no man or monster has slithered their
way into our hearts quite like the snake
haired seductress with the obsidian
stare that's right today we're talking
about the OG the original Gorgon herself
Medusa
but the gaze I could turn men to stone
she has been terrorizing and petrifying
humanity for thousands of years I know
what you're thinking
I know Medusa I've seen the movies but
do you really let's find out
I'm dr. Emily zarqa and this is monstrum
Medusa's history dates back all the way
to the eighth century BC and the works
of Homer Homer writes that the warrior
goddess Athena arms herself with an
Aegis that bears a Gorgon head
what's an Aegis a piece of clothing but
it's also a shield it's not entirely
clear but we do know the Gorgon is a
quote fearful monster fearful and
terrible
according to Homer in both the Iliad and
the Odyssey what's a Gorgon you ask
according to Greek mythology the Gorgons
were the three daughters of the sea god
forces and seto Greek poet Hesiod
described deucey and her sisters as
women with snakes hanging from their
belts Greek scholar
Apollodorus described the Gorgon sisters
as having scaled heads large tusks and
golden wings he also adds one other
crucial detail Medusa loses her head at
the hands of Perseus the half-god
offspring of one of Zeus's many
dalliance --is armed with a sickle made
of adamantine and a helmet that turns
him invisible
Perseus sneaks up on the sleeping
Gorgons using his shield as a mirror to
avoid looking Medusa in the eyes before
he chops her head off and here's another
fun fact according to legend when
Perseus gives Medusa the old Marie
Antoinette two children's spring forth
from her body Chrysaor and Pegasus
that's right the winged horse on your
Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper is the son of
a snake haired monster and the god of
the sea go figure
so at this point we know three things
about Medusa she's a she she's not much
to look at and she keeps losing her head
fast-forward to the 1st century BC and
the Roman poet Ovid decided to reboot
the Medusa franchise with his own origin
story and things get a lot darker for
Medusa and metamorphosis Medusa is
beautiful with lovely flowing long hair
one day the god neptune finds her in a
temple dedicated to Minerva and rapes
her Minerva punishes the outrage by
transforming Medusa's hair into circle
and with that the modern Medusa takes
shape
she's got snakes for hair and a real
problem with eye contact there are a few
theories on Medusa's origins and how her
story has evolved one theory claims that
the Gorgon was really just a gold statue
of Athena that Perseus deals from three
sisters another theory has Medusa as a
Libyan Queen defeated by the Greek
Perseus who takes her head to show off
how beautiful she was but why the
strange power to turn men into stone
with just a gaze in my mind the most
plausible explanation is that the
mythological idea of being turned to
stone originates from ancient Greeks
trying to explain the existence of
prehistoric fossils bones that had
literally turned to stone
we know how fossils are formed now but
for the ancient Greeks stories were a
way to explain what they found and this
brings us to the Stoney heart of the
matter
why is Medusa female that is where
things get much more complicated
from the ancient Greeks to the Middle
Ages she was a sign of protection
shields and temple doors were adorned
with images of Medusa a face with a
protruding tongue wide eyes and fangs
she served as a warning it was during
the Middle Ages and the Renaissance that
Medusa moves from terrifying monster to
predatory seductive woman through a
Christian lens Medusa was seen as vise
incarnate as a symbol of a woman's power
to lead men astray Perseus is reframed
as a symbol of virtue triumphing over
Medusa so a victim of sexual assault
becomes a predatory sexual being but
it's in the 19th century that Medusa
with a little help from poet Percy
Shelley sheds that skin and undergoes
her most interesting transformation of
all
after seeing this painting incorrectly
attributed to Leonardo da Vinci Shelley
was inspired to write a poem about
Medusa Shelley attributes her power to
grace not evil writing quote its horror
and its beauty are divine upon its lips
and eyelids seems to lie loveliness like
a shadow from which shrines
fiery and lurid struggling underneath
the Agony's of anguish and of death yet
it is less the horror than the grace
which turns the gazer spirit into stone
with these words
Shelley find something new in the story
of Medusa not a stony stare but a
mesmerizing gaze not a monster but a
terrifying beauty not vice incarnate but
the feminine sublime more recently some
feminists adopted Medusa as a symbol of
female resistance and revenge a creature
that can literally turn the leering male
gaze against itself but not all
interpretations have been so generous
leave it to Sigmund Freud who argued
that the Medusa myth was a metaphor for
a fear of castration in films like Clash
the Titans and Percy Jackson and the
Olympians we see Medusa both as the
powerful dangerous living woman and as a
defeated decapitated head Medusa's
gender is her defining feature just as
much as that writhing head of snakes
remember it is never just the eyes that
are removed to take
the whole hat is needed the female face
in its entirety her defeat by
decapitation demonstrates that we see
femininity as a threatened victim or
villain beast or beauty of Medusa
lingers in our collective imagination
because she's a powerful simple if you
think women are scary she's a scary
woman but if you look a little deeper
you'll find there's more than meets the
eye
is this a hashtag good hair day or
hashtag bad hair day or hashtag best
hair day of all time what do you think
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