DANAE The daughter of Akrisios, whom he imprisoned in a subterranean chamber, in order to prevent the prophecy being fulfilled, that his daughter should bear a son who would slay Akrisios, and rule in his place. But a shower of gold, sent by Zeus, found its way to Danae, and she gave birth to a child, the hero Perseus. Raging at her explanation of the child's conception---and refusing to believe it---Akrisios had his daughter and grandchild sealed in a box, and cast into the sea. However, the box was ensnared by a fisherman called Diktys, as it drifted towards the island of Seriphos. Diktys took care of mother and child, but his brother, Polydektes, enamoured of Danae, sent Perseus to bring back the head of the Gorgon, Medusa, in order that the lad be taken out of the way.