Danae

In Greek legend, the daughter of Acrisius, king of Argos. After an oracle warned her father that she would bear a son by whom he would be slain, he confined Dana in a tower. Zeus visited her in the form of a shower of gold, and she gave birth to Perseus. Mother and child were then placed in a wooden box and cast into the sea, and they drifted ashore on the island of Seriphus. Perseus grew up there, and when the island's king, Polydectes, desired Dana, he sent the young hero off in pursuit of the Medusa. Perseus later rescued his mother and took her to Argos.

Danaë (dăn'āē), in Greek legend, daughter of Acrisius. When it was prophesied that Danaë's son would kill Acrisius, her father imprisoned her in a bronze tower. However, Zeus came to her in the form of a shower of gold, and she bore him a son, Perseus. Acrisius put Danaë and Perseus into a chest and threw them into the sea, but they floated safely to land and the prophecy was eventually fulfilled.