Let's not forget that medusa is the baddie in all of ancient greeces legends
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deleted
· 6 years ago
Medusa was actually a symbol of safety and protection for women back in the day. Over time her symbol and story have been a bit corrupted but at the time you would actually have womens' shelters in Greece with an icon or symbol of medusa.
She was cursed because SHE WAS RAPED in Athena's temple by Poseidon, and it offended Athena, so she cursed MEDUSA. Because Greek and Roman myths were big in logic and justic for women
Wasn't Athena also almost raped by her brother or something?
I'm starting to wonder If there were any women in Greek mythology who weren't raped or harassed to such a degree
"In some variations of the myth, Medusa was born a monster like her sisters, described as girded with serpents, vibrating tongues, gnashing their teeth, having wings, brazen claws, and enormous teeth. In later myths (mainly in Ovid) Medusa was the only Gorgon to possess snake locks, because they were a punishment from Athena. "
https://www.ancient.eu/Medusa/
You might be confusing her with Lamia -- incidentally another woman of remarkable beauty, punished by a female god (Hera). Though, Hera was pissed off because Zeus was lusting after Lamia, and punished Lamia by making her kill her own children (a favourite tactic of Hera, it seems), or killing them herself. Either way, Lamia went on to become a half-serpent, half-woman monster that devoured the children of others. But as long as Hera and Zeus are satisfied..
Nope, I'm referring to Medusa. As with many of these legends, there are multiple variations and origins.
"In a late version of the Medusa myth, related by the Roman poet Ovid (Metamorphoses 4.770), Medusa was originally a ravishingly beautiful maiden, "the jealous aspiration of many suitors," but because Poseidon had raped her in Athena's temple, the enraged Athena transformed Medusa's beautiful hair to serpents and made her face so terrible to behold that the mere sight of it would turn onlookers to stone."
@celticrose if you're replying to me, I know haha, I was replying to riyriamistborn's question of whether Medusa had the lower body of a serpent. I can't recall ever hearing a myth where she did, so I was asking if maybe riyria was thinking of Lamia's myth instead, since they are somewhat similar
1
deleted
· 6 years ago
No, I hadn't heard of Lamia before. I just remember her having the lower body of a snake from those cheesy old Greek mythology movies we watched in freshman English in high school. But that was a while ago...
It's possible. I've seen people depict her as having a serpent lower body, and it's hardly a stretch of the imagination. There's no set-in-stone account of what, exactly, the gorgons looked like. Most typically they're regaled as being women with flat, ugly features. This seemed to change to fit the myth of Medusa originally being a beautiful woman transformed by Athena's wrath.
A lot of the early mythology seems to imply they had wings and, possibly, tusks. Some say they all had snakes for hair, others say it was only Medusa. Still more mythology claims the gorgons had skin like a snake. I haven't found any myth accounting for her not having legs, though, and I imagine if she DID, that would have to have been a development after her encounter with Poseidon
deleted
· 6 years ago
Didn't Medusa also have bronze scales or am I remembering that wrong?
Indeed, some myths say bronze scales, others just say the skin of a snake, the colouration left to the imagination. Some of them claim the Gorgons had beards. If they DID look monstrous from the get-go, then it would imply to me that the other part of the myth (Medusa being gorgeous but cursed by Athena) would have to be inaccurately passed along from the original myth, but we'll likely never know how the original tale went
deleted
· 6 years ago
I didn't mean bronze in color, I meant scales made of bronze.
I'm starting to wonder If there were any women in Greek mythology who weren't raped or harassed to such a degree
https://www.ancient.eu/Medusa/
You might be confusing her with Lamia -- incidentally another woman of remarkable beauty, punished by a female god (Hera). Though, Hera was pissed off because Zeus was lusting after Lamia, and punished Lamia by making her kill her own children (a favourite tactic of Hera, it seems), or killing them herself. Either way, Lamia went on to become a half-serpent, half-woman monster that devoured the children of others. But as long as Hera and Zeus are satisfied..
"In a late version of the Medusa myth, related by the Roman poet Ovid (Metamorphoses 4.770), Medusa was originally a ravishingly beautiful maiden, "the jealous aspiration of many suitors," but because Poseidon had raped her in Athena's temple, the enraged Athena transformed Medusa's beautiful hair to serpents and made her face so terrible to behold that the mere sight of it would turn onlookers to stone."
A lot of the early mythology seems to imply they had wings and, possibly, tusks. Some say they all had snakes for hair, others say it was only Medusa. Still more mythology claims the gorgons had skin like a snake. I haven't found any myth accounting for her not having legs, though, and I imagine if she DID, that would have to have been a development after her encounter with Poseidon