Danaë
Mythological characterWikipedia
30
MENTIONS
5
EPISODES
5
PODCASTS
Search complete. 30 mentions across 5 episodes found for "Danaë".
Oct 26, 2026
DianaHOST
He has no special strength, no divine power of his own, no lineage of combat.
DianaHOST
What he has is a famous father, Zeus, who visited his mother Danae as a shower of gold, which is an origin story that raises more questions than it answers, and the particular kind of resourcefulness that comes from being raised in a small fishing community with nothing to your name and everything to prove.
DianaHOST
He is, in short, the hero who borrows everything, improvises the rest, and somehow wins anyway.
DianaHOST
It starts, as so many things in Greek mythology start, with a king who asked a question he should not have asked, received an answer he did not want, and then made a series of increasingly bad decisions trying to outrun it.
DianaHOST
He asked an oracle a question.
DianaHOST
Acrisius wanted a son.
DianaHOST
Instead, the oracle told him that his daughter Danae would someday have a son of her own, and that grandson would kill him.
DianaHOST
So Acrisius locked Danae away in a bronze chamber underground.
Ian LauerHOST
He does everything he can to make sure his daughter never has a son.
Ian LauerHOST
He builds a chamber made of bronze, under the ground, and he locks his daughter, Danae, inside of it.
Ian LauerHOST
She can have no visitors, and there's no way out.
Ian LauerHOST
She's just surrounded by bronze walls.
Ian LauerHOST
Then it gets brighter and more numerous.
Ian LauerHOST
It's gold.
Ian LauerHOST
A whole stream of it pouring down out of the roof and into Danae's lap.
Ian LauerHOST
And that gold isn't just gold.
speaker_2NARRATOR
The radiant point of the Perseid shower, the area of the sky where the meteors appear to originate, is located near the constellation Perseus.
speaker_2NARRATOR
In ancient Greek mythology, Perseus is the son of Zeus, the king of the gods, and Danae, a mortal woman.
speaker_2NARRATOR
The god Zeus visited Danae in the form of a shower of gold, and from their union, Perseus was born.
speaker_2NARRATOR
The Perseid meteor shower is said to commemorate that encounter, with the meteors representing the shower of gold from the gods' visit.
speaker_2NARRATOR
This beautiful myth connects the ancient human imagination with the real astronomical phenomenon.
speaker_0NARRATOR
El punto radiante de las Perseidas, la región del cielo desde donde parecen originarse los meteoros, se encuentra cerca de la constelación de Perseo.
speaker_0NARRATOR
En la antigua mitología griega, Perseo es hijo de Zeus, el rey de los dioses, y Dánae, una mujer mortal.
speaker_0NARRATOR
El dios Zeus visitó a Dánae en forma de una lluvia de oro y de su unión nació Perseo.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Se dice que la lluvia de meteoros de las Perseidas conmemora ese encuentro y que los meteoros representan la lluvia de oro de la visita del dios.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Este hermoso mito conecta la antigua imaginación humana con el fenómeno astronómico real.
Nick VlahakisNARRATOR
but always as a tall and handsome youth; and by and by they were married, with only the nurse at the wedding feast.
Nick VlahakisNARRATOR
And Danaë was so happy that she was no longer lonesome even when he was away.
Nick VlahakisNARRATOR
But one day when he climbed out through the narrow window there was a great flash of light, and she never saw him again.
Nick VlahakisNARRATOR
Not long afterwards a babe was born to Danaë, a smiling boy whom she named Perseus.
Nick VlahakisNARRATOR
For four years she and the nurse kept him hidden, and not even the women who brought their food to the window knew about him.
Nick VlahakisNARRATOR
But one day the king chanced to be passing by and heard the child's prattle.
Nick VlahakisNARRATOR
For the king, although a great coward, was really a kind-hearted man and did not like to see anything suffer pain.
Nick VlahakisNARRATOR
Yet something must be done.