the fabled daughter of Acrisius, king of Argos, and Eurydice. To frustrate the declaration of the oracle that he would be put to death by his daughter's son, Acrisius is said to have confined her in a brazen tower; but Jupiter, descending in a shower of gold, gained access to her prison, and she gave birth to Perseus. (See Perseus.) Along with her child she was exposed in a chest on the sea, and carried to Seriphos, where she became the slave, or, according to some, the wife of Polydectes the king of the island. According to another account, the chest was stranded on the coast of Italy, and Danae was then married to Pilumnus the founder of Ardea.