Danaë was the daughter of the king of Argos, Acrisius. An oracle had foretold that she would one day give birth to a son, who would kill her father. So Acrisius for safety’s sake shut her up in a tower, where, nevertheless, she was visited by Zeus in a shower of gold and became the mother of Perseus. Acrisius put the mother and child into a chest and exposed them on the sea. But the chest drifted ashore on the island of Seriphos, Danäe and her child were saved and Perseus lived to fulfil the oracle’s prophecy.
