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In [[Greek mythology]], '''Medusa''' ({{lang-el|Μέδουσα (Médousa}}), "guardian, protectress"<ref>Probably the feminine present participle of ''medein'', "to protect, rule over" (''[[American Heritage Dictionary]]''; compare [[Medon]], [[Medea]], [[Diomedes]], ''etc.''). If not, it is from the same root, and is formed after the participle. ''[[OED]]'' 2001 revision, ''s.v.''; [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2365585 medein] in [[LSJ]].</ref>) was a [[gorgon]], a [[chthonic]] female monster; gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone. She was beheaded by the hero [[Perseus]], who thereafter used her head as a weapon<ref>{{ cite web | last=Bullfinch | first=Thomas | url=http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/tbulfinch/bl-tbulfinch-age-15.htm | title=Bulfinch Mythology - Age of Fable - Stories of Gods & Heroes | quote=...and turning his face away, he held up the Gorgon’s head. Atlas, with all his bulk, was changed into stone. | accessdate=2007-09-07 }}</ref> until giving it to the goddess [[Athena]] to place on her [[Aegis|shield]]. In [[classical antiquity]] the image of the head of Medusa appeared in the [[apotropaic magic|evil-averting device]] known as the ''[[Gorgoneion]]''. She also has two gorgon sisters.
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Medusa''' ({{lang-el|Μέδουσα (Médousa}}), "guardian, protectress"<ref>Probably the feminine present participle of ''medein'', "to protect, rule over" (''[[American Heritage Dictionary]]''; compare [[Medon]], [[Medea]], [[Diomedes]], ''etc.''). If not, it is from the same root, and is formed after the participle. ''[[OED]]'' 2001 revision, ''s.v.''; [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2365585 medein] in [[LSJ]].</ref>) was a [[gorgon]], a [[chthonic]] female monster; gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone. She was beheaded by the hero [[Perseus]], who thereafter used her head as a weapon<ref>{{ cite web | last=Bullfinch | first=Thomas | url=http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/tbulfinch/bl-tbulfinch-age-15.htm | title=Bulfinch Mythology - Age of Fable - Stories of Gods & Heroes | quote=...and turning his face away, he held up the Gorgon’s head. Atlas, with all his bulk, was changed into stone. | accessdate=2007-09-07 }}</ref> until giving it to the goddess [[Athena]] to place on her [[Aegis|shield]]. In [[classical antiquity]] the image of the head of Medusa appeared in the [[apotropaic magic|evil-averting device]] known as the ''[[Gorgoneion]]''. She also has two gorgon sisters.


i don't care medusa sucks
== Medusa in classical mythology ==
[[Image:Rondanini Medusa Glyptothek Munich 252 n1.jpg|thumb|left|The ''[[Medusa Rondanini]]'', [[marble]] (h. 0.29 m)]]
The three [[Gorgon]] sisters—Medusa, [[Stheno]], and [[Euryale]]—were children of the ancient marine deities [[Phorcys]] and his sister [[Ceto]], or sometimes (and much less probably), [[Typhon]] and [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]], in each case chthonic monsters from an archaic world. Their genealogy is shared with other sisters, the [[Graeae]], as in [[Aeschylus]]'s ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'', who places both trinities of sisters far off "on Kisthene's dreadful plain":

<blockquote>Near them their sisters three, the Gorgons, winged<br />
With snakes for hair— hated of mortal man—</blockquote>

While ancient Greek vase-painters and relief carvers imagined Medusa and her sisters as beings born of monstrous form, sculptors and vase-painters of the fifth century began to envisage her as a being both beautiful as well as terrifying. In an ode written in 490 BC [[Pindar]] already speaks of "fair-cheeked Medusa".<ref>(Pythian Ode 12). Noted by [[Marjorie J. Milne]] in discussing a [[Red-figure pottery|red-figured vase]] in the style of [[Polygnotos (vase painter)|Polygnotos]], ca. 450–30 BC, in the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]; Milne noted that "It is one of the earliest illustrations of the story to show the Gorgon not as a hideous monster but as a beautiful woman. Art in this respect lagged behind poetry." (Marjorie J. Milne, "Perseus and Medusa on an Attic Vase" ''The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin'' New Series, '''4'''.5 (January 1946, pp. 126–130) 126.p.)</ref> In a late version of the Medusa myth, related by the Roman poet [[Ovid]] (''Metamorphoses'' 4.770), Medusa was originally a beautiful maiden, "the jealous aspiration of many suitors," priestess in Athena's temple, but when she was raped, or seduced, by the "Lord of the Sea" [[Poseidon]] in [[Athena]]'s temple, the enraged virgin goddess transformed her beautiful hair to serpents and made her face so terrible to behold that the mere sight of it would turn a man to stone. In Ovid's telling, Perseus describes Medusa's punishment by Athena as just and well-deserved.

===Death===
In the majority of the versions of the story, while Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon, she was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who was sent to fetch her head by King [[Polydectes]] of Seriphus as a gift. With help from Athena and [[Hermes]], who supplied him with winged sandals, Hades' [[cap of invisibility]], a sword, and a mirrored shield, he accomplished his quest. The hero slew Medusa by looking at her harmless reflection in the mirror instead of directly at her to prevent being turned into stone. When the hero severed Medusa's head from her neck, two offspring sprang forth: the winged horse [[Pegasus]] and the giant [[Chrysaor]] who later became the hero wielding the golden sword.
[[Image:PerseusSignoriaStatue.jpg|left|thumb|200px|''Perseus with the Head of Medusa'', by [[Benvenuto Cellini]], installed 1554]]

[[Jane Ellen Harrison]] argues that "her potency only begins when her head is severed, and that potency resides in the head; she is in a word a mask with a body later appended... the basis of the [[Gorgoneion]] is a [[cult (religion)|cultus object]], a ritual mask misunderstood."<ref name="Harrison">[[Jane Ellen Harrison]], (1903) 3rd ed. 1922. ''Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion''. "The Ker as Gorgon." Pg.187.</ref>

In ''[[Odyssey]]'' xi, Homer does not specifically mention the [[Gorgon]] Medusa:

{{quote|"Lest for my daring [[Persephone]] the dread,<br />From Hades should send up an awful monster's grisly head."}}

Harrison's translation states "the Gorgon was made out of the terror, not the terror out of the Gorgon."<ref name="Harrison"/>

According to [[Ovid]], in North-West Africa Perseus flew past the Titan [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]], who stood holding the sky aloft, and transformed him into stone. In a similar manner, the [[coral (precious)|coral]]s of the Red Sea were said to have been formed of Medusa's blood spilled onto [[seaweed]] when Perseus laid down the petrifying head beside the shore during his short stay in Aethiopia where he saved and wed his future wife, the lovely princess [[Andromeda (mythology)|Andromeda]]. Furthermore the poisonous vipers of the Sahara, in the ''[[Argonautica]]'' 4.1515, Ovid's [[Metamorphoses]] 4.770 and Lucan's [[Pharsalia]] 9.820, were said to have grown from spilt drops of her blood.

Perseus then flew to Seriphus where his mother was about to be forced into marriage with the king. King Polydectes was turned into stone by the gaze of Medusa's head.

Then he gave the Gorgon's head to Athena, who placed it on her shield, the [[Aegis]].

Some classical references refer to three Gorgons; Harrison considered that the tripling of Medusa into a trio of sisters was a secondary feature in the myth:

{{quote|The triple form is not primitive, it is merely an instance of a general tendency... which makes of each woman goddess a trinity, which has given us the [[Horae]], the [[Charites]], the [[Semnai]], and a host of other triple groups. It is immediately obvious that the Gorgons are not really three but one + two. The two unslain sisters are mere appendages due to custom; the real Gorgon is Medusa.<ref name="Harrison"/>}}


==Modern interpretations==
==Modern interpretations==

Revision as of 20:23, 22 October 2009

For other uses, see Medusa (disambiguation).
Medusa, by Caravaggio (1592:1600)
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In Greek mythology, Medusa (Greek: Μέδουσα (Médousa), "guardian, protectress"[1]) was a gorgon, a chthonic female monster; gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone. She was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head as a weapon[2] until giving it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield. In classical antiquity the image of the head of Medusa appeared in the evil-averting device known as the Gorgoneion. She also has two gorgon sisters.

i don't care medusa sucks

Modern interpretations

Psychoanalysis

In 1940, Sigmund Freud's Das Medusenhaupt (Medusa's Head) was published posthumously. This article laid the framework for his significant contribution to a body of criticism surrounding the monster. Medusa is presented as “the supreme talisman who provides the image of castration — associated in the child's mind with the discovery of maternal sexuality — and its denial.”[3][4] Psychoanalysts continue archetypal literary criticism to the present day. 2002's The Rape of Medusa in the Temple of Athena: Aspects of Triangulation in the Girl by Dr. Beth Seeley, analyzes Medusa's punishment for the “crime” of having been raped in Athena's temple as an outcome of the goddess' unresolved conflicts with her father, Zeus.[5]

Feminism

In the 20th century, feminists reassessed Medusa's appearances in literature and in modern culture, including the use of Medusa as a logo by fashion company Versace.[6][7][8] The name "Medusa" itself is often used in ways not directly connected to the mythological figure but to suggest the gorgon's abilities or to connote malevolence; despite her origins as a beauty, the name in common usage "came to mean monster."[9] The book Female Rage: Unlocking Its Secrets, Claiming Its Power by Mary Valentis and Anne Devane notes that "When we asked women what female rage looks like to them, it was always Medusa, the snaky-haired monster of myth, who came to mind ... In one interview after another we were told that Medusa is 'the most horrific woman in the world' ... [though] none of the women we interviewed could remember the details of the myth."[10]

Medusa's visage has since been adopted by many women as a symbol of female rage; one of the first publications to express this idea was a 1978 issue of Women: A Journal of Liberation. The cover featured the image of a gorgon, which the editors explained "can be a map to guide us through our terrors, through the depths of our anger into the sources of our power as women."[10] In a 1986 article for Women of Power magazine called "Ancient Gorgons: A Face for Contemporary Women's Rage," Emily Erwin Culpepper wrote that "The Amazon Gorgon face is female fury personified. The Gorgon/Medusa image has been rapidly adopted by large numbers of feminists who recognize her as one face of our own rage."[10]

Nihilism

Medusa has sometimes appeared in literature as symbol of truth, representing notions of scientific determinism and nihilism, especially in contrast with romantic idealism.[3][11] In this interpretation of Medusa, attempts to avoid looking into her eyes represent avoiding the ostensibly depressing reality that the universe is meaningless. Jack London uses Medusa in this way in his novel The Mutiny of the Elsinore:[12]

I cannot help remembering a remark of De Casseres. It was over the wine in Mouquin's. Said he: "The profoundest instinct in man is to war against the truth; that is, against the Real. He shuns facts from his infancy. His life is a perpetual evasion. Miracle, chimera and to-morrow keep him alive. He lives on fiction and myth. It is the Lie that makes him free. Animals alone are given the privilege of lifting the veil of Isis; men dare not. The animal, awake, has no fictional escape from the Real because he has no imagination. Man, awake, is compelled to seek a perpetual escape into Hope, Belief, Fable, Art, God, Socialism, Immortality, Alcohol, Love. From Medusa-Truth he makes an appeal to Maya-Lie."

—Jack London, The Mutiny of the Elsinore

Medusa in art

Tête de Méduse, by Peter Paul Rubens (1618)
Main article: Cultural depictions of Medusa and gorgons

From ancient times, the Medusa was immortalized in numerous works of art, including:

Medusa remained a common theme in art in the nineteenth century, when her myth was retold in Thomas Bulfinch's Mythology. Edward Burne-Jones' Perseus Cycle of paintings and a drawing by Aubrey Beardsley gave way to the twentieth century works of Paul Klee, John Singer Sargent, Pablo Picasso, and Auguste Rodin's bronze sculpture The Gates of Hell.[13]

Flag of Sicily

In flags and emblems

The head of Medusa is featured on some regional symbols. One example is that of the flag and emblem of Sicily, together with the three legged trinacria. The inclusion of Medusa in the center implies the protection of the goddess Athena, who wore the Gorgon's likeness on her aegis, as said above. Another example is the coat of arms of Dohalice village in the Czech Republic.

Municipal coat of arms of Dohalice village, Hradec Králové District, Czech Republic

Medusa in music

  • Angeli Di Pietra, a Belgian Powerfolk band have a song entitled "Medusa" on their album "Storm Over Scaldis" (2009)
  • Impaled Nazarene, a Finnish Black Metal band, have a song entitled "Curse of the Dead Medusa" on their album "All That You Fear" (2003).
  • The rockabilly musician Eddie Meduza (Errol Leonard Nordstedt).
  • Anthrax an American Thrash Metal band, have a song entitled Medusa on their "Spreading the Disease" album (1985).

Notes and references

  1. ^ Probably the feminine present participle of medein, "to protect, rule over" (American Heritage Dictionary; compare Medon, Medea, Diomedes, etc.). If not, it is from the same root, and is formed after the participle. OED 2001 revision, s.v.; medein in LSJ.
  2. ^ Bullfinch, Thomas. "Bulfinch Mythology - Age of Fable - Stories of Gods & Heroes". Retrieved 2007-09-07. ...and turning his face away, he held up the Gorgon's head. Atlas, with all his bulk, was changed into stone.
  3. ^ a b Medusa in Myth and Literary History
  4. ^ Das Medusenhaupt (Medusa's Head. First published posthumously. Int. Z. Psychoanal. Imago, 25 (1940), 105; reprinted Ges. W., 17,47. The manuscript is dated May 14, 1922, and appears to be a sketch for a more extensive work. Translation, reprinted from Int. J. Psychoanal.,22 (1941), 69; by James Strachey.
  5. ^ Seelig, B.J. (2002). The Rape of Medusa in the Temple of Athena: Aspects of Triangulation. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 83:895–911.
  6. ^ Pratt, A. (1994). Archetypal empowerment in poetry: Medusa, Aphrodite, Artemis, and bears : a gender comparison. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253208653
  7. ^ Stephenson, A. G. (1997). "Endless the Medusa: a feminist reading of Medusan imagery and the myth of the hero in Eudora Welty's novels."
  8. ^ Garber, Marjorie. The Medusa Reader, February 24, 2003, ISBN 0-415-90099-9, Introduction, pg. 7.
  9. ^ Garber, Medusa Reader, Introduction, pg. 1
  10. ^ a b c Wilk, Stephen R. Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon, June 26, 2000, pg. 217–218, ISBN 0-195-12431-6.
  11. ^ Petersen, Per Serritslev. "Jack London's Medusa of Truth." Philosophy and Literature 26.1 (2002). pg. 43-56.
  12. ^ London, Jack. (1914). The Mutiny of the Elsinore. pg. 121.
  13. ^ Wilk, Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon, pg. 200.

Primary sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Medusa.
  • Servius, In Aeneida vi.289
  • Lucan, Bellum civile ix.624–684
  • Ovid, Metamorphoses iv.774–785, 790–801

Secondary sources

  • Jane Ellen Harrison, (1903) 3rd ed. 1922. Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion,: "The Ker as Gorgon"

See also

External links

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