Medusa in Greek Mythology: Gorgon, Not a Cursed Mortal

Medusa was one of three Gorgons (Stheno, Euryale, Medusa) – chthonic monsters born to Phorcys and Ceto.

Key Attributes

• Snakes for hair.
• Petrifying gaze (turns viewers to stone).
• Only mortal Gorgon (thus killable by Perseus).

Origin Clarification

Not a cursed human. In Hesiod’s Theogony, Gorgons are primordial monsters. Later Ovid (Metamorphoses) reimagined her as a beautiful priestess raped by Poseidon in Athena’s temple → punished by Athena (snakes, gaze). This literary version ≠ original myth.

Symbolism

• Apotropaic (warding off evil) – Gorgoneion on shields, temples.
• Feminist reinterpretation: victim of patriarchal violence.

Cannot be “lifted from a curse” – her nature is monstrous (archaic) or tragic (Ovidian).