Medusa's father was Phorcys who was thought of as a fish-tailed merman with crab-claw fore-legs and red-spiked skin. Her mother Cetus also known as Ceto was a said to be a hideous sea monster. Medusa had 2 older sisters Euryale and Stheno. Both of her sisters were immortal. They had all once been beautiful maidens.

Then at one point Medusa became a victim to her own stunning beauty. Medusa had once been a priestess in Athena's temple. This was to be her home for life. Athena was jealous of the fact that Medusa attracted both men and gods. The one day Medusa was alone in Athena's temple. The god Neptune found her and committed adultery with her. When Athena found out, she was furious. So Athena took out her anger on Medusa because she was not as able bodied as Neptune and was unable to fight him. To do this, she cursed Medusa causing her to go from a fair and beautiful maiden to a horrible gorgon.

She did the same to both of Medusa's immortal sisters, Euryale and Stheno, and cursed them in the same way. She took Medusa's soft skin and made it rough and scaly. She took her locks of hair and them into live, slithery snakes. Medusa was so ugly that anyone who looked at her was turned to stone, or as they called it petrified which has come to mean paralyzed by fright. Once Medusa had been loved by all men and gods now all who looked at her would surely be turned to stone. No one could marry her no one could even look at her so she was sentenced to the underworld to guard the west gate to death for life.

According to a book called "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan, a young boy by the name of Perseus Jackson killed Medusa. Perseus was the son of Poseidon the sea god and Sally Jackson a mortal women back then children like Perseus were called demigods. Perseus used a golden necklace to reflect Medusa's image in order to avoid Medusa's petrifying eyes In the story Perseus ended up killing Medusa. In the children's story of Medusa, after Perseus killed and chopped off the head of Medusa to answer a challenge by Polydectes, blood dripped from the head of Medusa and for every drop a male and a female snake were created due to the will of Gaea god of the earth.

This story attempts to explain why so many snakes roam the region of Africa. Some believe that serpents slide on their stomachs in respect to Medusa this is because of the fact that Medusa was such an outcast to mankind. Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon when Perseus beheaded her. Her name has recently come to mean Monster or Gorgon.

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