Perses was the firstborn son of Perseus and Andromeda, born in Aethiopia before his father returned to Greece and left behind there with his maternal grandfather Cepheus; from him, it was said, the kings of Persia were descended.1
Perses stood at the source of the Perseid line. His father Perseus, coming to Aethiopia where Cepheus was king, found the king's daughter Andromeda set out as prey for a sea monster; he slew the beast and won her. Perses was the first child of that marriage, born before Perseus reached Greece — the eldest of the brood that would later seed Mycenae.2
Unlike his brothers, Perses never came to Argos. Apollodorus records that Perseus left him behind with Andromeda's father Cepheus, and adds that from this son it is said the kings of Persia are descended. His Mycenaean brothers and his sister followed the family's fortunes: Alcaeus, Sthenelus, Heleus, Mestor and Electryon, with a daughter, Gorgophone, whom Perieres married.3
Through those brothers Perses' line ran on toward the house of Heracles. Electryon fathered Alcmena; Alcaeus fathered Amphitryon, who married her; and Alcmena was joined in love with Zeus and bore mighty Heracles. So the son left behind in Aethiopia stands at the far end of the lineage from the greatest of the Perseids.4
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