Medusa of the gorgon. The myth of the origin

If you carefully study the myths and legends of the ancient Greeks, it becomes clear that there were several gorgons, but, after millennia, from memory, we can reproduce the name only one of them - Medusa.

Medusa of the gorgon. The myth of the origin

The very first mentions in the literature of snakehead creatures date back to the eighth century BC. In the Odyssey, Homer writes about Medusa, a monster from the underworld, and in Theogony, Hesiod recounts three gorgon sisters. In general, there are several options for how the gorgons appeared and who they were originally.

The first version of the appearance that Euripides followed was titanic. It says that the mother of the gorgon was Gaia, the goddess of the earth and ancestor of the Titans. If so, then the gorgon Medusa and her sisters could initially be monsters.

The second version can be called "poseidonic". She describes it in his "Metamorphoses" Ovid.

Long ago, in time immemorial, Forkis, who in Greek mythology was the god of the stormy sea, and his sister Keto, a sea monster resembling a dragon, three daughters were born - beautiful water virgins. They received such names: Spheno (translated from ancient Greek as "mighty"), Evriala ("far jump") and Medusa ("guard", "lady").

The most beautiful of the sisters was the Gorgon Medusa. She so fascinated with the beauty of the god Poseidon, that he forcibly seized Medusa in the temple dedicated to Athena. The goddess became furious when she learned of the desecration of her sanctuary, and turned the sea maiden into a gorgon - a monster covered with thick scales, with hydra and serpents fluttering on their heads instead of hair, with yellow teeth sticking out of their mouths . Sfeno and Euryale decided to share the fate of her sister and also become monsters. And perhaps it was not in the temple, just a powerful Athena envied the beautiful appearance of Medusa and jealous of her sea god.

The gorgon medusa - the only one of the sisters was mortal, and only she could turn her people into stone statues. According to some other myths, all three gorgons had a terrible gift to turn people and animals into stone, and also to freeze water. When the young Perseus accidentally dropped the phrase that he could kill the gorgon Medusa, Athena caught him at the word. She taught the hero how to defeat the gorgon and not turn into stone, and handed the young man his shield, polished like a mirror. The hero fulfilled his promise and brought the goddess's head to Medusa, and also returned the shield on which the image of the gorgon was imprinted.

The ancient Greeks believed that the Medusa of the gorgon, or rather, its severed head - is an excellent guarding artifact, protecting from evil and "evil eye". Thus appeared and spread amulets-gorgonejons.

Images of Medusa were applied to weapons, armor, medallions, coins and facades of buildings not only in Greece, but also in Ancient Rome, Byzantium and Scythia. At first, the gorgon was painted terribly terrible, like a real monster, but eventually Medusa was portrayed as a beautiful, albeit horrifying woman with wriggling snakes on her head.