by Belinda Brown

Created on: October 01, 2010

In Greek Mythology, the story of Medusa is quite varied and there are many different versions. The earliest tale of Medusa depicts her as a Gorgon, a female monster and she was said to be the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto.

To lay eyes on her directly would change the viewer to stone. Medusa had been beheaded by Perseus who then gave the head to the Greek Goddess Athena who then placed the head on Perseus' shield. The myth tells of the severed head held more power and Perseus had used it as a weapon.

Another version of the ancient myth tells of Medusa as originally a beautiful woman. Medusa was described as “the jealous aspiration of many suitors” within the temple of Athena. However, Medusa had enraged Athena after she had been fornicating with Poseidon, the God of the sea. As punishment, Athena had turned Medusa's long hair into serpents and had made her beautiful face so hideous to look at that if anyone did so, it would turn them into stone.

Soon after, the King Polydectes of Seriphos had sent Perseus to Medusa's abode to collect her head and return it to him as a gift. In order to succeed in his quest, Perseus had been offered assistance by Athena and Hermes, who had given him a mirrored shield, Hades' hat of invisibility, a sword and a pair of winged sandals.

Perseus was able to behead Medusa by looking at her reflection through the mirrored shield and not directly at her. Looking at her reflection was harmless and would not turn Perseus into stone. Once the head had been cut away from Medusa's shoulders, two offspring had leapt out of her neck and it was said she had been impregnated by Poseidon who was a Pegasus and by Chrysaor, the golden sworded giant.

Instead of returning the head to the King, Perseus returned to Seriphos by using the winged sandals to save his mother who was being forced to marry King Polydectes and had used Medusa's head as a weapon to turn the king into stone. Perseus had then offered the head of Medusa to Athena instead and Athena had placed the head on her own shield, known as the Aegis, instead of placing it on Perseus' shield.

There have been many early and later adaptions of the tale of Medusa and her image has been painted by famous artists around the world for centuries.

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