The story of Zeus and Danae is one of the best known love stories from Greek mythology. In itself it is not a major tale, but is used to show the character of Zeus and the outcome of the story impacts on the life of one of the major Greek heroes.

Zeus was the supreme ruler of the Olympian gods, the son of Cronus and Gaea; he had replaced his father following the Titanomachy. Three times married, a large proportion of the stories told about Zeus are not about heroic acts but more about his love life. Though married to the goddess Hera, his third wife, Zeus had any number of affairs with other goddesses and mortal women. The story of Zeus and Danae is the story of one of Zeus’ affairs, although luckily for Danae it was not one that Hera interrupted.

Danae was a princess of Argos, the only daughter of king Acrisius and Eurydice. With no direct male heir, Acrisius wanted to know whether his daughter would ever bear him a grandson to rule Argos. To find out what the future held, Acrisius went to an oracle. Instead of good news, though, the oracle foretold the kings own death at the hands of his grandson.

Acrisius was more worried about his own death than not having a male heir. His daughter was without a suitor and so Acrisius decided to keep it that way. Danae was shut in a tall inaccessible bronze tower. The tower could not be scaled and the only door was guarded day and night.

The story of Danae’s confinement reached the gods on Olympus. Zeus, who was always on the look-out for beautiful female mortals, decided to visit Argos to see the confined princess. On arrival in Argos Zeus found that the tower had been inaccessible even to gods. Zeus though was not put off, and so transformed into a shower of gold, so that he could cascade through the roof.

Zeus was struck by the beauty of Danae and promptly impregnated her. The result of this union was that Danae gave birth to a son, called Perseus. Acrisius of course discovers that his daughter has given birth to his grandson. Fearful of his life, he is equally fearful of the wrath of the gods if he directly kills one of their offspring.

Acrisius arrives at a plan to set Danae and Perseus adrift on the sea in a wooden chest. There are two possible results, they may drown, or they may drift far away where they could do no harm to Acrisius.

Zeus has not totally abandoned Danae, though. With the assistance of his brother Poseidon, Zeus ensures that the wooded chest is washed ashore on the island of Seriphos. There they were taken care of by the fisherman Dictys, who was the brother of the king of Seriphus, Polydectes.

The story of Danae then drifts into the background, as her son takes prominence. It was Polydectes who set Perseus that impossible task of obtaining the head of Medusa. Polydectes wished to seduce Danae, but realised that Perseus was too protective of his mother to allow this to happen. Thus the king came up with the plan to get rid pf Perseus.

Perseus of course was successful in his task. Returning to Seriphus, Perseus found that his mother had been abused by the king and reduced to the role of palace slave. In a rage Perseus then produces the head of Medusa turning Poldectes and all his court into stone.

Whilst the story of Perseus continues, Danae is then ignored in Greek mythology, although she is often credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium.

The story of Zeus and Danae, is a love or lust story. It shows the ingenuity of the god to enable him to get his wicked way with a mortal. It also displays that Zeus would protect his offspring and mates when he could.