storytelling
MEDUSA
retelling the myth
Known for her hair of snakes and ability to turn men to stone with just a look, Medusa's story originated in the oral tradition. Her myth has remained in the collective imagination over millennia, told and retold in poetry and prose, through drama and imagined in art, with details shifting and evolving to this day.
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I. FROM THE DEPTHS
A child of the sea, Medusa was one of three Gorgon daughters born to Phorcys (Phorkys) and Ceto (Keto),⁽¹⁾ who were primordial sea deities.
Unlike her sisters Stheno and Euryale, who were both immortal and ageless, Medusa was born mortal. Ancient tales describe the Gorgons as ‘fearful monsters’ from birth, as hybrid beasts and in possession of their defining hair of coiled living snakes. Others, particularly later storytellers, describe them as fair of face, particularly Medusa, “famed for beauty, and the envious hope of many suitors”,⁽²⁾ who alone was transformed in her origin myth.
Although their location was a closely guarded secret, from birth to her untimely death, Medusa was said to have lived and died “beyond famed Oceanus at the world’s edge hard by Night.” ⁽³⁾ The sea is a recurring element in Medusa’s myth through her lineage, her association with Poseidon (Neptune) and Pegasus, explored below, and in her fate after death.⁽⁴⁾ A potent symbol of protection, she reflects the danger, power and rage of its untamed depths.
II. MEDUSA'S MYTH
Over time, as new interpretations and embellishments of Medusa’s myth have emerged through evolving cultures and sensibilities, these haven’t supplanted the old. Rather, there are multiple versions of the tale at large in the world, each diverging and connecting. This retelling, around Ovid’s more prevalent ‘origin myth’, begins with Medusa as a beautiful maiden with hair of ‘lovely splendour.⁽⁵⁾—
medusa's transformation
Medusa’s troubles begin when Poseidon (Neptune), ‘the Sovereign of the Sea’,⁽⁶⁾ is drawn to her famed beauty. While Hesiod⁽⁷⁾ pictures their consensual union ‘in a soft meadow and among spring flowers,’ Ovid’s later version describes an act of rape. Furthermore, this violation is perpetrated in Athena’s temple, where many storytellers place Medusa as an attendant.
As punishment for this act of shame and desecration, an enraged Athena vents her ire entirely upon Medusa, transforming her into a monster with hair a crown of serpents. Any mortal that looks upon her now is turned to stone.
death and birth
In the classical myths, Medusa’s brief tale generally features as a ‘side story’ to the primary chronicles of Heroes and Gods. Ovid’s version is narrated by Perseus, son of Zeus (Jupiter), and centres upon her death.
As a powerful monster, Medusa became a sought-after trophy, and her mortality made her vulnerable. When Perseus is charged by King Polydectes of Seriphos with a ‘hero’s quest’ to bring him Medusa’s head, it is in the hope he will not return alive.⁽⁸⁾
However, although a mortal, Perseus receives divine help through the use of an assortment of mythological objects from the gods: a circular shield of polished bronze, winged sandals, helmet of invisibility, a curved blade and a bag (a kibisis) to transport the decapitated head. Athena herself accompanies Perseus on his quest, warning him to look at Medusa only as a reflection in his shield. Some storytellers suggest that Athena guides the blade. Perseus⁽⁹⁾ describes the deed- when Medusa “was helpless in the power of sleep and even her serpent-hair was slumber-bound, I struck, and took her head sheer from the neck.”
When Perseus casts his blade, an unexpected event occurs at the moment of her death. From her neck, Medusa gives birth to two fully formed offspring who spring from her body.⁽¹⁰⁾ These are Pegasus, the winged horse, and his brother, the Giant Chrysaor, from her union with Poseidon.
after death
The happenings wake Stheno and Euryale, who start to realise the fate of their sister. Perseus packs Medusa’s head in the kibisis and makes his escape. Although the sisters attempt pursuit, his helmet of invisibility and winged sandals make vengeance impossible.
Beyond death, parts of Medusa’s body go on to play roles in multiple myths. Her decapitated head is used to petrify the enemies of Perseus and their conspirators. Upon completing his quest, Perseus presents Athena with this trophy, which she attaches to her shield (aegis). She uses it to attack, defend and strike fear in her foes.
Pindar⁽¹¹⁾ describes the “shrill cry” of the Gorgon sisters as they mourn, noting that Athena later tries to imitate this distinctive sound with flutes to enable mortal men to hear their lament.
III. TRANSFORMATIONS
imagining medusa
In the second century ce, Lucian of Samosata⁽¹²⁾ emphasised the capacity of art to “captivate the senses”, declaiming “how insignificant is the power of words in comparison with that of visible objects”, highlighting the portrayal of the Gorgons in particular. Through history, we have come to know Medusa through figurative representations found in both hallowed spaces and everyday life. From early pottery, decorative work in armour, funerary, architecture and mosaics to jewellery, paintings, sculpture, graphics and film, these depictions make tangible the myriad versions of Medusa in the ancient and modern imagination.
The Gorgons had their own distinctive form in ancient Greek art, characterising Medusa and her sisters as hybrid creatures, often with wings, scales, snakes for hair and tusks. What makes the ‘likenesses’ recognisable are their flat, rounded, mask-like face and features, always facing forward, looking outward, wearing a wide ‘smile’. These Gorgoneia are apotropaic symbols, believed to have the power to afford protection by instilling fear in the viewer. Although prolific, the stylised figure was one of many types used to imagine Medusa through these times, often as a detail within larger works that present the scene of her death.
Over time, Medusa’s portrayal across different art forms became more humanised, feminine and beautified; Karoglou proposes that this is a result of the “idealising humanism” of Greek art of the Classical period (480–323 bce).⁽¹³⁾ Others⁽¹⁴⁾ suggest that chronology alone does not account for this transposition. The shift from ‘monster’, with its associated characteristics of strength and horror/fear, to ‘beautiful’, with links to femininity and goodness, is essentially a reversal of Medusa’s origin myth. Lucian of Samosata’s commentary⁽¹⁵⁾ reflects this perspective,
“the beauty of the Gorgons, irresistible in might, won its way to the inmost soul, and wrought amazement and dumbness in the beholder; admiration (so the legend goes) turned him to stone.”
In this incarnation, it is Medusa’s beauty that has the power to petrify her victims.
While Medusa’s beautification in art adjusts the viewer’s interpretation of her myth—and the roles of Perseus and Athena in particular—her power remains, and with it, her passive/active acts of petrification. As such, she retains her status as ‘other’. Karoglou⁽¹⁶⁾ suggests that “in a society centered on the male citizen”, the very feminisation of monsters at this time “served to demonize women”.
The trend has continued to modern-day depictions, alongside Medusa’s continued currency. From the 1970s, as Medusa’s story and its historic appropriation as a trope to disparage and diminish women⁽¹⁷⁾ was reexamined through a feminist lens, she became emblematic of the multidimensional phenomenon of female rage.⁽¹⁸⁾ Johnston⁽¹⁷⁾ describes her as “the original nasty woman … the go-to figure for those seeking to demonize female authority.”
A complex figure, Medusa’s influence in our visual culture is undiminished. Imagined within and outside her myth, she is ‘cultural icon’, symbol, shape, allegory, figurehead, bogeywoman and muse. She defies easy categorisation,⁽¹⁴⁾ inspiring a diversity of work across media, from the sacred to the profane; beauty to monster; naturalistic to stylised. A fundamental constant is her transformation, which continues as reality changes around her, and she is reinterpreted, reappropriated, and renewed.
IV. REFLECTION
Running through Medusa’s myth is the paradox of her duality as monster-beauty, where beauty and femininity are understood as the antithesis of monster. This central conflict propagates across her evolving story, creating tensions between opposites.
She is both destroyer and protector. As fearsome monster, capable of turning her enemies to stone, Medusa is an expression of female power and danger. As such, she is appropriated as apotropaic talisman, where effigies invoke her protection to guard and avert evil. After death, her hair is used to protect,⁽¹⁹⁾ while her decapitated head is used to defeat the enemies of Perseus and Athena.
She is both strong and vulnerable. Medusa's power as monster, and in her beauty, centres her own narrative and female agency, emphasised in her outward gaze. At the same time, she is vulnerable several times over. She is born the only mortal of the three Gorgon sisters, and her perceived strengths mark her as a trophy to take, control and vanquish. This duality of strength and vulnerability can also be seen in her mortal-divine pregnancy at the time of her death.
Characterised by tragedy, death is intertwined with Medusa’s life. Her very existence brings death to mortals, and her myth requires her own death. In the instant of her death, new life sprang from her blood with the birth of Pegasus and Chrysaor. The coexistence of life and death in Medusa’s myth is reflected in the alchemical properties of her blood. After her death, Asclepius, God of medicine and healing, was given phials of Medusa’s blood by Athena. With these, he was able to both heal and raise the dead with blood from her right side and destroy instantly with blood from her left.⁽²⁰⁾
Medusa’s myth gives rise to further duality. None more potent than her relationship with us as viewer, listener, interpreter. She is the ‘odd one out’, the ‘other’: she lives at the world’s edge⁽³⁾; is depicted as monster or hybrid; and even her powerful beauty functions to separate her. The ‘othering’ continues through the ebb and flow of Medusa’s retellings and shape-shiftings. While always recognisable, she remains unknowable, cryptic ‘other’, part mask.
The separation of Medusa from our self is part of her enduring attraction. It allows us to interpret her in different ways and trace parts of ourselves in her myth as new contexts and interpretations evolve. We project, and she reflects. She forms a bridge between imagination and reality, between the conscious and the unconscious, a symbol to whom we can attribute qualities and see what we do not see in ourselves. Here, Medusa’s double nature highlights the tension between opposites.
Jung⁽²¹⁾ uses the term enantiodromia to describe “the emergence of the unconscious opposite in the course of time.” He writes that this shift from one form to its opposite arises when,
“an extreme, one-sided tendency dominates conscious life; in time an equally powerful counterposition is built up, which first inhibits the conscious performance and subsequently breaks through the conscious control.”
As they diverge and interchange, each ‘opposite’ is dependent on the other, part of the same whole. As ‘third thing’, outside the self, Medusa embodies each pole, and so is positioned to reveal new awareness, towards balance and integration.
REFERENCES & NOTES
notes
References to The Collected Works of C. G. Jung are cited as CW, volume number, section number (where relevant) and paragraph number. The Collected Works are published in English by Routledge (UK) and Princeton University Press (USA).
References to Hesiod's Theogony are cited with line number. The reference edition is:
Hesiod Theogony in “Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica” Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (1914) Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd.
This online edition of the text and translation can be found in the ‘Perseus Digital Library’, Department of Classical Studies, Tufts University, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States Deed.
Alternative translations are also noted in individual references below.
References to Ovid's Metamorphoses are cited with Book number and line number. The reference edition is:
Ovid Metamorphoses Translated by More, Brookes (1922), Boston: The Cornhill Publishing Company.
This online edition of the text and translation can be found in the ‘Perseus Digital Library’, Department of Classical Studies, Tufts University, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States Deed.
01-04
i. from the depths
(01) Hesiod, “Theogony” 270-275
(02) Ovid, “Metamorphoses” IV, 706ff
(03) Hesiod, “Theogony” 261-294 From translation: Hesiod “Theogony and Works and Days” Translated with an introduction and notes by M. L. West (1988), The World’s Classics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(04) Beyond death, Medusa’s decapitated head retained the power to petrify, and a number of attributes were connected to her blood. On his return journey with Medusa’s head as a trophy, Perseus famously saved the beautiful Princess Andromeda from Cetus, a fearsome sea monster. As he stopped on the shore to wash his ‘victorious hands’, Perseus prepared a bed of seaweed on which to secure Medusa’s head. Here, a transformation occurs where Medusa’s power turns the living weeds into a stiff red coral reef. This exploit is described by Ovid (Metamorphoses, IV, 706ff), who writes that “Even from that day the coral has retained such wondrous nature, that exposed to air it hardens.—Thus, a plant beneath the waves becomes a stone when taken from the sea.” In retelling the myth, we can see that this precious ecosystem of life beneath the sea emerges from her death.
05-11
ii. medusa's myth
(05) Ovid, “Metamorphoses” IV, 706ff
(06) Ibid.
(07) Hesiod, “Theogony” 275
(08) Graves, "The Greek Myths", (73.d-e). Edition: Graves, R. (1960) "The Greek Myths", (Combined Edition, 1992.), London, England, Penguin Books.
(09) Ovid, “Metamorphoses” IV, 706ff
(10) Hesiod, “Theogony” 261-294 From translation: Hesiod “Theogony and Works and Days” Translated with an introduction and notes by M. L. West (1988), The World’s Classics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(11) Pindar, “Pythian 12 For Midas of Acragas Flute-Playing Contest 490 B. C.” (Pind. P. 12) From translation: Pindar “Pythian Odes” Translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien (1990). Perseus Digital Library Project, the Department of Classical Studies, Tufts University (see: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DP.%3Apoem%3D12)
12-18
iii. transformations
(12) Lucian of Samosata, The Hall, 19. From translation: Lucian of Samosata ‘The Hall (De Domo)’ in “The Works of Lucian of Samosata” trans. H. W. Fowler & F. G. Fowler (1905), Oxford, The Clarendon Press. Accessed: The Lucian of Samosata Project: https://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:essays:the-hall See also: Garber and Vickers, 2003, p.43. Garber, M. B. and Vickers, N. J. (eds.) (2003) “The Medusa Reader”, Culture Work, New York and London, Routledge.
(13) Karoglou, (2018, p.4) whose academic background is in Ancient Greek Art and Archaeology, curated the exhibition “Dangerous Beauty: Medusa in Classical Art” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (February 5, 2018–February 24, 2019). — Karoglou, K. (2018) ‘Dangerous Beauty: Medusa in Classical Art’, “The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin”, vol. 75, no. No.3, Winter 2018, pp. 4–47. https://www.metmuseum.org/met-publications/dangerous-beauty-medusa-in-classical-art-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art-bulletin-v75-no-3
(14) The particular styles of imagery used to evoke Medusa in the ancient imagination, and the visual characteristics these attribute to her over time, have formed patterns that scholars have sought to categorise. A set of three Medusa imagery ‘types’ was proposed by German Archaeologist, Teacher, Art Historian and Museum Director, Furtwängler in the late nineteenth century, that appear to correspond to her ‘evolution’ from "grotesque" to beautiful as her myth was reinterpreted and evolved. The first is aligned to the ‘Archaic’ period (700-480 BC), when she is in ‘monster form’; the ‘Middle’ represents a shift towards a ‘humanised, feminine form’ in the early Classical period (480-450 BC); and the ‘Beautiful’ corresponds to her idealised form’ (until 390 BC), when the beheadings had almost ceased to be included in her representations. However, other scholars point to the greater diversity in image types over the same time periods than these categories allow, and many that pre-date it, with no real consensus. See: (Topper, 2007, p.75) Topper, K. (2007) ‘Perseus, the Maiden Medusa, and the Imagery of Abduction’, “Hesperia”, no. 76, pp. 73–105. Lazarou, A. and Liritzis, I. (2022) ‘Gorgoneion and Gorgon-Medusa: A Critical Research Review’, “Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology”, vol. 9, no. 1 [Online]. DOI: 10.14795/j.v9i1.741.
(15) Lucian of Samosata, The Hall, 19 From translation: Lucian of Samosata ‘The Hall (De Domo)’ in “The Works of Lucian of Samosata” trans. H. W. Fowler & F. G. Fowler (1905), Oxford, The Clarendon Press. Accessed: The Lucian of Samosata Project: https://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:essays:the-hall See also: Garber and Vickers, 2003, p.43. Garber, M. B. and Vickers, N. J. (eds.) (2003) “The Medusa Reader”, ‘Culture Work’, New York and London, Routledge.
(16) Karoglou, 2018, p.5 Karoglou, K. (2018) ‘Dangerous Beauty: Medusa in Classical Art’, “The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin”, vol. 75, no. No.3, Winter 2018, pp. 4–47. https://www.metmuseum.org/met-publications/dangerous-beauty-medusa-in-classical-art-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art-bulletin-v75-no-3
(17) Associate Professor of English, Elizabeth Johnston teaches a humanities course on ‘female icons in pop culture’, where Medusa is an early example. In this article, she looks at some of the ways in which the image of Medusa has been used as a way of criticizing powerful women over time. Johnston, E. (2016) “Medusa, the Original “Nasty Woman””, The Atlantic [Online]. Available at https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/11/the-original-nasty-woman-of-classical-myth/506591/
(18) The 1994 publication “Female Rage” by Mary Valentis and Anne Devane, both Professors of Literature, centres Medusa; drawing from different facets of her myth, through interviews with women and psychotherapists, to explore aspects of the phenomenon. See: Valentis, M. and Devane, A. (1994) “Female Rage: Unlocking Its Secrets, Claiming Its Power”, 1st edn, New York, Carol Southern Books [Online]. https://archive.org/details/femalerageunlock0000vale In their introduction, they explore this enduring connection between Medusa’s myth and female rage: “In the early thirteenth century B.C., as the invading Hellenes conquered Greece, they destroyed the shrines where goddesses were worshiped, tore the masks off the priestesses, and replaced the female powers with male gods and heroes. Later in their myths, the Greeks represented this moment of male triumph over the powers of female darkness in the image of Perseus holding up the severed head of Medusa. Fifteen centuries later, Medusa is back, and her rage has entered mainstream culture.”
19-21
iv. reflection
(19) Apollodorus, ‘Library’, 2.7.3. Here, Pseudo-Apollodorus offers the account: “Hercules had received from Athena a lock of the Gorgon's hair in a bronze jar and gave it to Sterope, daughter of Cepheus, saying that if an army advanced against the city, she was to hold up the lock of hair thrice from the walls, and that, provided she did not look before her, the enemy would be turned to flight.” From translation: “Apollodorus, ‘The Library’, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.” trans. Frazer, J. G. (1905), Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. An online edition of the text and translation can be found in the ‘Perseus Digital Library’, Department of Classical Studies, Tufts University, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States Deed. Access: http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.7.3
(20) Apollodorus, ‘Library’, 3.10.3. From translation: “Apollodorus, ‘The Library’, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.” trans. Frazer, J. G. (1905), Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. An online edition of the text and translation can be found in the ‘Perseus Digital Library’, Department of Classical Studies, Tufts University, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States Deed. Access: http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.10.3 See also: Graves, The Greek Myths, (50.e). Edition: Graves, R. (1960) ‘The Greek Myths’, (Combined Edition, 1992.), London, England, Penguin Books.
(21) CW 6, ¶709
refs
images and galleries
01
phorcys and ceto
‘Phorcys (middle) and Ceto (right)’ (2nd century CE). Late Roman Mosaic from the Baths of Trajan, Acholla, Tunisia. Musée National Du Bardo (Archaeological Museum). This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: Dennis G. Jarvis (2012), Wikimedia Commons. https://w.wiki/E7N$ Reproduced through the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en).
02
winged gorgon with the tail of a fish
‘Shield depicting a winged Gorgon with the tail of a fish and lion feet.’ (6th century BCE). Shield, decorative relief metalwork. Collection of Archaeological Museum of Olympia, Ancient Olympia, Greece. This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: Nanosanchez (2009), Wikimedia Commons. https://w.wiki/E7PD Reproduced through Public Domain release. The image has been digitally sharpened to highlight detail in the Gorgon figure.
03
shell antefix of gorgon head
‘Shell Antefix with the head of a Gorgon.’ (ca. 500 BCE). Painted terracotta shell antefix. Portonaccio Temple, Veii, Museo Nazionale Etrusco, Villa Giulia, Rome, Italy. This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: Sailko (2017), Wikimedia Commons https://w.wiki/E7Pj Reproduced through the Creative Commons Attribution SA 4.0 International license. The image has been digitally edited to highlight the Gorgon figure.
04
gorgon face detail, greave (shin guard)
Detail ‘Bronze greave (shin guard) depicting Gorgon's face.’ (4th century BCE). Bronze metalwork. Collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan P. Rosen, 1991. This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Reproduced through Open Access Policy CCO 1.0 License. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/256033
05
perseus beheading the sleeping medusa
‘Terracotta pelike (jar) detail showing Perseus beheading the sleeping Medusa. (Perseus looks at Athena)’ Attributed to Polygnotos (ca. 450–440 BCE). Terracotta; red-figure. Collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Rogers Fund, 1945. This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Reproduced through Open Access Policy CCO 1.0 License. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/254523
06
medusa detail, gates, the royal palace of turin
‘Medusa Head detail, Gates, The Royal Palace of Turin, Italy.’ Pelagio Palagi (19th century). Cast iron, decorative metalwork. This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: Anassagora (2008), Wikimedia Commons. https://w.wiki/E7Rb Reproduced through the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
07
birth of pegasus
‘Detail from Terracotta lekythos (oil flask) showing Perseus in winged shoes above a beheaded Medusa. Pegasus springs from the body of the dead Gorgon.’ Attributed to the Diosphos Painter (ca. 500 BCE). Terracotta; black-figure, white-ground. Collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Rogers Fund, 1906. This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Reproduced through Open Access Policy CCO 1.0 License. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/247488
08
circular tile with medusa head
‘Tarentine forehead tile with Medusa head.’ (c. 480 BCE). Clay. Collection of The Württemberg State Museum, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: The Württemberg State Museum. Reproduced through the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Deed. https://bawue.museum-digital.de/object/4601
09
medusa depicted as centaur
‘Terracotta pithos (storage jar) with relief detail showing Perseus, who averts his gaze as he beheads Medusa, depicted as a female centaur.’ (c. 660 BCE). Terracotta; incised and stamped decoration. Collection of the Louvre Museum, Paris, France (Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities). Purchased 1897. This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: Marie-Lan Nguyen (2007), Wikimedia Commons. https://w.wiki/E7V9 Reproduced through Public Domain release.
10
running gorgon
‘Amphora detail depicting a Running Gorgon in stylised form’ Attributed to Berlin Painter (ca 500-476 BCE). Pottery; attic red figure amphora. Collection of Staatliche Antikensammlungen (State Collections of Antiquities), Munich. This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: ArchaiOptix (2020), Wikimedia Commons. https://w.wiki/E7Vb Reproduced through the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
11
winged gorgon walking
‘Terracotta plaque depicting a winged Gorgoneion walking in the schematic archaic manner. In her right hand she holds Pegasus.’ Archaic Period (ca 7th-6th century BCE). Terracotta Metope from the Temple of Athena, Syracuse. Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi, Siracusa, Sicily. (Note: Dating for this work is inconsistent across the sources. The Temple of Athena was built in Syracuse in the 5th century BCE. It was preceded by a cult site which dated back to the 8th century BCE, and by an earlier temple from the middle of the sixth century BCE.) This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: Rabax63 (2018), Wikimedia Commons. https://w.wiki/E7Wn Reproduced through the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
12
the most beautiful of the gorgons
‘Bust of Medusa, ‘the most beautiful and deadly of the Gorgons’ depicted at the moment of her metamorphosis, as she sees herself in her own reflection. (As metaphor for sculpture).’ Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1644-1648). Sculpture, Marble. Collection of Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy. This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: Debra Heaphy (2011), Wikimedia Commons. https://w.wiki/E7Wv Reproduced through the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. See also: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/bust-of-the-medusa/KgHR0dPsgjMwGw
13
head of medusa on a gemstone
‘Head of Medusa on a Gemstone’ Thomas Worlidge (сa. 1754-1766) Etching from series ‘Prints of Ancient Gemstones: A Select Collection of Drawings from Curious Antique Gems’, Collection of The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Purchase from the FG Waller Fund. This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: The Rijksmuseum. Reproduced through Open Access Policy CC0 1.0 Universal Deed. https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200276847
14
shield with the head of medusa
‘Shield with the Head of Medusa’ Arnold Böcklin (1887) Polychrome sculpture (A painting on painted papier-mâché. A number of casts were made.) Collection of Kunstmuseum, Basel. Photograph: Gre regiment (2024), Wikimedia Commons https://w.wiki/EFas. Reproduced through CC BY-SA 4.0 International Deed. (Edited detail)
15
three gorgons: ‘painting, sculpture and architecture’
‘Three Gorgons, Vienna Secession Building, Austria’, Othmar Schimkowitz (1898) Architectural Sculpture representing ‘Painting, Architecture and Sculpture’ (‘Malerei, Architektur, Plastik’) of the Vienna Secession movement. The building was designed by architect Joseph Maria Olbrich. Photograph: Yorkist (2008), Wikipedia https://w.wiki/EFbS. Reproduced through CC BY 3.0 Attribution 3.0 Unported Deed. (Image edited to highlight Gorgoneia)
16
medusa figurehead, medusa portland cement corporation
Medusa, figurehead for the Medusa Portland Cement Corporation (so named to reflect the stone-like transformation and strength of their product). Stylised sculpture by William M. McVey (1957), created for their Headquarters in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Image two shows a more detailed view of the work, which was donated to the Botanical Gardens when the site closed. Photographs: Ohio Outdoor Sculpture (nd) https://www.sculpturecenter.org/oosi/items/show/133 Reproduced through permissions granted by The Sculpture Center ("TSC”) to use, copy and distribute images or information delivered from the server. Notice: “This document may be reprinted and distributed for private, non-commercial and educational purposes only, and not for resale. No resale use may be made of material on [the sculpturecenter] web site at any time. All other rights reserved”.
17
medusa with girdle of intertwined serpents, temple of artemis, corfu
‘Detail of Archaic Medusa sculpture in stylised form, with girdle of intertwined serpents, originally sited on the Western Pediment, Temple of Artemis, Corfu.’ (ca 580 BCE). Apotropaic pediment relief, limestone, (2.8m high at apex). Collection of Archaeological Museum of Corfu (Kerkyra), Ionian Islands, Greece. (www.archaeologicalmuseums.gr) This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: Unknown Creator (2021), Wikimedia Commons. https://w.wiki/EJ4Q Reproduced through the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. (The full pediment decoration includes her children, Pegasus and Chrysaor, on either side, although born after her death.)
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gorgon roof tile, a protective symbol
Terracotta painted gorgoneion antefix (roof tile). Greek, South Italian, Tarentine. (ca. 540 BCE) Originally painted (yellow, red, and blue) though faded now. ‘The Gorgon functioned as a protective symbol and thus was an appropriate decoration for sacred architecture.’ Collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1939. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/253581 This artwork is in the public-domain (PD). Photograph: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Reproduced through Open Access Policy CCO 1.0 License. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/247488