On an eerie night, all the way in the ancient world of Greece, an impossible task was asked of Perseus, the son of Zeus. Perseus was asked to behead the dreadful monster of Medusa. He was asked to do this impossible task because everyone knew how dangerous and terrifying Medusa was. Therefore, Polydectes asked Perseus to carry out this mission because he wanted Perseus gone.1
There was no doubt about how dangerous the gorgon Medusa was, and all of Greece believed that whoever got close to her would turn to stone. Perseus’ mission was expected to be a failure due to these dangerous conditions. Medusa had a deadly power of turning those who looked into her eyes to stone. When Perseus was asked to behead her, Polydectes and the other gods didn’t believe Perseus could make it out with Medusa’s head and not be turned to stone. However, Perseus succeeded in his mission and beheaded the dreadful gorgon Medusa. The Greeks were ecstatic that this nightmare of a woman was dead and that the wonderful demi-god Perseus had Medusa’s fatal power in his hands. After this, Perseus used Medusa’s head to turn many into stone and it kept the people of Greece in fear of Medusa even after she was dead.2 However, Medusa was not always the feared monster that everyone knew her to be.
Before Medusa was known as a terrifying monster, she was a beautiful maiden who was very kind and pious. Medusa was the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. Phorcys was a sea god and Ceto was the goddess of sea monsters. Ceto gave birth to all three of the gorgons; Sthenno, Euryale, and Medusa. Medusa was the only one of the gorgons who was mortal, while the other two were immortal. Medusa was a beautiful young woman who was a priestess for the goddess of wisdom and war, Athena. Medusa was a very good priestess, as she made a vow to the goddess that she would swear her life to celibacy and servitude. However, while Medusa was praising and serving Athena, she caught eye of the god Poseidon. What caught his attention most were the gorgeous, golden locks of hair Medusa had. Because Poseidon took such a liking to Medusa, he charmed her and swayed her off her feet. The two were caught having a love affair in Athena’s temple. Once Athena found out about this affair, her jealousy raged and she became furious! She then decided to put a nasty curse on Medusa for breaking her promise of celibacy. This curse turned Medusa’s beautiful locks into venomous snakes and made it so that whenever someone looked at Medusa, they would turn to stone.3
This curse completely turned Medusa’s life around. Once given this curse, Medusa fled her home, never to return. On her journeys, she was shunned, feared, and loathed by all she encountered. These awful experiences turned Medusa’s kind, pious personality into one that matched her new appearance. It’s a shame the goddess Athena had the power to turn Medusa’s entire life around; however, Medusa was not just a feared monster to the ancient Greeks. Medusa’s severed head eventually became a symbol that scared away evil. Many warriors used the symbol of Medusa’s head on shields and breastplates during battle to aid them in winning. Other than aiding in battle, the symbol of Medusa is also seen on ancient coins from Greece that are now ancient artifacts.4 Although Medusa came to be hated by all, she was still an important part of the culture and became a key symbol in ancient Greece.
- Stephen R. Wilk, Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008): 20. ↵
- Carolyn Springer, “Medusa The Reader,” Women’s Art Journal 28, no. 1 (2007): 63-64. ↵
- Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender, 2007, s.v. “Medusa,” by Paolo Fasoli. ↵
- G. K. Jenkins, “Some ancient coins of Libya,” Libyan Studies 5, no. 1 (March 2015): 29-35. ↵
103 comments
Eduardo Foster
What a great article! I have heard of Medusa before and somehow related with her story. It is actually interesting how she was a beautiful woman and thanks to a curse she changed. Before the article I did not knew the reason of the curse. Great sources of information and expressing of ideas. Keep it up with the good work!
Alejandra Mendez
Medusa’s story is a lot more sad than I thought it was. I always assumed Medusa was simply wicked from birth. I did know that she was punished by a god or goddess for doing something that they did not approve of, but I did not know the reason for being punished. It is a shame that her great personality and beautiful hair as described in the article changed for the worst. Very well written and informational article. I definitely learned a lot more than I knew before reading this.
Edith De Loera
Before coming across this article, I had little to no knowledge on Medusa. What surprised me the most was learning about Medusa being the mortal daughter of a god and goddess. To think that that curse turned her whole life around is incredible. It was also interesting to read about her love affair with Poseidon. I would have never imagined Medusa as a beautiful, young woman, let alone a priestess. Awesome article, definitely a shocker.
Megan Barnett
Good quality, your approach that Medusa was not all that bad is certainly different from what I have heard before concerning her personality. I did not know that Perseus was disliked by Polydectes which makes me wonder why being that he hated him so much he wanted him dead. Overall I think you summarized the various distinctive parts in Medusa’s life well enough that the reader can agree with your proposition and justify your point.
Mark Martinez
An extremely well written and put together article. I always loved hearing stories of mythology especially the Greek and Roman. I have heard the story of Perseus and how Medusa became the monster that turned people to stone, but never her parentage or sisters. The fact she was born mortal but came from godly parents and the mother of monsters seems strange.
Mario Sosa
I have always just assumed that Medusa was always evil since that is how she is normally depicted in movies, but it was very interesting to read how she was not always cruel. It is a shame that her love affair with Poseidon led to her drastic transformation into this snake creature. I found this to be a really great article as it shows a different side of Medusa; great job!
Veronica Spryszynski
Medusa is my favorite greek person in these stories. I thought Medusa always had snakes as hair and was born with the power to turn people into stone, the story of Athenas jealousy is new to me and I won’t forget now about Medusas fate. It was good that Medusas symbol was used for victory in battle, so that it was not all a bad thing to use of think of when medusa comes to mind.
Sebastian Castro Ramos
I have heard about Medusa a couple of times on Greek stories or movies, but I never thought about her origin. As other monsters in Greek mythology, I would have thought Medusa was born as she was because of some curse from some god. It is interesting that she was once a beautiful woman, and she ended being a monster because of a curse from Athena, but because of her actions, and not the actions of her parents, what is what usually happened with other monsters like the Minotaur. Excellent article!
Josselyn Arrieta-Meraz
I have always heard and known of medusa she is like an iconic figure in Greece history, to get to know her story and how she came to be really blows my mind, I have never actually thought of who cursed her and why, to think that it was all the cause of jealousy that turned this beautiful women than was determined to do good for the rest of her life to be avoided by everyone, all in the end to a very dreadful story. Overall a very well written article and story!
Karina Nanez
Before reading this I did not know the story of Medusa or how she came to be a feared monster. Your writing was clear and concise, I liked that you began with the story of her death and how Perseus, the son of her former lover Poseidon, was sent to kill her. This was a very interesting article to read.