Aeschylus, the 6th/5th century BCE tragedian, describes the women in his Greek tragedy Prometheus Bound as the "three winged sisters, loathed enemies of humankind, the snake-haired Gorgons, whom no man can see and live" (798-799). Hesiod, in his Theogony, does not mention any physical features of the Gorgons, but Homer, in his Odyssey, mentions "the monsters head, the Gorgon" (11.636), and in the Iliad, he describes the Gorgoneion on Athena's aegis as "the head of the grim gigantic Gorgon, a thing of fear and horror" (5.741-742). There was no uniform description of Medusa and her fellow Gorgons, and her characteristics transformed across writers and regions. The Transformation of Medusa in Literature & Art Then he gave the head of Medusa to Athena, who placed it in the centre of her shield, known as the aegis, to terrify her enemies.
When Perseus returned to the Island of Seriphos, he turned Polydectes and his people to stone with the Gorgon's head and made Dictys the king. Perseus made short work of Phineus by turning him to stone with the head of Medusa. The only issue was that Andromeda was already engaged to be married to her uncle Phineus. Perseus fell in love with her the moment he saw her he slew the sea monster and set her free. The only way to stop the sea god's floods and the sea monster was to give up Andromeda. Her mother had claimed she was more beautiful than the Nereids, who flew into a rage upon hearing this and had Poseidon, the god of the sea, on their side. Another use of Medusa's head was to save Andromeda, who had been tied to a rock as an offering to the sea monster Ketos. Some versions of the tale of Aridane, Theseus, and Dionysus say that Ariadne was killed by Artemis, and others say that she was accidentally turned to stone by Perseus after Dionysus made war on Perseus. Perseus placed the head of Medusa in his kibisis, but as he was leaving, the remaining two Gorgons woke up and tried to pursue him, but since he was wearing the invisible cap, they could not see him.Īfter slaying Medusa, Perseus uses her head multiple times. From her severed head sprang Pegasus, the winged horse, and Chrysaor. As he stood over the sleeping creatures, Athena guided Perseus' hand while he looked into the reflection of a bronze shield so as not to be turned to stone by the gaze of the Gorgons if they awoke, and he cut off the head of Medusa with the sickle. Perseus arrived at the home of the Gorgons while they slept. Additionally, Hermes had given him an adamantine sickle. By some nymphs, the hero was given winged sandals, a sack known as a kibisis to store the head of the Gorgon, and the invisibility cap of Hades. It is said that Athena helped in the killing of Medusa because the girl had been willing to have her beauty compared to Athena. Perseus was guided by the god Hermes and the goddess Athena on his journey. When Perseus arrived without horses for a gift as was requested by Polydectes, Polydectes instead asked Perseus to retrieve for him the head of Medusa, the only mortal Gorgon, in the hopes that he would not succeed. He gathered his people to a banquet under the ruse of collecting contributions for the marriage of Hippodamia, who tamed horses. Polydectes fell in love with Danaë, but Perseus was quite protective of his mother, and so the king made a plan to trick Perseus. The chest eventually came ashore at the island of Seriphos, and Perseus was raised by Dictys, the brother of Polydectes, the king of Seriphos. When Acrisius learned that Perseus had been born and was the son of the king of the gods, he put both Danaë and her son Perseus into a chest and hurled it into the sea. According to him, Perseus was the son of Zeus, who took the form of a shower of gold), and Danaë, who had been locked up by her father Acrisius after he was told by an oracle that he would be killed by Danaë's son. Medusa is best known for her death at the hands of Perseus, and Pseudo-Apollodorus relates the story in the greatest detail.
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