![]() ![]() ![]() In this section of the book, Ovid gives a completely different origin story for the terrifying creature. The representation of females in Greek mythology, including the Gorgon Medusa, has often included frightening images and ideas showing men’s fear of female power and their need to control or even destroy this power. However, there is evidence that the myth changed drastically over time.Īround 8 AD, Ovid-a Roman poet celebrated for his faithful retelling of popular Greek myths-produced his famous Metamorphoses, an expansive book of myths which includes the myth of Perseus and his slaying of Medusa. She was usually represented as a winged female creature having a head of hair consisting of snakes unlike the Gorgons, she was sometimes represented as very beautiful. In these earlier myths then, it’s assumed that Medusa was born a monster-complete with snakes and stony vision. Medusa, in Greek mythology, the most famous of the monster figures known as Gorgons. ![]() ![]() He also describes a key difference between Medusa and her two sisters, one that becomes extremely important later: Medusa, unlike the other two gorgons (and for reasons not explained), is fully mortal. She is killed by the hero Perseus, who cuts off her head. He calls them Stheno (“the mighty”), Euryale (“the wide wandering” or “the far springer”), and finally, Medusa (“the cunning one” or “the queen”). In ancient Greek mythology, Medusa is a Gorgon, one of three hideous sisters whose appearance turns men to stone. Hesiod, in his Theogony (700 BCE), describes the gorgons as three sister-monsters born of Phorcys and Ceto, two primordial ocean deities. Medusa greek myth creature pop art vector Medusa greek god mascot vector Medusa greek myth creature coloring vector Greek mythology perseus fighting medusa. It isn’t until several years later that another author gives the gorgon more of a backstory. "But that's how the gods behaved in Greek mythology - petty, vindictive and cruel.In the Odyssey, the gorgon is a briefly mentioned inhabitant of the underworld-one whom Persephone could apparently “sic” on anyone who angered her. "Instead of punishing the god, Athena punished the mortal, which was unfair," says Syropoulos. Poseidon raped Medusa in the Temple of Athena, and the goddess of wisdom and war was so angry that she transformed Medusa's flowing hair into "loathsome snakes." The Roman poet Ovid, writing around the time of Christ (first century C.E.), said that Medusa wasn't a monster at first, but a maiden with "lovely hair" who caught the eye of lustful Poseidon, god of the sea. The mythological Greek hero Perseus performed a service to mankind by ridding the world of her fearsome power. Later stories doubled down on the unfairness of Medusa's fate. Medusa is the mortal one of the three Gorgon sisters and is often called Gorgon Medusa. A beautiful mortal, Medusa was the exception in the family, until she incurred the wrath of Athena, either due to her boastfulness or because of an ill-fated love affair with Poseidon. Writing a century after Hesiod, Greek poet Stasinus of Cyprus described Medusa and her Gorgon sisters as "fearful monsters who lived in Sarpedon, a rocky island in deep-eddying Oceanus." The word Gorgon comes from the Greek gorgos meaning "terrible." Greek playwright Aeschylus, writing in the fifth century B.C.E., filled in the details of the Gorgons' horrific appearance: "three winged sisters, the snake-haired Gorgons, loathed of mankind, whom no one of mortal kind shall look upon and still draw breath." Medusa was one of the three Gorgons, daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, sisters of the Graeae, Echidna, and Ladon all dreadful and fearsome beasts. "Not to mention that she was born from a 'monstrous' relationship." Arguably Medusa is the most famous villainess and monster of Greek mythology, for Medusa was the monster with hair of snakes and a stony gaze encountered by. Medusa, who represented female wisdom, was the eldest of two other Gorgon. "There's something monstrous and unfair in that Medusa's the only mortal," says Syropoulos. Medusa, the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto is a famous gorgon in Greek Mythology. ![]()
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