hey everyone welcome to another
installment
of mythology explained in today's video
we're going to be taking a look at the
life of medusa
one of the most famous monsters in all
of mythology
this video will include no less than
primordial sea gods
an abominable brood of monsters a flying
horse
a sword-wielding man springing forth
from the decapitated corpse of a slain
monster
and a fair maiden cursed by vengeful god
for being the victim
of a sex crime let's get into it
medusa's myth is an ancient one and is
commonly accepted to predate by hundreds
of years
any written source that's managed to
survive through to today
the oldest written account i believe is
the brief telling in hesiods theogony
which was written around 700 bc
in this account which is really just a
brief summary
for kiss and seto are said to be
medusa's parents
fortus was a primordial sea god and the
son of gaia the personification of the
earth
and of pontus the personification of the
sea
seto was also a primordial sea goddess
and
she shares the same parentage as pontus
making them
brother and sister something far from
uncommon
in the greek mythos medusa was far from
the only child
begot by the incestuous coupling of her
parents
additionally there were the three grey
eye dino enyo and pemfrido
then there was echidna considered the
mother of monsters
and there were the other two gorgons
medusa's older sisters
steno and yuri ali the grey eye
also known as the grey sisters were
three wisened crones
who shared but a single eye and a single
tooth
they make an appearance when perseus
seeks them out and forces them to
divulge
the whereabouts of the many magical
objects needed to kill medusa
by capturing their one eye and
threatening to squish it in his fist
echidna was half woman half snake and
was the mate of typhon
the colossal immeasurably powerful
monster who threatened
zeus supremacy of the cosmos
the union between echidna and typhon
produced many of the most infamous
monsters
in greek mythology including cerberus
the three-headed dog
who guarded the underworld the hydra the
chimera
the sphinx the nemean lion the caucasian
eagle who swooped in
day after day to devour prometheus newly
regenerated liver
and many others both of medusa's older
sisters
unlike medusa herself were immortal this
is why she was singled out as the target
of percy's quest for she was the only
one who could be slain
by his hand each of the three sisters
possessed the ability to turn to stone
those who looked upon them yuri ali is
described as having a unique
shrieking howling ability powerful
enough to reduce rock
to sand and steno is described
as the most bloodthirsty member of the
trio having killed
the most men so far we've unpacked
medusa's monstrous family
what's interesting though is that there
are several varying accounts that detail
medusa's origins in the year 8
a.d ovid a roman poet published
metamorphoses
his magnum opus his verse doesn't have
medusa as the daughter of two primordial
sea deities
rather according to his story medusa was
once human
and a priestess of athena medusa's
radiant beauty
stirred up a lust in poseidon's loins he
took medusa against her will
defiling her on the floor of athena's
temple for whatever
irrational reason athena laid the
responsibility for this sacrilege
at medusa's feet medusa was robbed of
her beauty
and transformed into a monster so
hideous that all men who gazed upon her
were stricken to stone i would guess
that hesiod's version of events
is probably the account that comes
closer to what the original myth
actually was because his telling is less
embellished
and was published 700 years earlier
initially
the gorgons were depicted as monstrous
and ghastly in every respect
the best description i found was in the
matter of fact telling by apollodorus
another prominent roman poet his account
reads as follows
the gorgons had heads with scaly
serpents curled around them
and large tusks like those of swine and
hands of bronze and wings of gold
which gave them the power of flight and
they turned all who beheld them to stone
what's interesting about medusa's
appearance is how it changed over time
there's a sort of continuum with
monstrous on one end and beautiful on
the other
initially as can be surmised from the
description just read
she was truly monstrous later though her
appearance changed
so that it more so reflected the essence
of tragic
lethal beauty the nest of writhing
snakes for hair remained consistent
throughout
but the head and face it surmounted
eventually became that of a beautiful
woman
in the end medusa is vanquished
execution style by perseus the assassin
pop culture like wrath of the titans
would have you think perseus bested
medusa
in some heroic combat but that's a far
cry from how the myth was originally
told
here's what actually transpired the gods
outfitted perseus with many divine
treasures
he was given a sword of adamant that
could cut through anything
he was given hades cap of invisibility
and he was given some winged
sandals perseus advanced on the unaware
medusa when she was sleeping
wearing his cap and sandals he was able
to hover above her completely invisible
once well positioned he used his
impossibly sharp sword to slice through
medusa's neck
with a single swing oh yeah he was also
given a magic shield
and a magic sack he used the reflection
of the shield to guide him safely
and the magic sack could expand or
contract according to the owner's need
from medusa's decapitated corpse sprung
forth pegasus
the magnificent winged horse and his
brother chrysor
a heroic man born with sword in hand
and that concludes today's brief
overview
of one of the most enigmatic monsters in
greek mythology
until next time but he who neither
thinks for himself
nor learns from others is a failure as a
man
[Music]