Serifos (, , also Seriphos; formerly Serpho or Serphanto) is a
Greek island
municipality in the
Aegean Sea, located in the western
Cyclades, south of
Kythnos and northwest of
Sifnos. It is part of the
Milos regional unit. The area is and the population was 1,420 at the 2011 census. It is located about ESE of
Piraeus. In Greek mythology, Serifos is where
Danaë and her infant son
Perseus washed ashore after her father
Acrisius, in response to an oracle that his own grandson would kill him, set them adrift at sea in a wooden chest. When Perseus returned to Serifos with the head of the Gorgon Medusa, he turned
Polydektes, the king of Serifos, and his retainers into stone as punishment for the king's attempt to marry his mother by force.