Dictys (Ancient Greek: Δίκτυς, romanized: Díktus, literally "netman") was a name attributed to four men in Greek mythology. The most prominent bearer is the fisherman of the island of Seriphos, brother of King Polydectes, who found Danaë and the infant Perseus in a chest washed up on the shore, sheltered them, and raised Perseus as his own son. After Perseus turned Polydectes to stone with the head of Medusa, he made Dictys king of Seriphos. The name was also borne by a sailor punished by Dionysus, a centaur at the wedding of Pirithous, and an Elean son of Poseidon.
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I.Dictys the Fisherman of Seriphos
Dictys was a fisherman and the brother of King Polydectes of Seriphos. Their parentage is given variously: both were said to be the sons of Magnes and a Naiad, or of Peristhenes and Androthoe, or else of Poseidon and Cerebia.
He discovered Danaë and the infant Perseus inside a chest that had been washed up on the shore (or, in another version, that was caught in his fishing net). He treated them well and raised Perseus as his own son.
After Perseus killed Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and later showed Medusa's head to Polydectes — turning him and the nobles with him to stone — Perseus made Dictys king. Dictys and his wife, Clymene, had an altar within a sacred precinct of Perseus in Athens.
II.Dictys the Sailor
Dictys was one of the sailors who tried to abduct Dionysus but was turned into a dolphin by the god.
III.Dictys the Centaur
Dictys was a centaur who attended Pirithous's wedding and battled against the Lapiths. While fleeing Pirithous, he slipped and fell off of a cliff. He was impaled on the top of an ash tree and died.
IV.Dictys of Elis
Dictys was the Elean son of Poseidon and Agamede, daughter of Augeas. He was the brother of Actor and Belus.
V.In literature
Dictys is also the title of a lost play by Euripides, which survives only in fragmentary form.