Back Medusa Afrikaans ميدوسا Arabic মেডুছা Assamese Medusa (mitoloxía) AST Qorqona Meduza Azerbaijani Медуза горгона Bashkir Medusa BCL Гаргона Медуза Byelorussian Медуза (митология) Bulgarian মেডুসা Bengali/Bangla
Medusa is a character in Greek mythology. Her story has been told and retold by ancient and modern storytellers, writers, and artists.
The Latin poet Ovid writes in Book IV of his Metamorphoses that Poseidon had raped Medusa in the temple of Athena.[1] The goddess was angry, and changed Medusa into a monster with snakes for hair. To people in Ovid's time, Medusa, not Poseidon, was the one who had done something wrong.
Artists have made statues and paintings of Medusa for thousands of years. Ancient Greeks and other ancient people painted Medusa's face on pots and doors and other things. In Greek art from this time, artists usually painted or carved people looking out to the side. Medusa was almost always carved looking out of the picture toward the viewer. This was so Medusa could scare evil things away. These pictures of Medusa are called Gorgoneions. They are an example of using one evil thing to make other evil things leave, the same way Perseus used Medusa against his other enemies.[1]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Madeleine Glennon (2017). "Medusa in Ancient Greek Art". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved September 9, 2021.