Medusa: A beautiful and profound retelling of Medusa’s story

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The third strand of the story is that of Medusa’s killer, the demi-god Perseus. Haynes has fun describing his conception. (Just how, exactly, does a mortal woman like Danaë have sexual congress with a shower of gold?) She writes warmly about Danaë’s saviour, the exiled prince-turned-fisher Dictys – mortals can be generous and forbearing. Perseus, though, is “a vicious little thug”, and, Haynes tells us, “the sooner you grasp that, and stop thinking of him as brave boy hero, the closer you’ll be to understanding.” To understanding the myth, that is, in the feminist-revisionist form in which she is presenting it here. Pindar, Pythian Ode 12.16. Thus, it seems that Medusa was depicted differently in art than she was in literature. See Marjorie J. Milne, "Perseus and Medusa on an Attic Vase," Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (New Series) 4 (1946): 126–30, at 126. ↩ Most importantly this book looks at self acceptance, accepting and owning who you are despite very dark periods and your mistakes. This made me love Medusa even more and was just so wholesome and happy to read these parts.

Other authors believed the Gorgons were an ancient race of wild, hairy women. [27] The antiquarian Diodorus of Sicily claimed that they were wiped out by Heracles when he traveled through Libya. [28] Pop Culture The image of Medusa’s head can be seen in numerous Greek and subsequent Roman artifacts such as shields, breastplates, and mosaics. One such example of a protective Medusa head pendant appeared in the form of a late 2nd to 4th century AD Roman artifact recently unearthed in the Cambridgeshire countryside . A 2,000-year-old marble head of Medusa was found not too long ago at a former Roman commercial center in Turkey as well. There are also numerous coins that bear not only the imagery of Perseus holding the head of Medusa, but also the head in its own right. Herodotus, Histories 2.91; Diodorus of Sicily, Library of History 3.52.4; Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.21.6. ↩ I had a map I had a star, but I also made hurricanes. I am telling you this because you need to understand what happened when Perseus turned up on my island. I made a choice, but also that choice was beyond me, waiting for its making”

The Powers of Medusa’s Head

Some people think that we’re born with our destiny mapped in our blood. But mapped by whom? By the gods? By fate, a mysterious mix of birth and starlight? We were all planned out, we just didn’t know it. We tread a fully formed path, and those who stray from it will crash and die. Then there are others who believe we’re born blank. Clean as spring water, we become the creators of our own hurricanes." Even if you are not a lover of Greek Mythology the chances are extremely high that you will at least have heard of the infamous Gorgon named Medusa. At Ancient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there exist countless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts that have yet to be discovered and explained. This book is absolutely stunning. A beautiful modern re-telling of a very old tale. It was refreshing to see the point of view of a young Medusa. Not the scary gorgon that she is most commonly known as. This desecration of her temple infuriates Athena, who, instead of punishing Poseidon, directs her wrath toward Medusa. As punishment for the act within her sacred temple, Athena transforms Medusa into a hideous monster with venomous snakes for hair and the ability to turn anyone who looks at her directly into the stone.

This book is based on Greek mythology and Medusa. It is about Triplette, monster hunting, and the descendants of Medusa, who protect humans from the mythological monsters walking the streets of San Francisco. When you think of Greek mythology, you automatically think of Medusa. Medusa was said to have once been a lover of Poseidon. According to Ovid, this is what first got her into trouble: when Medusa slept with Poseidon in a temple of Athena, Athena turned her hair into snakes as a punishment. From then on, all who looked upon her were turned to stone. [15] In another version of the myth, Medusa became the enemy of Athena because she claimed that she could rival the goddess in beauty. [16] Perseus Instructed to bring home a Gorgon’s head, Perseus sets out on his quest without pausing to ask who, what or where a Gorgon might be. He is assisted by Athene and Hermes, and a lot of the jokes come from their exasperation with his irredeemable doltishness.I wasn’t expecting The Odyssey, but i was expecting some effort to at least pretend like the author was trying to make it authentic to Ancient Greece… Instead, I kept finding turns or phrase or stylistic choices that decidedly didn’t belong in this era - like “girlfriend” and “boyfriend” - and honestly it was distracting - it kept taking me out of the story. We learn how Medusa came by her notable do. After being sexually assaulted by Poseidon in one of Athena’s temples, the goddess was appalled. No, not by the rape. I mean a god’s gotta do what a god’s gotta do. But that he raped Medusa in Athena’s temple! Desecration! Well, that cannot go unpunished. So, Athena seeks revenge on Poseidon by assaulting Medusa, figuring, we guess, that this might make Poseidon sad, or something. Uses her goddess powers to turn Medusa’s hair to snakes and her eyes to weapons of mass destruction. Any living creature she looks at will be lithified. You will not find me in my deeds,nor in poems written by long-dead men. But you will find me when you need me, when the wind hears a woman’s cry and fills my sails forward.”

Krauskopf, Ingrid. “Gorgo, Gorgoneion” in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, Vol. 4, 288–345. Zurich: Artemis, 1988.Her Medusa has been on an isolated island, with her two sisters and her dog as company, since she was cursed by Athena to have snakes for hair. She has been on this island for 4 years isolated and lonely from others her age. When one day an intriguing boy arrives on the island called Perseus, he might be able to alleviate this desolation which will leas to trust, love and betrayal. When the blood dripped from Medusa’s head onto the plains of Libya, each drop of blood transformed into venomous serpents. The power of Medusa’s head is seen again when Perseus encountered the Titan Atlas. When Perseus asked Atlas for a place to rest for a short while, his request was refused. Knowing that he would not be able to defeat the Titan with brute force alone, he took out Medusa’s head and Atlas was turned into a mountain. Only according to the scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes’ Argonautica 4.1399. According to the best-known traditions, the Hesperides were daughters of the Titan Atlas. ↩ In this fascinating reimagining of the myth of Medusa, author Jessie Burton presents us with a novel feminist twist to a character and story that has, for the most part, featured as one of Perseus’s heroic exploits. Simply put, Perseus has always been the hero and Medusa the vanquished. But Jessie Burton’s Medusa is much more than that. Cursed by the Goddess Athena and transformed into a Gorgon with snakes in place of her once beautiful hair, the once beautiful Medusa now lives on a deserted island with her sisters, Stheno and Euryale,and her dog Argentus. Her transgression? Being raped by Poseidon within the premises of the Temple of Athena. When the novel opens Medusa has been living in a cave on a remote island for four years. When Perseus washes up on her island, she helplessly cannot resist talking to him. She makes Perseus stay on the outside of the cave wall while they converse and ultimately get closer to each other. With each day affection grows on both sides, with Perseus declaring that he thinks he loves Medusa, Medusa realizes that she feels the same.