A close look at her role in Greek mythology and art reveals a nuanced and complex character with multiple iterations and implications. Medusa is best known for having hair made of snakes and for her ability to turn anyone she looked at to stone, literally to petrify.
The severed head, which had the power of turning into stone all who looked upon it, was given to Athena, who placed it in her shield; according to another account, Perseus buried it in the marketplace of Argos.
When Medusa had an affair with the sea god Poseidon, Athena punished her. She turned Medusa into a hideous hag, making her hair into writhing snakes and her skin was turned a greenish hue. Anyone who locked gaze with Medusa was turned into stone. The hero Perseus was sent on a quest to kill Medusa.
In a late version of the Medusa myth, by the Roman poet Ovid, Medusa was originally a beautiful maiden, but when Neptune (the Roman equivalent of the Greek Poseidon) mated with her in Minerva's temple (Minerva being the Roman equivalent of the Greek Athena), Minerva punished Medusa by transforming her beautiful hair ...
Medusa then becomes an apotropaic symbol warding off evil, similar to the evil eye. She is imagined more often as an object or a monster than as a human.
Athena, angry at what had been done inside her sacred temple, turned Medusa into a monster with snakes for hair and a gaze that could turn a man to stone. In some cases, her sisters were also turned into monsters for their loyalty to their sister.
Athena bested Poseidon by producing an olive tree on the Acropolis. Poseidon also raped Medusa—a mortal who had the reputation of being beautiful—in Athena's temple, desecrating it. Athena could not do anything to her uncle, so she took vengeance on Medusa by turning her into a woman with snakes on her head.
The last is the version that the Romans wrote of Medusa as a victim. According to the Roman poet Ovid's version of the myth, Medusa, as a mortal had taken an oath of chastity, however Poseidon, lusting after her, forced himself upon her and raped her inside the temple of Athena.
As is common with Greek gods, Athena directed her anger towards poor mortal Medusa who was not responsible for these events and was the true victim. According to Apollodorus' version of the myth, Athena was angry with Medusa because she had claimed to be more beautiful than the goddess.
A medusa tattoo is often interpreted as representing strength, power, and female empowerment. More specifically, some people get a medusa tattoo to indicate that they are a survivor of sexual violence and to symbolize their own empowerment. Content warning: This topic contains discussion of sexual assault.
Gazing into Medusa's eyes could turn a person into stone, so she was very dangerous to be around. People wanted her destroyed, and a man named Perseus promised to do just that. But first he had to figure out how to approach Medusa without looking at her for even a moment.
Poseidon was enamored by Medusa's beauty, and Medusa returned the same feelings. Medusa and Poseidon engaged in a love affair and would have two children together, but not before Athena discovered the illicit affair.
The best-known story of Medusa comes from the Roman poet Ovid. Medusa was seduced by Neptune (Poseidon) in a temple to Minerva (Athena), and in revenge, Minerva turned Medusa's beautiful head of hair into snakes. As she was both mortal and had the ability to turn men to stone, Perseus was sent to cut off her head.
Medusa's eyes are closed -- her weapon, or her curse, is a gaze that turns people to stone, and so in this artwork, her means of defense has been nullified. Without the power of her curse behind her, she is just a sleeping woman.
The fact that she disapproved of her daughter Annabeth's love for Percy was because of both his fatal flaw and (mostly) because he was the son of her rival, displays Athena as biased. Although, out of affection for Annabeth, she's given them her blessing, however reluctantly.
How was Annabeth Chase born? Annabeth Chase is the half-blood daughter of the goddess Athena and the mortal man Frederick Chase. She was born July 12, 1993. Being a daughter of Athena, who is a virgin, she was not physically born, but is a literal 'brain child'; she was born as a gift to the man her mother loved.
She was married to Hephaistos (god of fire and metalworking) but was famously caught sleeping with Ares (god of war). Other divine lovers included Dionysos (god of wine) and Hermes (god of travel and commerce), from whom she gave birth to the fertility deities Priapos and Hermaphroditos, respectively.
In the original story, the Medusa was a beautiful woman who held a very positive role. Tragedy fell upon her when she was confronted with endless hardships brought upon by male actions. Medusa was a beautiful woman who was raped, killed and beheaded by various gods.
Medusa was a female figure in Greek Mythology. Medusa was originally a beautiful human woman who was turned into a Gorgon monster by Athena, the Goddess of War and Wisdom, for a punishment and also out of jealousy and envy, Athena also helped the demi-god hero, Perseus later kill Medusa.
Medusa, from Classical Greek mythology, is a symbol of wrath, cursed with an evil gaze that turns those who enflame her into stone. In ancient Egypt, Sekhmet, with her fierce lion head, symbolizes the destructive force of anger and serves as the protector of justice.
Poseidon raped Medusa in the Temple of Athena, and the goddess of wisdom and war was so angry that she transformed Medusa's hair into "loathsome snakes." "Instead of punishing the god, Athena punished the mortal, which was unfair," says Syropoulos.
Medusa and her two sisters were turned into gorgons by Athena. She did it because she caught Medusa and Poseidon together in her temple. Medusa's sisters were also turned into monsters because they helped get Medusa into the temple.
