Amisodaros: see Il. 16.328 ff. A Lycian like Iobates (who is not named by Homer), and the father of two sons in Sarpedon’s company.
as Hesiod records: Theog. 319 f. (but Hesiod’s text is ambiguous and he may have meant that the Lernaean hydra was its mother).
climbed on to . . . Pegasos: as in Theog. 325 and Hes. Cat. fr. 43a, 84 ff.; there is no mention of him in Homer’s account, Il. 6. 179 ff. For the story of his birth, see p. 66 and Theog. 278 ff. He was given to Bellerophon by Poseidon (sc. Il. 6. 155), or by Athene, who had tamed and bridled him with her own hands (P. 2. 4. 1); or according to Pind. ol. 13. 63 ff, Bellerophon bridled Pegasos himself after obtaining advice from a seer on how to obtain divine favour for the enterprise. It was said that Bellerophon was killed when he tried to fly to Olympos on Pegasos, Pind. Isth. 7. 44 ff.
the Solymoi: they lived in southern Asia Minor to the west of Lycia (see Strabo 14. 3. 9).
in youthful vigour: following Zenobius 2. 87; the text is problematic.
some say by Proitos: although this variant (apparently derived from Pindar, sc. Il. 14. 319) is cited first, it was generally accepted that Perseus was a son of Zeus; for the quarrel between the twins, see pp. 62 f.
when Acrisios learned: according to Pherecydes (sc. AR 4. 1091) he heard the voice of the child while he was at play at three or four years of age, and had Danae brought up from the chamber with the child’s nurse, whom he killed.
Polydectes. . . Dictys: for their birth and origin, see p. 44.
a marriage-offering: as in Homer, the bride would be purchased from her father with a bride-gift, hedna, which was often substantial (e.g. Il. 11. 243 ff). For Hippodameia, see p. 144.
did not take the horses of Perseus: this seems to be Ap.’s meaning (rather than that he failed to receive any horses from him, as in Frazer’s translation), as in the clearer account reported from Pherecydes (in sc. AR. 4. 1515a; when Dictys asks him for a horse, Perseus replies hyperbolically that he would give him the Gorgon’s head, and the following day, he refuses to accept Perseus’ horse alone, holding him instead to his ‘promise’).
the daughters of Phonos: the Graiai (Old Women). In Theog. 270 ff., there are only two, and although they were grey-haired from birth, they are said to be fair-cheeked and beautifully robed. The shared eye and tooth first appear in Pherecydes sc. AR 4. 1515a and[Aesch.] PV795f.
winged sandals: belonging to Hermes, which Perseus needs to reach the Gorgons, and then escape from them (the tradition that he escaped on Pegasos, e.g. Ov. Amatoria3. 12. 24, found little favour in antiquity). On the kibisis, see Appendix, 1 and note.
of Hades: inserted by Heyne, but not necessarily in the original, as the reader could be expected to know (as in P. 3. 17. 3). The leather helmet or cap belongs to Hades because his name suggests invisibility (a-ides). The notion that he was ‘armed’ with it by the Cyclopes, p. 28, is a fancy from a relatively late period.
conceived them previously by Poseidon: she had slept with him in a spring meadow, see Theog. 278 ff.
Cassiepeia: the form Cassiopeia, familiar from the constellation, never appears in ancient writings; it seems to have originated as a hybrid between this and the ancient variant Cassiope (Ov. Met. 4. 738 etc.).
Ammon: he had an oracle at the oasis of Siwa in Egypt, which was regarded by the Greeks as an oracle of Zeus.
claimed to rival the goddess in beauty: this may seem surprising, but we have seen that she was once attractive to Poseidon; according to Ov. Met. 4. 798 ff, Athene transformed her into her familiar Gorgonic form because she had slept with Poseidon in the goddess’ sanctuary.
what the oracle had predicted: that he would be killed by his daughter’s son, pp. 64 f.
king of Larissa: this lay in the land of the (Thessalian) Pelasgians, and we should understand that Acrisios went to stay with Teutamides. In Pherecydes’ account (sc. AR 4. 1091) Perseus went there specifically to find Acrisios, and became involved in the games by chance.
on the foot, killing him: this seems odd—the incident on p. 76, which involves a poisoned arrow, is not comparable—but it accords with Pherecydes’ account in sc. AR 4. 1091. In Hyg. 63, the wind blows the discus from his hand at Acrisios’ head, so fulfilling the will of the gods. Some said that Perseus himself invented the discus, and was using the occasion to demonstrate his skill with it (P. 2. 16. 2).
fortified. . . Mycenae: Perseus was commonly seen as its founder (cf. P. 2. 16. 3). Henceforth it will be one of the three great centres in the Argolid with Argos and Tiryns.
gone far: telou ebe: hence Teleboans. The etymology is forced; the name probably means ‘those whose (war-) criescan be heard from afar’.
descendant of Perseus. . . about to be born: Zeus means Heracles (see p. 70), his own son by Alcmene, the wife of Amphitryon, grandson of Perseus; but Hera’s stratagem will ensure that Eurystheus, a grandson of Perseus, will be born before Heracles, and thus rule at Mycenae in accordance with this declaration by Zeus. Hera is always jealous of Zeus’ children by other women. (As is usual in mythical history, Heracles’ divine parentage does not exclude him from the lineage of his putative mortal father; he is also descended from Perseus through his mother.)
the Eileithuiai: there was a goddess Eileithuia specifically associated with childbirth, cf. p. 29, but the name was also used in the plural as a generic term to refer to other divine beings in so far as they helped (or hindered) childbirth. The story is told by Homer, Il. 19. 96 ff.; compare P. 9. 11. 2 and Ov. Met. 9. 292 ff. for later developments. In Homer, Hera merely restrains the Eileithuiai (Il. 19. 119) from helping Alcmene, but in the later tradition they actively hinder the birth.
of their maternal grandfather: the text is confused. For the basis of their claim, see p. 68; the succession runs: Perseus—Mestor— Hippothoe—Taphios—Pterelaos—the sons of Pterelaos. Earlier in the sentence I have kept the manuscript reading ‘with Taphios’ (cf. Tzetz. sc. Lycophr. 932; as against ‘with some Taphians’ following Heyne’s emendation); the fact that the sons of Pterelaos are seeking to regain the kingdom of the maternal grandfather of Taphioscould well explain the original meaning of the text, or the proper reference of the problematic phrase if it is a gloss. Note that Electryon, a son of Perseus, is involved in a dispute with the great-great-great-grandsons of Perseus! The islands of the Teleboans lay opposite Acarnania near the entrance to the Corinthian Gulf.