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Medusa and her Sisters

(first of all, i’d like to apologize for not posting in a while! this is supposed to be ancient myth daily, not ancient myth fortnightly goddamnit!!)

Medusa, the most notorious of the three gorgons, the snake-haired sister, is perhaps the most recognizable of Hellenistic legendary creatures today. Her story by Ovid is tragic, though he did not write it so.

The Gorgons were three sisters: Medusa (”protectress”), Stheno (”forceful”), and Euryale (”far-roaming”). Hence like many goddesses they are part of the three sisters mytheme. They were said to be the daughters of the primordial sea deities Phorcys and Ceto. The Gorgons as monsters came from much earlier mythological systems, with the term ‘Gorgon’ possibly derived from Sanskrit.

According to Ovid, the Gorgons were once beautiful women. Medusa, the most beautiful, was raped by the sea god Poseidon in a temple of Athena. Athena, furious at the defilement of her temple, and blaming the mortal victim, turned Medusa into the terrible monster that we know and love. Medusa’s sisters remained in solidarity with her, so they too were transformed. Ovid, of course, characterizes Medusa’s punishment as justified and fully deserved, which is terrible. She literally had no choice in the matter.

The Gorgons could petrify men, or turn them to stone, if they met eyes. Supposedly they killed men as revenge for what happened to Medusa. Their hair was snakes, and they also had wings. Earlier depictions of the Gorgons give them varying traits such as scaly skin, hands of bronze, boar tusks, a snake belt, or a protruding tongue.

Stheno was the fiercest of the three, having killed more men then her sisters combined. Euryale was noted for her deep wailing, and interestingly she is sometimes cited as Orion’s mother. Medusa was the only mortal sister, and as such became a target for young heroes who liked to slay monsters willy-nilly with no thought as to who is actually morally in the wrong.