On his travels, he used the head to turn his enemies to stone and rescue the princess Andromeda from a sea monster ( 20.192.16 ), before giving it to Athena for her aegis ( 34.11.7 ). Not even death, however, could quell Medusa’s power, and Perseus had to keep her decapitated head in a special sack strong enough to contain it, called a kybisis. The two immortal sisters pursued Perseus with fury, but the hero escaped with his prize using Hermes’ winged boots and Hades’ helmet of invisibility. Such a violent act resulted in the birth of Medusa’s children, the winged horse Pegasos and the giant Chrysaor, who sprung from her neck. While the Gorgons slept, the hero attacked, using Athena’s polished shield to view the reflection of Medusa’s awful face and avoid her petrifying gaze while he beheaded her with a harpe, an adamantine sword. Perseus set out with the aid of the gods, who provided him with divine tools. A dishonorable king demanded that he bring him an impossible gift: the head of Medusa.
The best known myth recounts her fateful encounter with the Greek hero Perseus. According to Hesiod’s Theogony, she was one of three Gorgon sisters born to Keto and Phorkys, primordial sea gods Medusa was mortal, while the others, Stheno and Euryale, were immortal. lyric poet Pindar, provide a wide-ranging and diverse picture of the fabled creature. Multiple works by ancient sources, such as Homer, the eighth-century B.C. 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. A close look at her role in Greek mythology and art reveals a nuanced and complex character with multiple iterations and implications. She represents a dangerous threat meant to deter other dangerous threats, an image of evil to repel evil. The most common interpretation of Medusa suggests she is an apotropaic symbol used to protect from and ward off the negative, much like the modern evil eye. Her face, whether fierce and grotesque or feminine and composed, appears in virtually all media in varying contexts. Medusa is an instantly recognizable figure from ancient Greek art.
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