Medusa: The Brief Story of the Gorgon
Updated: Jun 14
Stheno, Eryale, and Medusa, also known as “The Gorgons”, were the daughters of Forkus and Kittus. Poseidon and Medusa were in love, and during one of their “adventures” they defiled one of the temples of the Goddess Athena. Athena, in order to punish Medusa, she cursed her and turned her hair into snakes.
After these grotesque transformation, anyone who was unlucky enough to phase Medusa’s gaze, was turned to stone. Because of these, Medusa lived in isolation inside her palace while her sisters took care of all the chores in the outside world.
When Perseus declared war, all of the guards came to his support as he was the son of Zeus, and they wanted to aid him in this dangerous attempt. Hermes gave him his winged sandals and he soared, Pluto gave him his helmet which had the ability to turn the wearer invisible, and Athena gave him her auspices, as she decided to accompany him during his campaign.
The Gorgons also had two older sisters, Perphido and Enyo, who only had one eye and shared it between them by using it on alternate turns. When Perseus arrived at Medusa’s Palace, her older sisters were guarding the gate. After a tricky encounter he managed to steal the eye while one sister was passing the eye to the other.
After that, since he had defeated the sentinels, he managed to proceed inside the palace of the Gorgons. Difficult path through rocks, ruins, cliffs, and fissures. In this path, there was a sea of grotesque statues, there were the people and the beasts that have been petrified by Medusa and they still had the expression of terror on their faces.
Luckily for Perseus, at that time, Medusa’s snakes were in deep slumber. Perseus, guided by the Goddess Athena, approached the sleeping Gorgon, and without looking at her he placed his shield in such a way that he could see her reflection, and decapitated her in her sleep.
From the blood that gushed out of her decapitated neck, Pegasus, Chrysaos, and the den of snakes were born.