Let’s discover today the myth of Medusa, this fearsome Gorgon has offered us some of the most exciting stories of Greek mythology.
Medusa the Gorgon
In Greek mythology, a Gorgon ( / ɡ ɔr ɡ ən /; plural: Gorgonas, Ancient Greek: Γοργών / Γοργώ Gorgon / Gorgo ) is a mythical creature portrayed in ancient Greek literature.
While descriptions of Gorgons vary throughout Greek literature and occur in early examples, the term commonly refers to any of the three sisters who had hair made of being, venomous snakes, as well as a hideous face that turned those who saw it to stone. Traditionally, while two of the Gorgons were immortal, Sthenoy, Euryale their sister Medusa was not and was killed by the demigod and hero Perseus.
Who was Medusa?
Medusa was one of the three Gorgons, daughters of Forcys and Ceto, sisters of the Greas, Echidna and Ladon, all of them terrible and fearsome beasts. A beautiful mortal, Medusa was the exception in the family, until she suffered the wrath of Athena, either because of her boastfulness or an unfortunate affair with Poseidon. Transformed into a vicious monster with snakes for hair, she was killed by Perseus, who subsequently used her still potent head as a weapon, before giving it to Athena.
Origins
Medusa, whose name probably comes from the ancient Greek word for “guardian” – was one of the three Gorgons, daughters of the sea gods Forcys and Ceto, and sisters of the Greas, Echidna and Ladon. All of Medusa’s siblings were monsters by birth, and although she was not, she had the misfortune to become the most horrible of them all.
From then on, like Euryale and Stheno, her older Gorgon sisters, Medusa was depicted with hands of bronze and wings of gold. The poets claimed that she had a large tusk resembling that of a boar and a tongue that swung between her tusked teeth. Writhing snakes entwined his head instead of his hair. Her face was so hideous and her gaze so piercing that just the sight of her was enough to turn a man to stone.
Poseidon and Medusa
It was not always so. Medusa, the only mortal among the Gorgon sisters, was also distinguished from them by the fact that she alone was born with a beautiful face. Ovid especially praises the glory of her hair, “the most wonderful of all her charms“. The great sea god Poseidon seems to have shared this admiration, for once he could not resist the temptation and impregnated Medusa in a temple of Athena.
Enraged, the virgin goddess transformed Medusa’s lovely hair into a coil of serpents, turning the younger Gorgon into the monster we described above. Shortly after this, trying to get rid of Perseus, Polydectes, the king of Seriphos, sent the great hero on a quest that he believed must be his last. “Bring me the head of Medusa,” Polydectes commanded.
With the help of Athena and Hermes, and after forcing the Greas to learn Medusa’s whereabouts, Perseus finally reached the legendary land of the Gorgons, located in the far west, beyond the outer Ocean, or in the middle of it, on the rocky island of Sarpedon. Medusa was asleep and Perseus, using the reflection of Athena’s bronze shield as a guide (so as not to look directly at the Gorgons and turn to stone), managed to cut off her head with his sickle.
Medusa’s posthumous fate
Interestingly, Medusa’s story does not end with her death. In fact, it can be argued that the most peculiar fragments of her biography are all posthumous.
The Children of Medusa – The Lament of the Throats
For Medusa was pregnant at the time of her death, and when Perseus cut off her head, her two unborn children, Chrysaor and Pegasus, suddenly sprang from her neck. The Gorgons were awakened by the noise and did all they could to avenge their sister’s death, but they could neither see nor catch Perseus, for he wore the winged sandals of Hermes and the invisibility cap of Hades.
So they returned to their secluded abode to mourn Medusa. Pindar, a great Greek poet of antiquity, says that upon hearing her sad lament, Athena was so moved that she modeled from it the mournful music of the double pipe, the aulos.
The Miraculous Head of Medusa
Now that Perseus had Medusa’s head in his bag, he returned to Seriphos. However, as he flew over Libya, drops of Medusa’s blood fell to the ground and instantly turned into snakes; this is why, to this day, Libya abounds with snakes. When Perseus arrived at Seriphos, he used Medusa’s head to turn Polydectes and the vicious islanders into stones; the island was known long afterward for its numerous rocks.
After this, Perseus gave Medusa’s head to his benefactress Athena, as a votive gift. The goddess placed it on the aegis of Zeus (which she also wore) as the Gorgoneion. She also collected some of the remaining blood and gave most of it to Asclepius, who used the blood from Medusa’s left side to take people’s lives and the blood from her right side to raise people from the dead.
The rest of Medusa’s blood – a vial containing two drops – Athena gave to her adopted son, Erichthonius; Euripides says that one of the drops was a cure-all, and the other a deadly poison.
Ever protective of heroes, Athena set aside, in a bronze jar, a lock of Medusa’s hair for Heracles, who subsequently gave it to Cepheus’ daughter, Sterope, to use to protect her hometown of Tegea.
Supposedly, even if it did not have the power of Medusa’s gaze, the lock could terrify any enemy unfortunate enough to accidentally behold it.
Representation in art
The image of the Gorgon appears on several pieces of art and architectural structures, including the pediments of the Temple of Artemis (c. 580 BC) at Corcya (Corfu), the larger-than-life marble statue of the mid-6th century BC (now in the archaeological museum of Paros), and the celebrated cup of Douris.
The Gorgon became a popular shield design in antiquity along with being an apotropaic device (to ward off evil). The goddess Athena and Zeus were often portrayed with a shield (or aegis) depicting the head of a Gorgon, typically thought to be Medusa. There are also several archaeological examples of the Gorgon’s face being used on breastplates, mosaics and even as bronze pieces on ship beams in Roman times.
Perhaps the most famous example of Medusa in the art of antiquity was the statue of Athena Parthenos of the Parthenon which was made by Phidias and described by Pausanias. This statue of Athena depicts the face of a Gorgon on the pectoral of the goddess. In Greek mythology, there is also Hesiod’s description of the shield of Hercules, which describes the events of Perseus and Medusa.
