send an
e-mail
with "Subscribe"
in the Subject Line
Main Page
Offerings and Publications
Return to
Question and Answer
Table of Contents