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Medusa

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Sheshet:
Hello everybody
I'mnew to this forum
I'm inquiring aboutMedusa.  I've been reading about her and I'm wondering how the myth got started.  How did she get from a winged woman to a woman with snakes in her hair?  Was it her looks that turned men to stone or her look.  I mean was she able to look at them and turn them to stone?

And her hair.  In passing I read something about a woman who was so untidy that she had snakes in her hair and I'm wondering is that a ephenism applied to a shabby person (maybe because she couldn't look into a mirror or even into a pool of water without turning herself into stone)  That the general description of Medusa was someone who had been raped (in a temple) and was in post tramatic distress and had let herself get shabby.

And why would Medusa be such a threat to Athena? Because she could zap people with her eyes and guys were going over to test her out.  Or was Medusa being punished for not being in keeping with patriarchal Olympian society and actually being angry about being raped bya god?

I'm wondering basically because there seems to be hints to a lot of other things with this myth-- especially since the Medusa faces--the oldest looking ones--look more like Kali, the Hindu goddess of death.  Was there a cross-cultural influence?

Or does the Medusa myth hint of other things?

Thank you,

Abbie :roll:

CMontar:
Well, from what I have read, Medusa was always had wings. She was born of the sea gods Phorcys/Phorkys and Ceto. She had two sisters, named Stheno and Euryale, who were immortal, while she herself was mortal. All three of them were winged, had snakes for hair, large fangs, and a gaze that could turn humans to stone. They were called Gorgons.

     Now, to answer your question. about whether it is HER gaze that turns people to stone, or if people look at her, and just turn to stone, I would have to go with the first one. Everything I read says that Medusa can turn men to stone with her gaze, so I suppose one has to make eye-to-eye contact with her to be turned to stone.

     I'm not sure about the whole "looking shabby" deal. I don't recall hearing if Medusa being raped at any point, and with how vicious and demonic she sounds, I can't imagine anyone being able to rape her, even a god, (unless he stuck a bag over her head  :)

     I'm not sure why Athena wanted Medusa dead. I think she was just helping out Perseus, (the son of Zeus and Danae). After Perseus cut off Medusa's head, he gave it to Athena, and she plopped it on her goatskin shield. When you think about it, that shield would be capable both offensively, (because anyone who looked a Medusa's head on it would turn to stone), and defensively, (because, you know, of all the shielding), so maybe that is why she wanted the head.

     The whole Medusa/Kali relation is inconclusive to me. Everthing I have is really sketchy. I do not think they are the same demon, but perhaps, they both personify certain evils/fears of different cultures, and were connected that way. One of my books says that Kali, (Indian/Hindu), is culturally significant to Gorgon, (aka Medusa - Greek). However, they then compare Kali to the Greek "Demeter Melaina, (Black Demeter)," so who knows. Anyway, I'll say they are the same thing pretty much, just different cultures, (although Kali seems alot more bloodthirsty, and was worhipped by all kinds of people).

     I should also mention that when Perseus cut off Medusa's head, the winged horse Pegasus was born from her mutilated carcass. Just some extra info.

Sheshet:
:D Thank you for your reply

I got most of my info from Greek Legends & Stories by M.V. Seton-Williams .  Some of it was from another book but I can't seem to find it.  That was the book that said Medusa was raped in a temple of Athena and and cried so much that Athena put snakes in her hair and gave her the gaze that would turn men to stone.  Just about everything I read said that she was originally a beautiful maiden (the only mortal Gorgon) Also the Seton-Williams book implied that Pegasus & Chrysalon were born before Medusa died (not as she was dying)

All which means that there's probably a hundred or more versions of the story.  Also in the Seton-Williams book, I read that the Gorgons (there seemed to be more than three & they had a queen--were they all children of Phorcys & Ceto--or was this a part of a later adaption ) could shape-shift (which probably accounts for some portrayals in British movies) and had power over the birds.

Anyway I really thank you for your help so I could sort out these myths & architypes.

Abbie

arien:
look up a creature calld a gorgon they have all the same charecteristics like wings stoney stare and such

paleradhril:
Hello all.
Just a quick reply to the question of the origin of medusa; In all the Greek mythology books I have studied, it was the fact that Medusa seduced the God, which I believe was Posiedon, in the temple of Athene, not that she was raped, but gave herself to him freely, and so it was the lack of respect for Athenes sacred temple that caused her so much fury that she wished to punish Medusa for her vanity and so transformed her into a hideous monster as retribution for her desecration. Just a theory. I also read that the blood from the right side of her body had the power to revive the dead, not sure about the left side though! Hope this helps.

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