The Medusa affair was a very touchy subject among st the Olympians. As Medusa had been a lover of Poseidon she was (sort of) 'under his protection'. but as she and Poseidon had made love in a temple of Athena she was cruelly cursed.

Now Athena could not curse Poseidon as he was one of the big three Olympians and out-ranked her. But she had every right to curse Medusa and did so. As Athena had this right, Poseidon could not revoke the curse on Medusa but was obligated to let the condition stand. This was not the first time Poseidon and Athena had had a confrontation and there was a bit of a standing feud between them. (See the legend of the patronage of Athens)

Because of all of this Zeus' hands were tied; because of Athena he could not remove Medusa's curse, because of Poseidon he could not put the poor girl out of her misery as he would have liked to.

So let's go to a side issue for a moment.

Zeus had an intimate affair with Danae, the only child of Acrisius, King of Argos, and got her pregnant. As Acrisius had been told in prophesy that he would be killed by his grandson, he wasn't to crazy to find out that he now had one. Now he didn't dare kill a lover and a child of Zeus so instead he nailed them up in a chest in threw them into the sea. Apparently killing them in this way made it the responsibility of Poseidon rather than Zeus, as Poseidon had no interest in this affair. The mother and child didn't die however, they were washed up on the shore of some small island kingdom where they were taken in by a local fisherman. (So maybe Poseidon did care a little bit after all.) The child of Danae was Perseus.

Now the local king Polydectes fell in love with Danae and sought to marry her. Perseus however, discerning that Ploydectes wasn't an entirely noble person, sought to protect his mother from him. Polydectes then evised a ploy and took tribute of his subjects demanding a horse from each one. Perseus being the son of a fisherman (or so he thought) didn't have a horse to give so instead promised his services. Polydectes sent him on an impossible task -- to kill Medusa. And Perseus being the foolish testosterone drive youth he was -- agreed.

So while Perseus was out wandering about thinking about how he was to accomplish such a ridiculous a task, he was (indirectly) met by the Olympians and given instructions and 'implements' to help complete the task.

From Zeus he was given adamantine sword,

From Athena he was given a polished shield,

From Hermes he was given the winged sandals,

From Hades he was given the Helm of Darkness.

Now if we could just pause for a moment and consider the significance of each of these. The sword and the shield are elite in being made of adamantine and being polished but they are not items of any historical renowned. The winged sandals are a very personal item to Hermes; are the means by which he performs his particular duties, so the loan of them to Perseus is a much more incredible commitment by the Gods. Even so, they do not compare to the loaning of the Helm of Darkness by Hades. Hades is one of the Big Three of the Olympians and his Helm is one of the primordial weapons that he and his brothers employed in the War against the Titans; the powers by which they captured and held power over the cosmos. Just as Zeus had his thunder-bolts and Poseidon had his Trident so Hades had the Helm of Darkness.

Now Zeus once let Athena (a warrior goddess) hurtle a thunder-bolt, but Poseidon never let anybody else touch his trident, so Hades giving the Helm of Darkness to mortal Perseus is an incidence that is definitively unheard of, near unbelievable. Perhaps, taking into consideration the unique power of the helm (it gave invisibility) the act suggests the covert nature that Perseus' mission was to have; how important it was to keep it secret from Poseidon.

After being thus armed Perseus seeks out the Graeae, sisters of the Gorgons, to demand the whereabouts of the Hesperides, the nymphs tending Hera's orchard. The Hesperides provide Perseus with a knapsack in which to safely store Medusa's head.

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