medusa powers and abilities greek mythology

This is one of the first instances that Medusa’s powers have been used to show the protective nature of the Gorgons. Gorgons also have the standard superhuman strength and agility common of most Yōkai species. From Hephaestus (the god of blacksmiths and metal workers) he receives a sword. The second is that because she lost her virginity to Poseidon (and is now pregnant by him) she is technically his wife according to the laws of the day. The model was one Harryhausen’s most complex and in 2020 it was voted third favourite among his many creations. Athena is enraged that her temple has been desecrated – especially because it had been defiled by her rival, Poseidon. Cultural depictions of Medusa and Gorgons, "Bulfinch Mythology – Age of Fable – Stories of Gods & Heroes", Frank Justus Miller translation, as revised by G. P. Goold, "The Rape of Medusa in the Temple of Athena: Aspects of Triangulation", "Endless the Medusa: a feminist reading of Medusan imagery and the myth of the hero in Eudora Welty's novels. She is famed for her snake-like hair and her gaze, which turns those who look at her to stone. "Medusa has since haunted Western imagination, materializing whenever male authority feels threatened by female agency," writes Johnston. Gorgons are capable of turning their foes to stone, although how they go about this has been shown to vary to some extent. Perseus was told to kill Medusa by Polydectes. She doesn’t know what to do – she had planned on devoting the rest of her life to Athena. Because the gods showed favor on him, he was given Hades' Helm of Invisibility, Winged Sandals from Hermes, a magnificent sword made by Hephaestus, and a shield from Athena which would later become the Aegis. It is their thought that people keep their eyes down to avoid facing reality (Medusa) so that they are not frozen by the realization that life means nothing. Through her passing, she gives the world important contributions to mythology and medicine while also providing the public with a new form of protection. In so doing, we unravel a familiar narrative thread: In Western culture, strong women have historically been imagined as threats requiring male conquest and control, and Medusa herself has long been the go-to figure for those seeking to demonize female authority. This poison is so potent that it can even affect a Seraphim. The blood of Medusa also spawned the Amphisbaena (a horned dragon-like creature with a snake-headed tail). Her hair held the same powers as her head so that when it was exposed it caused a storm which chased away the foes. 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 cultus object, a ritual mask misunderstood. (Pythian Ode 12). In 1940, Sigmund Freud's "Das Medusenhaupt (Medusa's Head)" was published posthumously. The gods were well aware of this, and Perseus received help. There are several variations of the order of the events that come next, but the conclusion is always the same. This part of Medusa’s story gives clear insight on the gods’ perspective of mortals – they are meaningless pawns in a game that existed before their birth and will continue to go on long after they are gone. As years go by, she becomes more and more vicious and vengeful. [23], Elana Dykewomon's 1976 collection of lesbian stories and poems, They Will Know Me by My Teeth, features a drawing of a Gorgon on its cover. There are many things that have to be figured out in this situation. Glamouring: The ability to change one's appearance. Her fondness of Athena was reciprocated for a time. This presented Poseidon with a unique opportunity – he would be able to pursue Medusa as a love interest and assert his superiority as a more powerful deity. Cerberus' job was to make sure the dead stay within the gates and the living stay away from them. The legend of Perseus beheading Medusa means, specifically, that "the Hellenes overran the goddess's chief shrines" and "stripped her priestesses of their Gorgon masks", the latter being apotropaic faces worn to frighten away the profane. Although Medusa was a devout priestess to Athena, she was not protected from being violated by Poseidon and is unjustly punished for a situation she had no control over. A story says that Hercules acquired a lock of Medusa’s hair from Athena and gave it to the daughter of Cepheus, Sterope, to protect the town of Tegea from being attacked. The three Gorgon sisters—Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale—were all children of the ancient marine deities Phorcys (or "Phorkys") and his sister Ceto (or "Keto"), chthonic monsters from an archaic world. Stephen Wilk, author of Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon, questioned Medusa's enduring status among the feminist movement. Medusa was one of the Gorgon sisters, though unlike Euryale and Stheno she was a mortal. It was after the Gorgon sisters were wrongfully punished by Athena that their horrific transformation really began. Combine that with her wicked personality and she was such a threat that the gods Zeus, Hermes and Athena all equipped Perseus with divine objects, the Adamantine Sword, … The classic version of Medusa, however, was something that Freud saw as an Oedipus-type syndrome and the decapitation of the monster was thought to represent castration and fear. Perseus knew that he would be unable to fight of Atlas on his own, but with quick thinking realizes that he can use Medusa’s head to his advantage. Coral is allegedly Medusa’s blood, which spilled into the sea and was petrified. Despite the death of Medusa, it is said that her head still had magical properties. With snakes for hair— hatred of mortal man—… To understand Medusa’s transformation, it is important to first understand where she came from. [16], 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. Elizabeth Johnston's November 2016 Atlantic essay called Medusa the original 'Nasty Woman.' During that time, Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon. In Greek mythology, Medusa (/mɪˈdjuːzə, -sə/; Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress")[1] also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. After all the trouble that has been caused by Athena’s betrayal of Medusa, the two are finally symbolically reunited when Perseus gives Medusa’s head to Athena after he has completed his journey. Freud compared Medusa as a fair maiden to the image of a mother in the eyes of the innocent before a young boy had seen adult female genitals. They use the symbolism of being unable to look into Medusa’s eyes as a symbol of how many people navigate the modern world. Though her life itself may not have been given much consideration in ancient records, the many things that came from her death would go on to impact ancient mythology in countless ways. ... she didnt have any super powers....but she was the greek queen of gods in the greek mythology ... Uranus is in Roman mythology, not Greek. She remained a priestess to Athena after her death and was risen with fresh hair. She claims "we must kill the false woman who is preventing the live one from breathing. She is killed by the hero Perseus, who cuts off her head.To the Greeks, Medusa is the leader of an ancient, older matriarchal religion that had to be obliterated; in modern culture, she represents vital sensuality and a power that is threatening to males. Perseus then flew to Seriphos, where his mother was being forced into marriage with the king, Polydectes, who was turned into stone by the head. Most sources describe her as the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto, although the author Hyginus makes her the daughter of Gorgon and Ceto. Similarly to the above powers, one drop of blood had the cure to any disease or poison, while the other drop of blood was the most deadly power in the world. In some variations her face is disfigured with a beard and fangs (other versions do not tell of this disfigurement) and finally, her hair is transformed into venomous nest of snakes. Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound describes them thus: 1. Medusa is transformed into a terrible beast that has bronze hands and wings. Terracotta pilike (jar), Attic period, ca. 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: A number of early classics scholars interpreted the myth of Medusa as a quasi-historical – "based on or reconstructed from an event, custom, style, etc., in the past",[11] or "sublimated" memory of an actual invasion.[12][13]. She and her sister Euryale were both immortal, and the third sister, Medusa, was mortal even though her image was immortalized in its hideousness by Athena. She's beautiful and she's laughing. She was born on an island named Sarpedon – which is thought to be somewhere in the general area of Cisthene – and was known to have been one of the Gorgon sisters. Her history is very important in terms of context to what she became and how she impacted history. The Minotaur in Greek Mythology; The Head of Medusa. In ancient Greek mythology, Medusa is a Gorgon, one of three hideous sisters whose appearance turns men to stone. "[22], 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 feminist journal called Women: A Journal of Liberation in their issue one, volume six for 1978. The sisters are enraged, but unable to do anything but mourn. She doesn’t have any sympathy towards Medusa. 1 Power and Abilities 2 Weaknesses 3 Appearances 4 Lore 5 Trivia Paralyzing Poison - Gorgons possess a powerful paralyzing poison, the source of the myth about Medusa and gorgons in general being able to turn people into stone. Beastmate Info. Only a few heroes ever escaped Cerberus's guard. Andromeda is being sacrificed as a punishment to Cassiopeia (her mother), who was foolish enough to boast that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids. The Gorgon/Medusa image has been rapidly adopted by large numbers of feminists who recognize her as one face of our own rage. Because her head was placed on Athena’s shield (the Aegis) and her blood was revealed to hold the power of both life and death, Medusa’s head became a symbol of protection. Because she had allowed herself to be defiled in Athena’s temple, Athena transformed her into the most hideous of all the Gorgons and made her features so terrible to behold that she could instantly turn a man into stone if he were to gaze at her directly. Beth Seelig analyzes Medusa's punishment from the aspect of the crime of having been raped rather than having willingly consented in Athena's temple as an outcome of the goddess' unresolved conflicts with her own father, Zeus. Medusa has been depicted in several 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. 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. Together, they … Her mother, Ceto, was also a primordial sea goddess. As a trick, Polydectes tells Perseus to bring him the head of Medusa (which is essentially a suicide mission). 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, Pierre et Gilles, and Auguste Rodin's bronze sculpture The Gates of Hell.[36]. There are some variations - some versions of the myth say that it was eye contact that turned you to stone, others say that it was any part of her, others still say it was her snake hair (which is the only other supernatural thing about her). While Medusa is known to be one of the most famous monsters in Greek mythology, there is relatively little that is recorded of her existence before she was beheaded by Perseus. Looking at forbidden mother (in her hair-covered genitals, so to speak) stiffens the subject in illicit desire and freezes him in terror of the Father's retribution. Archetypal literary criticism continues to find psychoanalysis useful. "[31], Medusa has sometimes appeared as representing notions of scientific determinism and nihilism, especially in contrast with romantic idealism. Make sure you keep on reading to learn 50 facts about the mysterious Gorgon, Medusa. Medusa’s only real “power” was that if you looked directly at her, you would be turned into stone. User with this ability either is or can transform into an gorgon, a terrifying female creature of Greek mythology. There are many different men that try – and fail – to hunt Medusa, until Perseus is contracted to bring back her head to King Polydectes. Modern day feminists have also taken a stance on the symbolism that surrounds Medusa. This power is likely enabled by Pegasus’ lineage (as he is a son of Poseidon). [30] "You only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her," writes Cixous. Powers and Abilities. "[22], In issue three, Fall 1986 for the magazine Woman of Power an article called Gorgons: A Face for Contemporary Women's Rage, appeared, written by Emily Erwin Culpepper, who wrote that "The Amazon Gorgon face is female fury personified. Some versions claim that Medusa was swayed by Poseidon’s advances and developed feelings for him as well. Others claim that she remained steadfast in her devotion to Athena. The first is that Medusa is no longer a virgin – though she was deflowered against her will. Soon after Medusa became a priestess for Athena, she caught the eye of Poseidon. However, unlike her other sisters (Sthenno and Euryale), Medusa was a mortal and therefore vulnerable to the perils of the human world. While living on Shanazar, Medusa would terrorize cities by turning their populations into statues, including Death-Trap. In Greek mythology, Medusa also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. According to Ovid, in northwest Africa, Perseus flew past the Titan Atlas, who stood holding the sky aloft, and transformed him into stone when he tried to attack him. Even though it is implied otherwise, Medusa's power is that of a regular Gorgon. Their genealogy is shared with other sisters, the Graeae, as in Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound, which places both trinities of sisters far off "on Kisthene's dreadful plain": Near them their sisters three, the Gorgons, winged Medusa was a monster from Greek mythology that was one of the three sisters including Euryale and Stheno.. While flying through Ethiopia, Perseus spies the young Princess Andromeda tied to a rock as a sacrifice to the sea monster Cetus. She appeals to her goddess and asks for help in moving forward. She has difficulty reconciling with her new identity, but eventually comes to embrace her role and begins to take her vengeance on men as this is one of the only ways that she can attempt to get even with Poseidon. This power was given to Asclepius who used it accordingly. Medusa was the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto (though some sources claim Gorgon is her father). Interestingly enough, Medusa’s story has also been adopted by Nihilists (one who believes that life is meaningless). Medusa is a mythological gorgon that existed at some point in the past. Perseus complies and goes to the gods to help him on his journey. Medusa possesses the same Stonegaze ability as King Basilisk, allowing her to turn people and Titansinto stone. 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Won ’ t know what to do anything but mourn context to what she became and she... Lastly, from Hades he receives a helm of invisibility arguably has the to... Materializing whenever male authority feels threatened by female agency, '' writes Cixous Poseidon decides to ravage Medusa in ’... Some sources claim Gorgon is a Gorgon is a type of monster generally described a! In her death and was risen with fresh hair to some extent on the symbolism that surrounds Medusa. that. A beautiful maiden was not to last forever has since haunted Western imagination, materializing whenever male authority feels by!

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