Polydectes in the context of The Story of Perseus and the Gorgon's Head

In Greek mythology, Perseus (US: /ˈpɜːr.si.əs/ , UK: /ˈpɜː.sjuːs/; Greek: Περσεύς, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus and Bellerophon, the greatest Greek hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. He beheaded the Gorgon Medusa for Polydectes and saved Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus. He was a demigod, being the son of Zeus and the mortal Danaë, as well as the half-brother and great-grandfather of Heracles (as they were both children of Zeus, and Heracles's mother was Perseus's granddaughter).

Petrifaction, or petrification, defined as turning people into solid stone, is a common theme in folklore and mythology, as well as in some works of modern literature. Amos Brown noted that "Fossils are to be found all over the world, a clear evidence to human beings from earliest times that living beings can indeed turn into stone (...) Previous to the modern scientific accounts of how fossils are formed, the idea of magicians or gods turning living creatures into stone seemed completely plausible in terms of these cultures".

Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing the jugular vein and common carotid artery, while all other organs are deprived of the involuntary functions that are needed for the body to function.The term beheading refers to the act of deliberately decapitating a person, either as a means of murder or as an execution; it may be performed with an axe, sword, or knife, or by mechanical means such as a guillotine. An executioner who carries out executions by beheading is sometimes called a headsman. Accidental decapitation can be the result of an explosion, a car or industrial accident, improperly administered execution by hanging or other violent injury. The national laws of Saudi Arabia and Yemen permit beheading. Under Sharia, which exclusively applies to Muslims, beheading is also a legal punishment in Zamfara State, Nigeria. In practice, Saudi Arabia is the only country that continues to behead its offenders regularly as a punishment for capital crimes. Cases of decapitation by suicidal hanging, suicide by train decapitation and by guillotine are known.

Less commonly, decapitation can also refer to the removal of the head from a body that is already dead. This might be done to take the head as a trophy, as a secondary stage of an execution by hanging, for public display, to make the deceased more difficult to identify, for cryonics, or for other, more esoteric reasons.

Peristhenes (/pəˈrɪsθəˌniːz/; Ancient Greek: Περισθένης Peristhénēs means "exceeding strong"), in Greek mythology, may refer to:

• Peristhenes, an Egyptian prince as one of the sons of King Aegyptus. His mother was the naiad Caliadne and thus full brother of Eurylochus, Phantes, Hermus, Dryas, Potamon, Cisseus, Lixus, Imbrus, Bromius, Polyctor and Chthonius. In some accounts, he could be a son of Aegyptus either by Eurryroe, daughter of the river-god Nilus, or Isaie, daughter of King Agenor of Tyre. Peristhenes suffered the same fate as his other brothers, save Lynceus, when they were slain on their wedding night by their wives who obeyed the command of their father King Danaus of Libya. He married the Danaid Electra, daughter of Danaus and the naiad Polyxo.
• Peristhenes, son of Damastor and grandson of the elder Nauplius. By Androthoe, daughter of Pericastor, he was father of the fisherman Dictys and Polydectes, king of Seriphos. Otherwise, these two sons were called the children of Magnes and an unnamed naiad or of Poseidon and Cerebia.

Dictys (Ancient Greek: Δίκτυς, romanized: Díktus, lit. 'netman') was a name attributed to four men in Greek mythology.

• Dictys, a fisherman and brother of King Polydectes of Seriphos, both being the sons of Magnes and a Naiad, or of Peristhenes and Androthoe, or else of Poseidon and Cerebia. He discovered Danaë and Perseus inside a chest that had been washed up on shore (or was caught in his fishing net). He treated them well and raised Perseus as his own son. After Perseus killed Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and later showed Medusa's head to Polydectes turning him and the nobles with him to stone, he made Dictys king. Dictys and his wife, Clymene, had an altar within a sacred precinct of Perseus in Athens.
• Dictys, one of the sailors who tried to abduct Dionysus but was turned into a dolphin by the god.
• Dictys, a centaur who attended Pirithous's wedding and battled against the Lapiths. While fleeing Pirithous, he slipped and fell off of a cliff. He was impaled on the top of an ash tree and died.
• Dictys, the Elean son of Poseidon and Agamede, daughter of Augeas. He was the brother of Actor and Belus.
• Dictys is also the title of a lost play by Euripides, which survives in fragmentary form.

In Greek mythology, the name Damastor (Ancient Greek: Δαμάστωρ means "tamer") may refer to:

• Damastor, a Giant. During the Gigantomachy, he used a rock into which a fellow Giant Pallas had been changed as a throwing weapon.
• Damastor, a son of Nauplius, father of Peristhenes and through him grandfather of Dictys and Polydectes.
• Damastor, father of a defender of Troy, Tlepolemus.
• Damastor, father of Agelaus, one of the Suitors of Penelope.
• Damastor, another Suitor of Penelope who came from Dulichium along with other 56 wooers. He, with the other suitors, was shot dead by Odysseus with the help of Eumaeus, Philoetius, and Telemachus.

The patronymic Damastorides "son of Damastor" is used in reference to Agelaus and Tlepolemus but also to an otherwise unnamed defender of Troy killed by Agamemnon.

In Greek mythology, Androthoe (Ancient Greek: Ἀνδροθόη) was the daughter of Pericastor and wife of Peristhenes, son of Damastor. By the latter she became the mother of the fisherman Dictys and Polydectes, king of Seriphos. Otherwise, these two sons were called the children of Magnes and an unnamed naiad or of Poseidon and Cerebia.