Perseus, Phineus, and the Wedding Battle

Catalogue ID: 03-heroes/195-perseus-phineus-andromeda-wedding-apollodorus

Cycle: Heroes — Perseus / Andromeda aftermath

Version line: Apollodorean (+ Ovid-labeled Roman battle spectacle)

Sources: Apollodorus, *Library* 2.4.3; Ovid, *Metamorphoses* 5.1–235 (**Roman** fullest melee)

Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/03-heroes/195-perseus-phineus-andromeda-wedding-apollodorus.md

Characters

Andromeda — bride; prize of the quarrel
Cassiepea — mother
Cepheus — father; host of the wedding
Medusa’s head — weapon of last resort
Perseus — bridegroom; uses Medusa’s head in the hall
Phineus — uncle/betrothed rival; petrified
Phineus’s followers — assailants turned to stone

Places

Cepheus’s palace — wedding feast and battle

Themes

Narrative

After Perseus saves Andromeda from the sea-monster, Cepheus and Cassiopeia give her to him in marriage. Phineus—brother of Cepheus and Andromeda’s former betrothed—attacks the wedding feast with armed followers, claiming the bride. Battle breaks out among the tables. Perseus, outnumbered, lifts the Gorgon’s head; Phineus and his men are turned to stone where they stand (Apollodorus states the petrifaction briefly; Ovid expands the names and wounds before the final glance). Catalogue this as the post-rescue wedding conflict: the Medusa-head used not on a monster but on a human rival and his faction, securing Andromeda for Perseus before the return to Seriphos.