Taylor 1

Deondra Taylor
Dr. Francis
European Lit 1
20 April 2017
Medusa throughout the Ages

Medusa is a monster from Greek mythology, her as well as her sisters have been featured

in other works of literature, art, and culture from ancient Greece to the present day. Medusa is

primarily portrayed as a monster, as well as a protective symbol. Medusa is best recognized by

her hair made of living snakes and her ability to turn living creatures into stone, with one glance.

She remains one of the most popular mythological creature in Greek mythology, continuing to

show up in a multitude of present day culture and media. Her image can be shown through a

multitude of artwork, literature, music, television, games, and movies.

According to the myths, Medusa was once a beautiful woman who dared to challenge

Athena's beauty, as a result of this Athena changed her beautiful locks into snakes and took away

her beauty. She became a hideous monster who had the ability to turn anyone to stone with one

glance. As a result of this she retreated to a cave where the reader learns of a multitude of stone

figures of men and animals that had been petrified at the sight of her. Later the hero Perseus

came and defeated her by not looking directly at her but using the reflection of his shield he cut

off her head and gave it to Athena, who put it in the middle of her Shield

ART

Since ancient Greece, Medusa was used as a protective

symbol because of the myth surrounding her image is shown in

many pieces of art as well as architectural structures. The first use

of Medusas image was used for protection on Athena's shield,

which is stated in the Iliad was carried by the goddess Athena and
Figure 1.Athena's Aegis bearing Gorgon
 Taylor 2

her father Zeus that is sometime interpreted of being made of animal skin or a shield, sometimes

depicting the head of a Gorgon.

Athena's shield Aegis, given to Athena by her father Zeus "served as a symbol of Zeus's Power,

it not only protected him but terrified his enemies"(Aegis), it is depicted as a shield and or a

breastplate. The image of the Aegis is sometimes shown on the statues of Roman Emperors,

heroes and warriors. An example of this is the artwork as seen in the Alexander fresco found in

Pompeii.

Which depicts a battle scene, however if look closely at Alexander, we can see that he is wearing

Athena's breastplate depicting the head of Medusa. This

fresco is a copy of the famous Greek painting in 310 BC.

Showing the influence Greek mythos has on the Christian

world. While in ancient Greece Medusa's image was used as

Figure 2 Alexander Fresco a protective symbol to avert evil; by the Renaissance

Medusa's image changed due to artist such as Caravaggio and Cellini who focused mainly on the

decapitated head of Medusa. Medusa was transformed from a monster to be feared to

decapitated and non-threatening. Artist started depicting Medusa as just a

head. One instance of this can be depicted by the famous art piece

Perseus and The Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini,

The sculpture depicts a victorious Perseus holding the severed head of

Medusa. Cellini portrays the decapitated head of Medusa as being held

by Perseus her slayer, the way that Perseus holds her head makes her

Figure 3 Perseus with appear powerless, along with the details of her face, her eyes are cast
the head of Medusa
 Taylor 3

downward and closed, and emphasizing Perseus's victory and medusa is portrayed as non-

threatening and powerless.

Another depiction of Medusa during the renaissance, is the Baroque style painting

Medusa by Caravaggio, in this painting Caravaggio focusses on the decapitated head of Medusa,

though she is dead the head is shown as conscious, with eyes piercing at the viewer, blood

dripping from the neck, and her mouth gaping open.

This image of Medusa is haunting since it is one of the

first times that Medusa's severed head is the main focus

of the artwork. It was shown as a mixture of life and

death in the head of medusa, showing that even though

she is decapitated she still has the ability to turn whoever

looks in her eyes to stone. In other art pieces before it

Medusa was seen as a invincible feared being, however

Figure 4 severed head of Medusa many artist such as Caravaggio's and Cellini showed

that she can be defeated.

In the late 18th Century Medusa became an image of "French Liberty" an emblem of

Jacobinism, which is defined as ,"an extreme radical, especially in politics"(Dictionary). This

was in order to combat the English who used the image of Athena,

The French viewed Medusa as an image of themselves against the English, "The choice of

Medusa as a revolutionary emblem seems, in retrospect,

quite overdetermined. To conservatives, Medusa was a

perfect image of alien, subhuman monstrosity.... To

radicals like Shelley, Medusa was an "abject hero," a

Figure 5 Medusa as revolutionary emblem
 Taylor 4

victim of tyranny whose weakness, disfiguration, and monstrous mutilation become in

themselves a kind of revolutionary power"(Mitchell). Beneath both of the images is the

inscription saying "Religion, Morality, Loyalty Obedience to the laws independence....injustice

treachery ingratitude idleness famine national & private ruin. Misery WHICH IS BEST"(British

Museum).

The image of Medusa through art has always been used as an image to combat evil and

adversaries. It was also been used as an image of defiance in the case of the French independence

movement. Also, the way that she is depicted has changed throughout the centuries, not only the

way the piece was created, but the focus of the paintings. As time went on Medusa was slowly

made the focus of the art work, and turned from an image of fear to an image of defiance.

LITERATURE

Medusa is used extensively in literature from ancient literature like Ovid's

Metamorphoses, and Dante's literary master piece Inferno to modern depictions of the character

such as in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, the

audience is shown the creation story of Medusa, where she was born a beautiful woman whom

Neptune (Poseidon) lusted after, he became infatuated with her, and raped her, while Minerva

(Athena) turns away from the situation. Out of jealousy she turned Medusa's hair to snakes and

her face unattractive with the power of whoever gazes upon her turns to stone. In Dante's Inferno

Medusa is merely mentioned when Dante and his guide Virgil were stopped from entering the

sixth circle of hell, by the Furies who threaten to call upon Medusa to turn Dante to stone.

Medusa also finds her way into modern day literature such The Lightning Thief where Medusa is

introduced as a minor character, whom is killed by the main character in a similar manner to how

Perseus kills her. Medusa also appears in the Insignia series by S.J. Kinciad, Where Medusa is
 Taylor 5

used as a code word for a Russo-Chinese warrior who face is permanently scarred and terrified

men. She is killed by the character Tom Raines which is a reference to how Perseus slayed

Medusa with a shield.

MUSIC

Allusions to Medusa is not as extensive as it is in other forms of media however there is

still a few such as the song "Medusa" by Heather Dale, here the artist describes Medusa as been

born ugly instead of being cursed like she is in the original myth. Some of the lyrics that are

allusions to Medusa is "My garden's full of pretty men who couldn't stay away", which is a clear

indication that she turned these men into stone who glared upon her. The other lyrics in the song

shows an interpretation of Medusa as a woman who has never been pretty and her creating her

own perfection and finding her own beauty.

Another song that uses Medusa as an inspiration is Chris Browns "Medusa", Along with

the name being a direct connection to the mythological being there is also numerous lyrics that

allude to her mythos; such as "Then she hopped up in my ride, ride...Then I looked into her eyes,

eyes...She cold as ice. Turned me to stone, stone... Couldn't move...She dat typa girl dat'll turn

you into stone. Look her in the eyes and you can't leave her alone... These are also very clear

allusions to the how the Gorgon has the ability to turn people to stone with one look at them. In

Chris Brown's version of the character Medusa she is made out to be a beautiful women who has

the ability to stop men dead in their tracks, showing how the character has become sexualized in

modern times.

GAMES
 Taylor 6

Medusa is a very popular villain in a multitude of video games, due to the characters

popularity, she is often either a primary or a secondary antagonist in many games. One of her

most popular appearance in the series God of War as one of the bosses, and is the "Queen of the

Gorgons". She appears in all six games. Medusa also appears in the popular game Dungeons &

Dragons as well as King's Quest III: To Heir is Human, where Medusa serves as the antagonist

in the desert, the player must uses a mirror in order to defeat the boss. Staying true to the original

mythos.

T.V.

Medusa is depicted in a multitude of shows ranging from children shows, to shows

created for young adults. She is always depicted as humanoid and female. She is shown in a

multitude of children animation series, one of the most popular depictions of her as a cartoon is

in the Powerpuff Girls series. In the show she is called Sedusa, a recurring villain who had

tentacle-like hair, and seduced men, her first appearance on the show was in the episode mommy

fearest where she is defeated when they cut off her hair. She also has appearances in other

children television shows such as The Fairly OddParents, Justice League Unlimited, American

Dragon: Jake Long, and many others.

For live action Young Adult television a race of Medusa like creatures called Medusans

appear in Star Trek: The Original Series, The appearance of this race is said to be "so utterly

hideous that the sight of a Medusan rendered any human mad, and soon afterward caused death

by massive organ failure"(Wikia). In order for the characters to look at them they had to wear a

special visor, though in typical mythos Medusa is a villainous character however, in the Star

Trek universe they are not the enemy and actively ties to avoid harming others. Medusa also

makes appearances in shows such as Atlantis, Land of the Lost, and others.
 Taylor 7

MOVIES

In modern culture today, medusa is depicted quite often, due to the popularity of Greek

mythology in today's culture. One of the most memorable depictions of medusa in modern

culture is the 1981 film, Clash of the Titans, towards the end of the film the hero Perseus is

depicted going into Medusa's cave to receive her head in order to defeat the Kraken. Just like in

the mythos Perseus uses his shield in order to avoid being turn to stone by her piercing gaze. In

this version she is depicted in Claymation which created a since of uneasiness to the viewers, and

is portrayed to be an archer, and her cave is located in the underworld. In the 2010 remake of the

movie, the only difference is that she is now computer animated, and when she is slain by

Perseus her body falls into a lake of lava. Unlike in the original, the directors humanized her, and

gave her a range of emotions throughout the final battle.

In the movie adaptation of Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Medusa

poses as an Middle Eastern woman named Aunt Em wearing a black dress a head wrap to hide

her "hair" and a pair of sun glasses to shield her eyes. Under this guise she lures people to her

"Emporium" turning them to stone, in the movie she wears a veil over her face, and tricks people

into looking at her by pretending to take a photo with them and lifting her veil. She is defeated in

the same fashion as the mythos by the main character Percy (Perseus).

Conclusion

Medusa is has always been an character that have interest many groups of people

throughout the ages, she has been presented in different lights throughout the ages, ranging from

a monster who turns men to stone, a woman to be pitied, to a seductress in modern times. By

seeing the character develop over thousands of years we can also see just how much the
 Taylor 8

character, and Greek mythology has influenced the rest of the world. Medusa went from a

character to be feared, even though at times she still is presented in this fashion, she became a

character that was to be sympathized with, or even described as a seductress in some cases. This

shows how much humans have grown as a society, and also the many interpretations of the

character and the many stories that have been told about her.
 Taylor 9

Works Cited
"213 a Something u 0027s a Ms" youtube, uploaded by Cartoon, 1 October 2013
Alexander the Great mosaic. Circa 100 B.C., National Museum of Archaeology in Naples
"Aegis." Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, 2016, p. 1p. 1. EBSCOhost, proxy-
bloomu.klnpa.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=funk&AN=
AE029800&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Benvenuto, Cellini. Perseus holding the Head of Medusa. 1500-1571, bronze, Florence
Caravaggio, Micelangelo. Medusa. 1597, oil on canvas, Uffizi, Florence.
"chris brown-medusa.mp3"Youtube, uploaded by rowster3, March 9 2010
"Clash of the Titans- Medusa battle (original) 1981." Youtube, uploaded by istoit, 22 sept 2011
Douris, Jason & The Dragon. 500-450 B.C. Ware. Gregorian Etruscan Museum, Vatican City
Rowlandson, Thomas. The Contrast. 1792, print.
"Heather Dale_Medusa"Youtube, uploaded by zerafelangel, 22 March 2011
"God of War: Medusa Boss Fight (4K 60fps)" youtube, uploaded by Boss Fight Database, 12
Aug 2016
"Jacobinism". Collins English Dictionary-Complete & Unabridged 10th Editioin. HarperCollins
Publishers. 13 Apr. 2017
"Percy Jackson Medusa scene." youtube, uploaded by SC World, 26 May 2015
"Medusa (Natalia Vodianova)- Clash of the Titans (2010)." Youtube, uploaded by mrussellmovie,
27 July 2012
Mitchell, W.J.T. "Medusa"rd.umd, Frebruary 1997, 13 Apr. 2017
"Star Trek-Insanity" youtube, uploaded by CBS, 8 Sept 2009
"The Contrast 1792. British Liberty. French liberty. Which is best?" Britishmuseum, 13 Apr.2017