Which creature was Perseus intended to defeat with Medusa's head?

• A. A dragon of the underworld
• B. A sea monster
• C. The sea serpent destined to devour Andromeda
• D. A sphinx

Answer: (C)

Using Medusa’s head as a weapon is the key idea here. In Perseus’s adventures, the severed head retains the power to turn anyone who looks at it to stone. After he obtains it, one of his crucial tasks is to rescue Andromeda, who has been chained to a rock to appease a sea monster that threatens her people. Perseus arrives just in time and uses Medusa’s head to petrify that sea serpent, saving Andromeda. That makes the sea serpent destined to devour Andromeda the specific creature Perseus was meant to defeat with Medusa’s head.

The other options don’t fit this exact scene: the dragon of the underworld isn’t part of Perseus’s story, the sphinx belongs to a different legend, and a general sea monster lacks the precise connection to Andromeda that this myth describes.