Medusadidn’t have the secure Porto Rico in ancient Greece . Her grotesque appearance — wide eye , loll tongue , gnashing tooth and , most famously , sibilate snake for hair — invest temple roofs , military shield and even the bottom of drinking vessels to deliver a jerk of surprise with the last gulp of wine .
But if you read the Medusa myths nearly , they bring out a complex portrait of a " monster " who is as much a dupe as a victimiser , excuse Spyros Syropoulos , a professor of ancient Greek lit in the Department of Mediterranean Studies at theUniversity of the Aegeanin Greece .
Indeed , Medusa exists in our collective resourcefulness because of the dissimilar roles she has bring throughout westerly cultural chronicle . As with so many mythic entities , Medusa can severalize us about our distant past , as well as about our present .
Medusa’s Story: The Oldest Version of the Greek Myth
As with much of Grecian mythology , there are several versions of Medusa’sorigin history . The oldest Hellenic myths cast her as a monster from birth , while the posterior account describe an innocent new maiden punish for the sine of the God .
According to the Hellenic poet Hesiod , writing in the 8th and seventh century B.C.E. , Medusa was one of three sisters lie with as the Gorgons behave to the primeval gods Ceto and Phorcys , who were female parent and Logos . Medusa ’s fate was " a sad one,“wrote Hesiod , because she was deadly while her sister Sthenno and Euryale were ageless and lived eternally .
" There ’s something monstrous and unjust in that Medusa ’s the only deadly , " says Syropoulos . " Not to mention that she was born from a ' grotesque ' relationship . " ( In one version of the story , Medusa and her Sister are the children of Phorcys , an ancient sea - god , and Ceto , a sea - monster ) .
The Medusa Myth Evolves
write a century after Hesiod , Greek poetStasinus of Cyprus describedMedusa and her Gorgon sisters as " fearful monsters who lived in Sarpedon , a bumpy island in deep - whirlpool Oceanus . "
The word Gorgon comes from the Greekgorgosmeaning " terrible . " Grecian dramatist Aeschylus , write in the fifth one C B.C.E. , fill in the details of the Gorgons ' dreadful appearance : " three fly sisters , the snake - hirsute Gorgon , loathed of human race , whom no one of mortal kind shall look upon and still draw breath . "
Punished for Being a Victim
later on stories doubled down on the injustice of Medusa ’s fate . The popish poet Ovid , write around the time of Christ(first century C.E. ) , said that Medusa was n’t a ogre at first , but a beautiful maid with " endearing hair " who get the oculus of lustful Poseidon , god of the ocean .
Poseidon ravish Medusa in the Temple ofAthena , and the goddess of sapience and war was so raging that she transform Medusa ’s hair into " offensive snakes . "
" Instead of punish the god , Athena penalize the mortal , which was unfair , " say Syropoulos . " But that ’s how the God behaved in Greek mythology — lowly , vindictive and vicious . "
Ancient Cruelties
As the ultimate inhuman treatment , Medusa ’s lop head was flourish by her tormentor Athena as a weapon and aim of fear . The Greeks themselves used the terrifying image of Medusa ’s chief , called agorgoneion , as a protective appealingness .
" When we remember of Medusa , we think of the school principal only , " say Syropoulos , author of " A Bestiary of Monsters in Greek Mythology " ( Archaeopress Archeology , 2018 ) .
" The lop question becomes much more authoritative than the blameless girl , Medusa . " British Hellenic scholar Jane Ellen Harrison likewise argued , in a classic field of study entitle " Prolegomena : To The Study Of Greek Religion " ( Princeton University crush , 1991 ) " [ Medusa ’s ] potency only begins when her head is discerp … " underscoring the violent underpinnings of the myth .
Modern Imaginations and the Medusa Myth
Over clock time , the tragic dimension of the Medusa story , as well as its potentially subversive facet , began to raise . Even early depiction of the myth on an Attic vase show Medusa as a beautiful adult female , as do many a marble carving .
Modern feminist thinker such as Hélène Cixous infer the Medusa story very differently , with one model casting her as female desire personified .
In Cixous ’s essay " The Laugh of Medusa , " the author argues that the Medusa story unwrap patriarchal fear over distaff sexuality . She reinterpret Medusa as an empowering form , writing that " … she ’s beautiful and she ’s express mirth . "
Perseus and Medusa
Medusa ’s most celebrated appearance in Greek mythology is as the feared monster in the heroicstory of Perseus . In edict to release his mother , Perseus was sent to kill Medusa , the winged Gorgon who could ossify someone ( literally turn them to stone ) with a single look .
Armed with gift from the gods , including a mirror - corresponding shield that appropriate him to stare upon Medusa whole , Perseus chopped off Medusa ’s head .
Even after she was dead , Medusa ’s head was used as a arm . Perseus reveal it to petrify his mother ’s capturer and then delivered Medusa ’s heading to Athena , who attach thegorgoneionto her cuticle to terrorize her enemies .
" Medusa was returned to the goddess who had made her into a monster , and then became an unwilling victimiser herself , " says Syropoulos . " There ’s never - ending violence in this story , a protraction of immorality and wickedness . But there ’s much more wickedness in the goddess Athena than in the unimpeachable lady friend , Medusa . "
Flaunting the Protective Gorgoneia
InGreek artwork , Athena and other gods often carry shields grace with the protective image of Medusa . The prodigious statue know as Athena Parthenos , once the centerpiece of the Parthenon , show Athena with twogorgoneia , one on her cuticle and another on her breastplate .
That type of protective talisman is call " apotropaic , " which explains why Medusa ’s ikon is found on everything from ancient funeral jars to the roof tiles of temple , where she scared off malefic spirits ( standardized to gargoyle on medieval cathedral ) .
Myth and Monstrosity in Ancient Greece
Today , we catch Grecian mythology as entertaining storey of fictitious gods , goddesses , heroes and monsters , but in the ancient Greek world , myth were regarded as quasi - historical story from a distant past tense .
" They could n’t put a date on it , but the ancient Greeks did n’t doubt that something material had taken seat ' once upon a time , ' " say Syropoulos . " Nobody doubt thatHerculeswent to the underworld and wreak back the three - headed andiron , Cerberus , or that Jason went to the other side and call back the Golden Fleece . "
Monsters Were Inhuman, Not Necessarily Bad
To the Greeks , fiend were n’t seen as inherently malevolent or ugly . A devil was any animal that trespass human perception , including the beautiful , winged horse Pegasus ( born from Medusa ’s blood after her beheading by Perseus ) .
In Greek culture , the world was composed of complementary duality — day and nighttime , Mount Olympus andHades — and both in force and evil could subsist at the same time , even within the gods .
Perhaps no character reference from Greek myth personified that dual nature better than the " terrible " Medusa .
" She ’s beautiful and grotesque , " says Syropoulos . " We sense repugnance , but also compassion . She ’s a victim and a victimiser . She ’s deathly , but her range of a function lives on constantly . This is what made it impossible for century of artist and poets to ignore her . "
