Debunking some misinformation about Medusa
There’s so much and I mean SO MUCH misinformation spread about Medusa. It’s gotten especially worse in recent years due to the spread of ai as well as bad retellings becoming more popular than ever. Believe it or not, you might actually be misinformed yourself, that’s how bad things have gotten.
Disclaimer: I use a lot of… foul language and this isn’t exactly a professional critique but some of these are so outrageously misogynistic that any writer who pushes this bs doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Let’s start:
“Medusa was a human woman and had human parents”
Even in Ovid’s Metamorphosis, he states that Medusa was the daughter of the sea god Phorcys:
“§ 4.740 The hero washes his victorious hands in water newly taken from the sea: but lest the sand upon the shore might harm the viper-covered head, he first prepared a bed of springy leaves, on which he threw weeds of the sea, produced beneath the waves. On them he laid Medusa's awful face, daughter of Phorcys; — and the living weeds, fresh taken from the boundless deep, imbibed the monster's poison in their spongy pith: they hardened at the touch, and felt in branch and leaf unwonted stiffness”
Nearly every source speaking of Medusa’s parentage/origin they say she’s the daughter of Phorcys.
“Medusa was a priestess of Athena”
No. Not in any ancient source, whether Greek or Roman did it even suggest that Medusa was a priestess. The closest I could find is one of Servius scholia:
But even here she isn’t a priestess but even if she was, priestesses in Ancient Greece weren’t expected to have a vow of virginity, they weren’t like modern day Christian nuns, they were still expected to get married and have children just like everyone else. If you wanna know of actual priestesses of Athena and how they’re treated by their goddess look at Triteia, Auge, Iodama and Praxithea.
Also this is a great article on the subject: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HxjXDjnK61EXahP6LO2LpluCOAL6pU6i/view
Was_Medusa_a_Priestess_of_Athena_On_Ovid_Metamorph.pdf
“Medusa was actually gifted by Athena, not cursed”
This one is so asinine it makes me angry lol
If you think about it for more the a millisecond and you actually know basic shit about Medusa’s story you’d know it’s complete bs, it was Athena who tells Perseus how to defeat Medusa, it was Athena who gave Perseus his weapons, it was Athena (and Hermes) who guides Perseus to his destination, it was Athena who shields Perseus from Medusa’s vengeful sisters as he escaped with Medusa’s head, it was Athena who turned Perseus and Andromeda into constellations to commemorate their story.
Athena loved and protected Perseus not Medusa. End of story.
And before someone claims that Athena only helped Perseus bc she was “forced” to no tf she wasn’t lol
Pindar, Pythian Ode 12. 8 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"The art that long ago Pallas Athene invented [the flute], weaving in music's rich refrain the ghoulish dirge of the fierce-hearted Gorgones (Gorgons). This in their anguished struggle from those dread maiden's lips was heard streaming, and from those writhing serpent heads untouchable, when Perseus o'er the third of those fell sisters launched his cry of triumph, and brought fatal doom to Seriphos by the sea--doom for that isle and for her people. Yes, for he had made blind the grim offspring of Phorkys (Phorcys), and bitter the wedding-gift he brought to Polydektes (Polydectes), thus to end his mother's long slavery and enforced wedlock--that son of Danae, who reaped the head of fair-cheeked Medousa (Medusa) . . . But when the goddess maid delivered from these labours the man she loved, then she contrived the manifold melodies of the flute, to make in music's notes an image of the shrill lamenting cries, strung from Euryale's ravening jaws. A goddess found, but finding, gave the strain to mortal men to hold, naming it the tune of many heads."
Clearly Athena didn’t care for Medusa or her sisters.
Here’s one of my favorite vases ever where Athena is shielding Perseus from the Gorgons as he flees.
“Medusa was a minor”
lol stfu her age is never specified at best she’s called a maiden but that doesn’t mean anything.
“Medusa was a goddess”
No lol
That’s like saying Gargoyles are worshipped by Christians which is just not true.
“Medusa was a protector of women”
Medusa was used as a symbol of protection by everyone, including men, there’s actually several literary references and artistic depictions of Gorgons on male warriors shields. Also you might hear the claim that Medusa’s head was displayed in “women’s shelters” that’s completely bs lmao, the ancient Greeks were too misogynistic to have such a thing as women’s shelters, the earliest time this claim was spewed was right here on Tumblr lol
“Medusa lived all alone”
Stheno and Euryale, hell even the Graiai would like a word lol
Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 788 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
" -the Gorgonean plains of Kisthene (Cisthene), where the Phorkides (Phorcides) dwell, ancient maids, three in number, shaped like swans, possessing one eye amongst them and a single tooth; neither does the sun with his beams look down upon them, nor ever the nightly moon. And near them are their three winged sisters, the snake-haired (drakontomalloi) Gorgones (Gorgons), loathed of mankind, whom no one of mortal kind shall look upon and still draw breath. Such is the peril that I bid you to guard against."
This part is Prometheus warning Io (who was turned into a cow) to avoid the Gorgons for her safety, in the same scene Prometheus also tells Io that she can trust the Amazons to guide her for a bit of her journey, so you can’t really pull the “oh ancient writers only said the Gorgons are dangerous bc they’re misogynistic” argument lol
“Medusa’s gaze only works on men”
Iodama and Ariadne would like a word lol
Pausanias. Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones
“ The following tale, too, is told. Iodama, who served the goddess as priestess, entered the precinct by night, where there appeared to her Athena, upon whose tunic was worked the head of Medusa the Gorgon. When Iodama saw it, she was turned to stone. For this reason a woman puts fire every day on the altar of Iodama, and as she does this she thrice repeats in the Boeotian dialect that Iodama is living and asking for fire.”
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 47. 665 ff :
"[Perseus in a battle with Dionysos :] He shook in his hand the deadly face of Medousa (Medusa), and turned armed Ariadne into stone. Bakkhos (Bacchus) was even more furious when he saw his bride all stone . . . [Perseus] one who killed the Keteos (Sea-monster) and beheaded horsebreeding Medousa."
“Medusa’s family disowned her for being mortal and unmonsterous”
Ok, so we know for a fact that Medusa’s sisters loved Medusa and were protective of her, but we don’t actually get much from her parents. For all we know, sure maybe she didn’t have a great relationship with her parents but there’s nothing suggesting they had issue with her being too “weak” bc of her mortality, in fact quite the opposite.
(Lucan, Pharsalia Book 9)
"… but even Phorcys, second to Neptune her own father, in ruling the sea, feared Medusa, as did her mother, Ceto, and her sister Gorgons; she had power to threaten sea and sky with rare paralysis, and clothe the world with stone."
So she really wasn’t perceived as weak by her family. If anything it would make more sense if they reject her for being dangerous.
“Athena was jealous of Medusa for attracting Poseidon”
How about you Kys actually bc god this is so disgusting. Athena had zero romantic or sexual interest in Poseidon and vice versa, y’know why? BC SHE’S A VIRGIN GODDESS! To go out of your way to make a goddess who’s very explicitly not interested in men to actually secretly be interested in men and therefore harming other women bc of it sounds like shit I’d come across in a some slop written by a man, the fact so called feminists push this narrative is so disappointing.
“Poseidon assaulted Medusa specifically to get back at Athena for winning Athens”
This also has zero basis lol, I promise you Medusa wasn’t that important in the grand scheme of things and she wasn’t even important to Athena (as we established Medusa wasn’t a priestess) if you want a story about Poseidon getting back at Athena through violence check out Euripides Erechtheus, in which Poseidon’s son invades Athens with the support of his father.
“Athena was the one to give Medusa her stone gaze”
Ironically no, you’d be surprised that even Ovid’s Metamorphosis only says that Athena/Minerva cursed Medusa with having snakes for hair, but it mentions nothing about her stone gaze:
Ovid: The Metamorphoses, Book IV
“He told of his long journeys, of dangers that were not imaginary ones, what seas and lands he had seen below from his high flight, and what stars he had brushed against with beating wings. He still finished speaking before they wished. Next one of the many princes asked why Medusa, alone among her sisters, had snakes twining in her hair. The guest replied ‘Since what you ask is worth the telling, hear the answer to your question. 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.’”
Now, if you’ve read the article pdf about Medusa that I linked here, you’d know it’s unlikely that Ovid’s was the one who invent this story and he likely took inspiration from another, earlier writer. With that said this doesn’t really make sense bc Medusa’s sisters also have snake hairs, both in writing and art so idk why or how in this version they don’t have snake hair. Yeah Ovid’s version is a little confusing in that aspect, like why did the prince ask about her hair when obviously it’s her eyes that would make for a more interesting conversation lol
“Athena orchestrated Medusa’s assault”
Fuck off, genuinely. Zero actual basis in mythology and also disgusting and misogynistic, is it not enough that Poseidon decided on his own to assault Medusa bc he’s powerful? Why blame a woman for another woman’s assault when it’s a man’s fault?
“Medusa was a black woman”
This isn’t actually backed up by history or mythology and only comes from white feminists in the 80s, it could be based on rationalizations saying that Medusa was a Libyan Queen (mind you, Libya referred to the area of North Africa directly west of the Nile river, based on the Libu ppl) but you gotta remember most North Africans, both today and in ancient times, looked Mediterranean, so most didn’t look that different from Greeks.
Also, if you actually look at the earliest depictions of Gorgons that’s just obviously bs bc they didn’t even look human:
And if you actually look at archaic depictions of Medusa and other figures you’d see her hair looks just like theirs:
“Medusa never killed innocent ppl”
Not only did she kill innocent ppl, but also animals:
Lucan, The Civil War (Pharsalia) Book IX
“Birds suddenly heavy fell from the sky; wild creatures
froze to the rocks; and whole tribes of Ethiopians
around were turned to statues. Nothing living
could endure her gaze, and even the Gorgon’s
serpents all reared backwards to avoid her face.”
Ok I think that’s it. I’m done… I think. There’s probably some bs I forgot but I’m not sure.
