Medusa

The Greek Myth has so much to offer and among so many fascinating personalities there was a beautiful woman that was an example of purity and devoted her life to serve Athena as her holy servant. Medusa one of the Gorgon sister was a beauty that had no such interest in human interactions and spent most of her life as the loyal servant of the Goddess Athena.

Goddess Athena

Among many admirers of her beauty it was Poseidon that could not resist the charm of Medusa and took her virginity at the Temple of Athena. After this miserable encounter with Poseidon, Medusa now had to face the punishment of Athena who was raged with anger after her temple has been badly desecrated.

Her beauty was turned into an abhorring creature and she became the scariest yet fascinating creature that mankind has ever seen, her beautiful long hairs were transformed into snakes and her entire body structure was changed into a horrible creature. The physical appearance was just the beginning of the curse and the final touch of the curse banished her from the entire mankind. She was cursed with such eyesight that would turn anyone into a stone with even a slightest bit of gaze from anyone; this ensured that no one would ever interact with Medusa. She was abandoned by everyone and lived the rest of her life miserably as a monster terrifying the people and turning every onlooker into stone.

This curse was so strong that even after her death at the hand of Perseus her head still had snakes and the eyes still had the curse to turn anyone into stone. Medusa was the only Gorgon sister that was not immortal and suffered a very gruesome death at the hands of Perseus who beheaded her after she had terrorized the entire Athens and took many innocent lives. Athena guided Perseus to hunt the monster that she created through the curse, if it was not for the brave warrior Medusa would have continued her killing of innocent people.

Poseidon

She decided to use the curse to her advantage and started killing the people of Athens and the Goddess Athena refused to stand idle as her city burned and turned into stone; it was Perseus that used his wisdom and bravery to take the head of the demon and presented it to Athena.

One has to feel for Medusa as she first suffered at the hands of Poseidon and then was cursed by Athena and finally hunted down by Perseus, it seems that the poor priestess suffered at the hands of superior power. She suffered the consequences of Poseidon’s lust and didn’t deserve such a treatment, though men were much superior in those times hence Medusa had to suffer such horrific end. Because of her hatred for men she continued to kill many innocent men, who barely looked at her and the God of sea destroyed her life. The fact that Poseidon was a god may have restricted Athena to harm him that is why all her anger was inflicted in the only mortal Gorgon sister.

Medusa takes advantage of the curse because it empowers her above all humans and at that time men were very much superior to women and she couldn’t stand that, she stoned many men with her newly gained powers and Athena feared that she would lose all her mankind if this madness is not stopped. Once a holy priestess Medusa was never interested inhuman desires, she always longed for the immortality that her sisters possessed, with this curse she didn’t gained the immortality but she had enough power to dominate every man until Perseus took her head.

medusa

Athena curse was backfired on her and she never thought that Medusa would avoid every living soul; instead she searched for every man because she blamed the entire race of men for her curse and was determined to kill each and every one. In the end she became the prey to her own curse, other than Medusa there is no bigger fascinating character in Greek myth. You feel sorry and frightened of her at the same time; her hair filled with snake was a sight that could cause fear in every living soul.

The character of Medusa still has a frightening image among all of us, there are so many stories that you can easily get confused. It is very difficult to find the authentic story that would tell each and every detail about the life of the beauty turned monster, many Greek writers and scholars share their views and while some sympathize with her many call her a wicked heartless monster that stoned many innocent souls. All her anger was derived from her curse that according to her she did not deserved, but even before the curse she wasn’t a humanitarian.

Perseus against Medusa

But the birth of Pegasus raises the question, if Medusa was such an evil monster how could she gave birth to such a glorious white winged horse, it is assumed that Pegasus was the son of Poseidon and was born after the death of Medusa. Since she was the only mortal sister it seems that Pegasus wouldn’t have existed if she was immortal,

Pegasus

the birth through neck has also captured the attention of many scholars and many views have been shared about the symbolic significance of the birth through the neck.

Pegasus helped Perseus in most battles and also helped Zeus in many ways, though no one could’ve imagined Medusa bearing a mysterious white winged horse. Although many centuries have passed since that curse that turned the beautiful temple priestess into a deadly monster, still many people around the world showcase the story of Medusa through various historic artifacts and movies that highlight the life and death of the beauty of Greece. Even if you visit Athens today you will see many sculptures and paintings of Medusa which are so lifelike that you could feel chills in your spine, though the deadly monster is long gone many artists have kept it alive through their work.