However, Zeus, the king of the gods, desired her, and came to her in the form of golden rain which streamed in through the roof of the subterranean chamber and down into her womb.

Unwilling to provoke the wrath of the gods or the Furies by killing his offspring and grandchild, King Acrisius cast Danaë and Perseus into the sea in a wooden chest.

They were washed ashore on the island of Seriphos, where they were taken in by the fisherman Dictys—the brother of King Polydectes—who raised Perseus to manhood in the temple of Athena.

Using Athena's shield, Hermes's winged sandals and Hades's helmet of invisibility, Perseus was able to evade Medusa's gaze and decapitate her.

Later, after Perseus brought back Medusa's head and rescued Andromeda the princess of Aethiopia, the oracle's prophecy came true.