In the history of art, the iconography of Danaë shows a voluptuous woman, without virginal timidity, welcoming her lover, and delighting in his unconventional methods. Danaë was the daughter of Acrisius the king of Argos. She had been seduced by Acrisius’ brother Proetus, and it had been foretold that Acrisius himself would have no male heirs, and that his own grandson would kill him. So he locked his daughter Danaë in a dungeon, and thought he would thwart the prophecy.
But the god Zeus changed himself into a rain of gold, and came through the barred window of the dungeon, and Danaë became pregnant. When her son Perseus was born, her father placed the mother and child into a wooden box, and set it adrift on the sea. A fisherman found it washed ashore the island called Seriphos, and took Danaë and Perseus to the local king, Polydectes, who welcomed them to share his palace.
Polydectes wanted Danaë as his wife, but she continually refused him, and as Perseus grew into manhood, any chance of forcing Danaë into marriage became less likely. Then Polydectes had the idea to trick Perseus, and he told him that he was going to marry a foreign princess, and asked all his nobles for each of them to donate a horse to pay the price of the bride.
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Perseus without any fortune had nothing to contribute, but told Polydectes that he’d win a suitable prize, even the “head of Medusa” if the king wanted. And he did want that, thinking he’d send Perseus to his doom, because Medusa was so ugly, with her hair made of snakes, that one glance was enough to turn a person to stone.
But with the help of Athena and Hermes, Perseus did win Medusa’s head, and went on to save Andromeda from a sea monster. And when he returned triumphant to Seriphos he found out that Polydectes had forced Danaë to seek refuge in a temple, and would take her by force if she ever left it. So Perseus went straight to the palace where the king was entertaining his cronies, and pulled the head of Medusa out of its covering, saying “here’s the wedding gift I promised you” and turned them all to stone.
Then Perseus left Seriphos with his mother Danaë, and made their way to Argos. Acrisius heard they were coming and ran away, and sought refuge with the new king of Larissa, Teutamides, who happened to be hosting games and feasts to honor the late king. When the news came that the great hero Perseus was nearby, Teutamides invited him to participate in the games.
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In the discus throw, Perseus threw well, but a malicious god caused the wind to blow the discus off course where it hit Acrisius, killing him. And so the prophecy was fulfilled.
There are parallels between Danaë’s miraculous impregnation with Perseus and the quickening of Mary’s womb with Jesus. There is the inevitabilty both women’s situations, the destiny that they can’t avoid. In some pictures from the Early Renaissance, there are depictions of rays of light emanating from the Holy Spirit that are directed at Mary’s womb. Danaë and Mary are both identified with the moon goddess. And there is a curious coincidence in their names: “Danaë” means “parched”, and Mary or originally “Maryam” comes from the Hebrew words “mar” meaning “bitter” and “yam” which means “water” or “sea”. The first Maryam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, was honored by God with a magic well that travelled with the Israelites in their exodus. So both Danaë and Mary were both identified with thirst, or drought, and they both miraculously gave birth to savior-heros.
In this work I used images of voluptuous women, who seemed proud of their bodies, their curves, and their fecundity. |
