Greek Gorgons Beliefs

The last thing you see before you die is the most terrible, horrific face with hair of snakes and scary red eyes, you know it’s not human, it’s a Gorgon. The idea of Gorgons dates back all the way to the Greek times. The Gorgons can be found in Greek art and are included in epics often, Medusa was the most common out of the Gorgons but there are many discrepancies about who she was, and Perseus was ultimately the one to defeat Medusa. The Gorgons were monsters of Greek mythology, showing up in culture at different points in history, adding on to the last description. Gorgons show up in as more of a major figure in mythology twice, and it has been found in writings that “Homer… spoke of a single Gorgon… the later Greek poet Hesiod… increased
First, the reason why she was a Gorgon has various views. One view was that Athena had turned her into a Gorgon because Medusa had slept with Poseidon inside of her temple (Nardo 20). This perspective says that Athena was so unhappy that Medusa was defiling her temple, so as a punishment she turned her into a monster that no one could sleep with or even look at without dying. Another view also had to do with the relationship between Medusa and Athena. The second view says that Medusa was the most beautiful person in the world until Athena became jealous of her beauty so Athena turned her into an ugly monster (Bulfinch 89). This idea is very similar to the first one, that Athena made her the disgusting freak. The difference between the two is in the second point, Athena became jealous of how much more beautiful Medusa was so she made Medusa into a hideous mutant. The last of the reasons why it was thought Medusa was a Gorgon is very different from the earlier two. This reason is that she was born into the family by two gods, Ceto and Phorcys, along with two sisters (Evslin). This view is very different from the other two because this says it was not a curse nor by any angry god like Athena that she was the terrible monster. Although each of these things may have been believed in numerous places at different times, it is only mythology, so it cannot be proved. Another
No one had ever won against Medusa and her trickery before, so it was a huge step for someone to try. Perseus was no proud fool, he had a reason to try against the frightful monster. According to mythology, “when Perseus was grown up, Polydectes sent him to attempt the conquest of Medusa” (Bulfinch 89). This proves that Perseus was not doing it for the sake of his own arrogance, but it was his rite of passage, what all young boys would be required to do in that time to become a man. Perseus would’ve known how dangerous it would be to even attempt the conquest of the Gorgon Medusa but he would try anyways. The hero would need something more than pure wit and strength to overcome the challenge of killing Medusa and escaping without being killed by her sisters, he would need help from some immortal beings. In the story of Perseus and Medusa, he receives three gifts “a pair of sandals similar to those Hermes wore … a special sack that conformed to size whatever one put in it and … a cap that made its wearer invisible” (Nardo 24). These gifts would turn out to be very helpful in beating Medusa because they could be used to Perseus’ advantage when killing her. The sandals would help him get to their island, the sack would help him carry Medusa’s head afterwards and the cap would help him get inside the Gorgon’s lair without being seen by Medusa’s sisters. Another thing that helped Perseus was