Greek mythology is responsible for some of the most enduring stories in all of history.
The Pantheon of Gods sitting atop Mount Olympus, the Underworld, land of the dead,
guarded by a multi-headed dog. And don't forget the many, many monsters. The minotaur, stalking
through the labyrinth. The sirens, luring sailors to their deaths with their beautiful songs. And,
of course, the woman with hair made of serpents, whose gaze can turn a man to stone.
Medusa is quite possibly one of the most famous monsters in the mythological world.
You've almost certainly heard of her, seen her referenced in some movie or TV show,
but what is the real story behind the snake-haired woman? Grab your sword and shield, and try not
to make eye contact, because today, we're digging into the legend of Medusa the Gorgon.
According to the myths, Medusa was not the only Gorgon. She had two sisters,
all of them the daughters of the sea gods Phorcys and Ceto,
who dwelled at the very edge of the world. The writer Hesiod described it as, "beyond
glorious Ocean in the frontier land towards Night where are the clear-voiced Hesperides."
The Hesperides were sky goddesses, associated with the evening and guardianship of the golden apples.
The Gorgons, with their intimidating wingspans, sharp talons, and hair made of snakes, were quite
different from these gentle guardians. Their names were Medusa, Sthenno, and Euryale. Sthenno's name
means "strong" and "forceful," while Euryale's means "broad." Depending on the story, the blood
of the Gorgons was said to have poisonous or healing properties. Those odds don't seem great,
but if you happen to find yourself in possession of some Gorgon blood, then why not flip a coin?
The Gorgons have been a part of Greek Mythology since before the seventh or eighth century BCE,
when Hesiod wrote about them in Theogony. It is theorized that they were the result of Near
Eastern mythological and artistic influences on ancient Greek culture. Early depictions of the
Gorgons, when they had a more bestial appearance with thick hair and tusks, look notably similar to
those of Lamashtu, a Mesopotamian demon known for stealing children and attacking pregnant women.
Over time, depictions of Gorgons shifted to become more human in nature, but some
monstrous elements remained as they became the creatures we imagine when we hear the word
"Gorgon" today. Their imagery is frightening, intimidating, and iconic, open mouths, wide,
wild eyes, and twisting crowns of snakes, and no Gorgon is more recognizable than Medusa herself.
While the other Gorgons were immortals with monstrous features, Medusa was quite different.
She was mortal, a lonely fate when her siblings would never grow old or die. But where they were
hideous to behold, she was beautiful. Her looks and feminine charms captivated all who knew her,
and her most stunning attribute was her lush, splendid hair. But not all
attention is welcome attention, and Medusa captured the eye of a lustful god, Poseidon.
Brother of Zeus and god of the Sea, Poseidon boldly pursued the mortal
girl. But she rejected his advances out of devotion to the goddess Athena,
whom she hoped to serve as a priestess someday. But gods don't like to take no for an answer,
and one day, in the temple of Athena herself, Poseidon forced himself on Medusa.
Athena was horrified and enraged at the desecration of her sacred temple,
and she sought revenge. Not on Poseidon, her uncle, and the one who had abused his power,
but on Medusa. Athena transformed her into a monster, changing her hair to snakes and her
face to a visage so hideous that any who met her eyes would be petrified and turned to stone. She
returned to her sisters, joining them in their isolation and fleeing from society,
but she was beset by would-be heroes intending to slay her and cut off her head. Eventually,
one succeeded, but we'll get to that a little bit later.
First, we have to address something. A few of you watching might have been listening to the
story of Medusa and thinking, "Hey, that's not how I heard it!" and that's entirely possible!
There are several variations on the Medusa myth that have circulated over the years,
some popularized by different ancient poets, some just resulting from the
way stories shift and change over the years and after hundreds of retellings.
The earliest mentions of Medusa describe her as a monster quite like her sisters,
born monstrous rather than made that way. Over time, more emotion and drama
was woven into the story. The poet Hesiod described Medusa's fate as "a sad one," her
mortality tragic alongside the immortality of her sisters. In Hesiod's version of the story,
Poseidon and Medusa had a consensual love affair, and he lay with her "in a soft meadow and among
spring flowers." A gentler, more romantic take on Medusa compared to what came before or after.
A century after Hesiod, the poet Stasinus of Cyprus wrote about
Medusa and her sisters. He described them as "fearful monsters who lived in Sarpedon,
a rocky island in deep-eddying Oceanus." Later, the Greek playwright Aeschylus would expand on the
monstrous appearance of the Gorgons, writing of "three winged sisters, the snake-haired Gorgons,
loathed of mankind, whom no one of mortal kind shall look upon and still draw breath."
It is the Roman poet Ovid who might be responsible for the most commonly-repeated
version of the Medusa myth. He described her fate in his work: "She was once most beautiful,
and the jealous aspiration of many suitors. Of all her beauties, none was more admired than
her hair: I came across a man who recalled having seen her. They say that Neptune,
lord of the seas, violated her in the temple of Minerva. Jupiter’s daughter turned away,
and hid her chaste eyes behind her aegis. So that it might not go unpunished,
she changed the Gorgon’s hair to foul snakes. And now, to terrify her enemies,
numbing them with fear, the goddess wears the snakes, that she created, as a breastplate."
One thing all of the myths of Medusa have in common is her death at the hands of the hero
Perseus. The story of Perseus began when Acrisius, king of Argos, was warned by the oracle of Delphi
that his grandson would one day kill him. Since he did not yet have any grandchildren, he set about
making sure that he never would. He locked his daughter, Danae, in an underground room,
where she would never be able to become pregnant. But walls, locked doors, and a secret underground
chamber are no match for Zeus, the god of thunder, and unofficial god of infidelity.
Zeus took a shine to Danae, and decided to visit her in the form of a shower of
golden rain. Stop right there. Don't say it. Get your mind out of the gutter. Yes,
he came to Danae as a shower of gold, bypassing the walls of her chamber,
and entering her body. When the shower had passed, she was pregnant.
She eventually gave birth to a son, named Perseus. Furious that his daughter had managed
to conceive a grandson, and not believing that Zeus was the father, Acrisius sent
his daughter and newborn grandson out to the open sea on a ship. They drifted for a while,
before landing on the shores of Serifos island, where a local couple rescued them. They weren't
just any ordinary couple, either. The husband was the brother of the island's king, Polydectes.
When Perseus grew up, becoming a strong, handsome young man, he attracted the ire
of King Polydectes. Polydectes wanted to marry Danae, but didn't see a way to pull
off their union with her son around. See, Danae didn't want to marry him, and Perseus protected
her from his unwanted advances. So, the king hatched a plan. He would send Perseus away,
and make sure that he would never come back. Polydectes threw a royal banquet,
at which each and every guest was required to bring him a gift. For his gift from Perseus,
he asked him to journey to the lair of Medusa, to slay her, and to bring him back her head.
In Polydectes's eyes, this task was as good as a death sentence. But Perseus promised to
complete the quest and return victorious with the Gorgon's head in hand. He was in luck,
too. Athena, ever eager for a chance to help Medusa suffer, and for the chance to help out
her demigod half-brother, offered guidance to Perseus. She instructed him to find the
Hesperides, who would be able to tell him the location of Medusa and her sisters.
Before he could locate the Hesperides, Perseus would need to pay a visit to the Graeae,
the sisters of the Gorgons, three gray-haired women sharing one single
eye between them. He was able to get the better of them by stealing their eye,
holding it hostage and promising to return it in exchange for the location of the Hesperides.
When he reached the Hesperides, they offered him help in the form of a special bag he
could use to carry Medusa's head without being harmed by it. Then, several of the
gods contributed gifts that would aid him with his quest. Athena gave him a polished shield,
Zeus offered an unbreakable sickle, Hades gifted a helmet that gave him the ability
to turn invisible, and Hermes gave him a pair of winged sandals. Armed with the favor of the gods,
and the hidden location of the Gorgons' cave, Perseus prepared to take on Medusa.
When Perseus arrived at the cave, he found Medusa sleeping. Using the polished face
of the shield he received from Athena, he was able to look at Medusa's reflection,
observing her without being turned to stone. Then, using the unbreakable sword,
he sliced off Medusa's head. From her bleeding wound, the famous winged horse Pegasus and his
brother Chrysaor were born. With the helmet of invisibility keeping him hidden from view,
Perseus threw Medusa's head into the bag, and fled.
But Perseus's journey wasn't over yet. On the way back home, he passed through Ethiopia,
where he spotted a beautiful young woman bound to a rock, waiting for a sea monster to rise up
and swallow her whole. This was, he learned, the doing of Poseidon, a punishment for the queen of
Ethiopia's vanity. Andromeda would pay the price for her mother's choice to proclaim herself more
beautiful than the daughters of Nereus. In exchange for Andromeda's hand in marriage,
Perseus slayed the monster, Cetus, and freed her. The two were married, but the
union was interrupted by Andromeda's uncle, who was originally supposed to marry her. Ew.
Perseus defeated the lecherous uncle by holding up Medusa's head, turning him to stone.
After all this trial and tribulation, it was time for Perseus to return home and offer the king his
gift. When he arrived, he learned that Polydectes had continued his predatory pursuit of Danae in
his absence. Enough was enough, and Perseus confronted the king in his palace, holding up
the head of Medusa for him to see. Polydectes turned to stone, face frozen in shock forever.
But wait, did Perseus ever kill his grandfather? He did, but it was an accident. Some time later,
while participating in a series of athletic games, he threw a discus that hit an old man and killed
him. That old man was the grandfather he never knew. But enough about Perseus. What happened
to Medusa? Yes, she died, but what happened after that? Though she was no longer living,
she made her mark on the land throughout Perseus's journey home
As Perseus flew over the North African desert, using the winged shoes gifted to him by Hermes,
Medusa's blood began to leak from the satchel, falling onto the sands and creating venomous
snakes. When Perseus stopped to rest at the shoreline of the Red Sea, her blood dripped
into the water, transforming into hard red coral. As for the fate of Medusa's head,
Perseus presented it as an offering to Athena, in thanks for her aid during the
journey. She placed the head on her shield, her Aegis, using it as an offensive as well
as a defensive weapon. It protected her, but it could also now turn her opponents to stone. N
ow seems like an appropriate time to mention that the name Medusa means "Protector."
Medusa is far from the only female figure in Greek Mythology with a touch of the serpentine
about her. There are her sisters, of course, but it goes beyond gorgons.
In many Greek myths, Lamia was a beautiful woman, either the daughter of a king, or the
daughter of Poseidon, and the mother of the sea monster, Scylla. Either way, she was beautiful.
Beautiful enough to catch the eye of the God of Thunder, and infamous philanderer, Zeus.
He seduced her, and she bore several of his children. Well, as you can imagine,
Hera didn't take kindly to this. You might expect her to get used to Zeus's affairs after a while,
but she had a real talent for wrath. She, depending on the version of the myth,
either killed all of Lamia's children except for Scylla, or forced Lamia to kill her own children.
Either way, Lamia was driven mad with grief, becoming obsessed with stealing
and killing children. Over time, her rage and hate turned her into a monster,
transforming her into a hideous creature, half woman, half serpent. Zeus decided
to do something to ease her pain. Did he bring her children back? No,
of course not. But he did give her the gift of prophecy, and the ability to pluck her
eyes out at will and replace them. Gee, thanks. That really makes up for the horrible tragedy.
There is another female serpent monster in the Greek Myths, the daughter of sea gods Phorcys
and Ceto. Her name is derived from the Greek word for viper. In Hesiod's writings, he described her
den as "a cave deep down under a hollow rock far from the deathless gods and mortal men." Hesiod
also wrote descriptions of her appearance, "half a nymph with glancing eyes and fair cheeks, and half
again a huge snake, great and awful with speckled skin, eating raw flesh beneath the secret parts
of the holy earth." She was the mother of many of Greek Mythology's most iconic monsters, including
Cerberus, the many-headed dog that guards the Underworld, the Chimera, a hybrid of lion,
goat, and snake, and the Hydra, the many-headed beast eventually slain by Hercules.
Women who are part-snake are not limited to Greek Mythology. There are different versions
of serpentine women from all over the world. One striking example is the Japanese nure onna,
or "wet woman." Once again, get your mind out of the gutter,
this name refers to her preferred habitat along coasts, riverbeds,
and in and around various bodies of water. It also refers to the fact that they always appear
dripping wet, as if they have freshly emerged from beneath the surface of their watery home.
The Nure Onna are vampiric sea serpents, lurking around bodies of water and waiting
for unsuspecting humans to wander by, so that they can drain them of their blood and eat
them. The story is thought to originate from the Iwami region of the Shimane Prefecture,
and there are two variations on the creature. One looks like an enormous sea serpent with
the head of a human woman, and the other is the same, but with humanoid arms as well.
Both variations have long, black hair, drenched with water, and forked tongues.
She doesn't turn her victims to stone with a glance. Nor does she use her inhuman physical
strength to simply destroy them right away. Instead, in the most common versions of her story,
the Nure Onna uses trickery to ensnare her prey. A Nure Onna will appear on the coast or riverbank,
disguised as an ordinary woman in a state of distress, carrying a baby bundled up in cloth. She
will beg for help from passersby. When they draw closer, she asks them to hold her baby and allow
her to rest. If the victim accepts the baby into their arms, it will become heavier and heavier,
weighing them down until they are unable to move. Then, she is able to attack, and feed.
Medusa can be seen throughout ancient Greek art, her face painted on ceramics,
sculpted from stone, smelted from metal. According to Madeleine Glennon of the
Department of Greek and Roman Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Medusa's face functioned much like the modern evil eye. She was a protective symbol,
something dangerous that would repel other dangers, keeping other evils away.
This association likely contributed to the popularity of her image in art. The gorgoneion,
the head and face of Medusa, appears frequently in temple decorations from the Archaic period.
In these depictions, she is hideous and beastly. Then, in the Hellenistic era,
her visage morphs into that of a beautiful, though still inhuman, woman.
Medusa's impact on art has persisted beyond Ancient Greece. In 1554, Cellini sculpted a
bronze statue depicting Perseus's moment of victory just after beheading her. He stands
over her body, holding her severed head in the air. This was intended to represent the
power of the Medici family over the people of Florence. Other artists of the time courted
the favor of the Medicis with Medusa imagery. Caravaggio painted Medusa's moment of defeat
onto his ceremonial shield, again capturing the image of the powerful creature's defeat.
During the French Revolution, Medusa became the symbol of a political movement. Jacobin rebels
used her image as an emblem of French Liberty, linking her power with anti-establishment action.
Medusa inspired more modern poets than Hesiod and Ovid, lighting a creative fire in Percy Shelley.
He penned "On the Medusa of Leonardo Da Vinci, In the Florentine Gallery," a tribute that includes
lines such as "'Tis the melodious hue of beauty thrown Athwart the darkness and the glare of pain,
Which humanize and harmonize the strain." and "A woman's countenance, with serpent locks,
Gazing in death on heaven from those wet rocks." Shelley described Medusa
in the language of a tragic, beautiful women, lost to "torture" and "death."
Other writers expanded on this idea of a misunderstood Medusa. In the 1975
manifesto "The Laugh of the Medusa," feminist theorist Helen Cixous used
Medusa as a jumping-off point to discuss women's bodies, the fear of female desire,
and the value of women telling their own stories. "You only have to look at the Medusa
straight on to see her." She wrote, "and she's not deadly. She's beautiful and she's laughing."
Other prominent cultural voices had different opinions on what Medusa could represent. In 1940,
Sigmund Freud's writing "Medusa's Head," was published, after his death. In Freud's eyes,
decapitation could be compared to castration, and therefore, the fear of medusa could be
linked to a fear of castration, "linked to the sight of something." He continued,
"Numerous analyses have made us familiar with the occasion for this: it occurs when a boy,
who has hitherto been unwilling to believe the threat of castration, catches sight of the female
genitals, probably those of an adult, surrounded by hair, and essentially those of his mother."
Honestly, that seems like a little bit of a stretch. Also,
it should be noted that Medusa was the one who was decapitated in the myth,
so the castration metaphor does begin to fall apart a bit there.
Today, Medusa remains a compelling character, explored again and again in art and culture
from "Dungeons and Dragons" to "God of War," to "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." The more
things change, the more they stay the same, and artists continue to portray her, and gorgons,
in a wide variety of ways. Sometimes, she is the unfeeling monster, the dangerous beauty,
other times the tragic villain, the victim of a curse she did not ask for or deserve.
She terrifies us, she wards off evil, she excites and intrigues us in every form. For
a being whose gaze is meant to be avoided at all costs, none of us seem to be able to look away.