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===Prophecy fulfilled=== Perseus then returned his magical loans and gave Medusa's head as a [[Votive offering|votive gift]] to Athena, who set it on her [[aegis]] (which Zeus gave her) as the ''[[Gorgoneion]]''. The fulfillment of the oracle was told several ways, each incorporating the mythic theme of exile. In [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.16.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=:chapter=&highlight=Perseus 2.16.2]</ref> he did not return to Argos, but went instead to [[Larissa]], where athletic games were being held. He had just invented the [[Quoits|quoit]] and was making a public display of them when Acrisius, who happened to be visiting, stepped into the trajectory of the quoit and was killed: thus the oracle was fulfilled. This is an unusual variant on the story of such a prophecy, as Acrisius's actions did not, in this variant, cause his death. In the ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'',<ref>Apollodorus, [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.4.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=:chapter=&highlight=Perseus 2.4.4]</ref> the inevitable occurred by another route: Perseus did return to Argos, but when Acrisius learned of his grandson's approach, mindful of the oracle he went into voluntary exile in [[Pelasgians|Pelasgiotis]] ([[Thessaly]]). There Teutamides, king of [[Larissa]], was holding [[funeral games]] for his father. Competing in the discus throw, Perseus's throw veered-and struck Acrisius, killing him instantly. In a third tradition,<ref>Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Ov.+Met.+5.177&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028:book=:chapter=&highlight=Perseus 5.177]</ref> Acrisius had been driven into exile by his brother [[Proetus]]. Perseus petrified the brother with Medusa's head and restored Acrisius to the throne. Then, accused by Acrisius of lying about having slain Medusa, Perseus proves himself by showing Acrisius the Gorgon's head, thus fulfilling the prophecy. Having killed Acrisius, Perseus, who was next in line for the throne, gave the kingdom to [[Megapenthes (son of Proetus)|Megapenthes]] ("great mourning"), son of [[Proetus]], and took over Megapenthes's kingdom of [[Tiryns]]. The story is related in Pausanias,<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.16.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=:chapter=&highlight=Perseus 2.16.3]</ref> who gives as motivation for the swap that Perseus was ashamed to have become king of Argos by inflicting death. In any case, early Greek literature reiterates that manslaughter, even involuntary, requires the exile of the slaughterer, expiation and ritual purification. The exchange might well have proved a creative solution to a difficult problem.
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