In
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...
, Perses (;
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
: Πέρσης) was the son of
Andromeda and
Perseus. Perses was left in
Cossaei and with the
Oceanid Perse fathered
descendants.
Greek mythology identified Perses as the ancestor of the
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
ns.
Apparently the Persians knew the story as
Xerxes tried to use it to bribe the Argives during his invasion of Greece, but ultimately failed to do so.
[Herodotus vii.150] The (Pseudo-)Platonic dialogue ''
First Alcibiades
The ''First Alcibiades'', also referred to as ''Alcibiades Major'' and abbreviated as ''Alcibiades I'' ( el, Ἀλκιβιάδης αʹ), is a dialogue depicting Socrates in conversation with Alcibiades. It is ascribed to Plato, although scholars ...
'' (120e), written in the late 4th-century BC, identifies him with
Achaemenes
Achaemenes ( peo, 𐏃𐎧𐎠𐎶𐎴𐎡𐏁 ; grc, Ἀχαιμένης ; la, Achaemenes) was the apical ancestor of the Achaemenid dynasty of rulers of Persia.
Other than his role as an apical ancestor, nothing is known of his life or a ...
as the hero-founder of the Persái, stating both Achaemenes and Heracles were sons of Perseus.
Notes
{{greek-myth-stub
Perseid dynasty
Characters in Greek mythology