According to the stories believed by the Greek people who lived a long time ago and which we tell today as mythology, countless gods, goddesses and strange creatures once lived in the world. Medusa is one of the most extraordinary characters in these stories shaped around the chief god Zeus. Medusa is neither a god nor a goddess; A woman who has snake-shaped hair and a curse that turns anyone who looks at her to stone, simply because she was cursed.
Like all stories in Greek mythology, the story of Medusa has many different versions. In a very few of these narratives, some of which overlap with Roman mythology, Medusa is described as an inherently evil character. In most of them, she is a beautiful woman in the world. He was cursed because of what happened to him in the temple of Athena, the goddess to whom he devoted himself, and the legend of Medusa, which everyone knows today, was born.
A mortal born of the goddess: Who is Medusa?
According to the main story told in Greek mythology, Medusa is the daughter of Phorcys, the god of the deep seas, and Ceto, the goddess of dangerous seas. Medusa has two sisters named Stheno and Euryale. These three sisters are called Gorgons, three Gorgons or Gorgon sisters in Greek mythology. While the word Gorgon means cruel, terrible, wild, the word Medusa is derived from the word guard, to protect.
Although there are countless stories told about the Gorgon sisters together in Greek mythology, Medusa always has a special place because out of these three sisters born from god and goddess, only Medusa is mortal. Medusa, who is unknown why she is mortal, is a very, very beautiful woman and makes all women and even goddesses jealous.
The fierce sea god:
Even though Medusa was such a beautiful and enviable woman, she never wanted to use this feature. She, along with her brothers, took an oath of virginity and devoted herself to Athena, the goddess of intelligence, the daughter of the chief god Zeus, and began to live in her temple. Even Athena was impressed by Medusa’s beauty, but she did not dwell on it, convincing herself that she was more beautiful than her.
Among those who noticed Medusa’s beauty was Athena’s husband, Poseidon, the god of the seas. Poseidon did not share this with anyone because he did not want it to be known that a god was in love with a mortal. But Athena learned about this situation from Zeus, who knew everything, and asked Poseidon to account. Poseidon praised Athena, insisted that this was a lie, and convinced the goddess.
However, even though Poseidon deceived Athena, he could not deceive himself. He felt like he was going crazy because of his love for Medusa. One day, he sneaked into Athena’s temple and had sexual intercourse with Medusa. While Poseidon turned his back and left, Medusa remained in the temple in shame.
Athena blamed Medusa for all this:
The events soon came to Athena’s ears. Athena, who was angry at Medusa’s being with her husband, whose beauty she was already jealous of, and who saw it as a great disrespect for this incident to happen in her temple, saw Medusa as the culprit of all these events and decided to punish her.
Enraged, Athena turned both Medusa and her sisters into women too ugly to look at. Unable to contain her anger, she turned Medusa’s hair into snakes. He still couldn’t control his anger and cursed Medusa, causing everyone who looked at her to turn into stone. If that wasn’t enough, he also exiled Medusa to Hyperborea, the northernmost part of the world.
Athena, whose anger did not subside, ordered Medusa to be killed:
The anger of Athena, who cursed Medusa and took everything from her, could not subside and finally decided to kill her. As the person to kill him, his father Zeus chose his half-brother Perseus, whose mother was Danae, the daughter of Argos King Acrisios. He made an agreement with Perseus and ordered him to kill Medusa.
It was not an easy task to kill Medusa, who turned everyone who looked at her into stone. For this reason, Perseus looked at Medusa with a special mirror he bought from Graea and separated her head from her body. In different stories, it is said that he used a special sickle given to him by Mercury for this purpose.
Medusa could not find peace after her death:
Perseus cut off Medusa’s head but did not bury it anywhere. Because the curse of those who look at his face turning to stone still continues. When Perseus returned home, he received news that his mother would be forced to marry a king. Perseus took Medusa’s head out of his saddlebag, held it up for everyone to see, turned everyone to stone and saved his mother.
Perseus then gave Medusa’s head to Athena, and Athena placed this head on the shield. In different stories, it is told that Perseus buried Medusa’s head in a marketplace. In other words, Medusa, whose life was already taken away from her, was also used as a weapon many times.
Medusa had two children:
Medusa became pregnant when Poseidon forcibly had sex with her. When Perseus killed him, two children came out of his lifeless body. These children were named Pegasus and Chrysar. While Chrysar was raised as a warrior, Pegasus, a two-winged white horse, was given to Bellerophone, the son of Glaucus, king of Corinth.
Medusa’s story evolved into different forms as it was told:
The story of Medusa is one of the Greek mythology stories that has been told since the 5th century BC. There is no clear physical description of either Medusa or the Gorgon sisters. Medusa’s beauty is emphasized in many narratives, but in some narratives it is also mentioned that she is a natural creature.
We know that what we have said throughout our article is a bit disturbing, but it is also conveyed this way in the original narratives. Unfortunately, this is the terrible story of a woman who was accused and tortured despite being raped. In some narratives, Medusa’s story even appears to be an advice to young girls to preserve their virginity.
Medusa, depicted in some extant statues and vases, has a very ugly and demonic appearance. Yes, this is what Medusa really looked like after she was cursed, but when we think about why she was cursed, it’s extremely disturbing to be portrayed this way.
Medusa in popular culture:
The Medusa character finds its place in popular culture in many different ways. The first and most common form is its ugly and cruel form after being cursed in mythology. However, in some productions, we watch the character of Medusa from a feminist perspective and we see a criticism based on the place of women in society. Some of the productions where you can see the Medusa character are as follows;
- Clash Of The Titans movie
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief movie
- The Lego Batman Movie
- Atlantis TV series
- Hercules animated movie
- 2020 movie Medusa
- 2021 movie Medusa
- Mythic Warriors: Guardians Of The Legend series
- Voyage Of The Unicorn movie
We answered the question of who Medusa is, one of the most extraordinary mortal characters in Greek mythology, and told her story. You can share your thoughts about Greek mythology and the character of Medusa in the comments.
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