On a BCE terracotta stand, Medusa is comically hideous, and fully bearded, sticking out her tongue between two tusks. Meanwhile, a rotation of s Versace fashions presents Medusa as a modern luxury logo. The story of Medusa shifted over time along with her visage. He then employs her head and its stony glare as a weapon, a tool he subsequently gives to the goddess Athena who wore it on her armor.
In a later version, as told by the Roman poet Ovid, Medusa is a beautiful human woman, who is turned into a monster by Athena as punishment after she is raped by Poseidon woe to mortal women in mythology. A — BCE red figure pelike container is among the earliest depictions of Medusa as an innocent maiden, with Perseus creeping up on the sleeping Gorgon. The Classical period of Greek art — from to BCE — further associated beauty with danger when Medusa, the sirens, sphinxes, and Scylla all got a little hotter, losing some scales and wings as their bodies were more and more humanized.
These later images may have lost the gaping mouth, sharp teeth, and beard, but they preserve the most striking quality of the Gorgon: the piercing and unflinching outward gaze. On a chariot-pole finial from 1st-2nd century Rome, Medusa is almost angelic with her flowing hair and a pair of snakes peeking through her tresses , yet her penetrating eyes of inlaid silver recall her petrifying gaze.
On funerary urns or armor, she was a talisman of protection, those eyes symbolically warding off evil. Even into the 19th century, as the romanticization continued, her eyes did not close. Her expression is one of surprised, but unblinking, sorrow. Dangerous Beauty boldly mingles objects from across centuries in the compact exhibition.
Still no matter her form — or decapitation — her gaze is never averted, looking directly at the viewer as an assertion of her horrifying power that cannot be completely subverted by beauty. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.
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DeTraci Regula is a freelance writer who has specialized in Greek travel and tours for 18 years. Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Regula, deTraci. Top Special Animals in Greek Mythology. Poseidon's Loves and Their Children. The 10 Greatest Heroes of Greek Mythology. Your Privacy Rights. Depictions of the goddess in both vase painting The most renowned sculpture of Athena, the gold and ivory Athena Parthenos that once stood in the Parthenon, included two gorgoneia: one on her aegis and one on her shield.
The presence of Medusa on armor reinforces the idea that her presence held significant power to protect the wearer against enemies. The gorgoneion is not the only artistic representation of Medusa; she is also shown in scenes illustrating the adventures of Perseus. A monumental example of this type is the central decoration of the early sixth-century B.
Temple of Artemis on Corfu, though interestingly this depiction leaves out Perseus and the beheading. Other scenes display the moment before the killing. A metope from Temple C at Selinunte depicts such a tableau and includes Athena, who stands by the hero to guide him. In later illustrations from the fifth century B. Here is a rare instance of a nonfrontal, nonstaring Medusa; in sleep, the threat of her power is canceled. Indeed, she is portrayed as a peacefully sleeping human figure—only her wings suggest that she is a supernatural creature.
Some scenes include the other Gorgons, Stheno and Euryale, pursuing Perseus after he has beheaded Medusa. One example, on an early seventh-century B. The Gorgons are often represented in this running pose, known as knielauf , on pottery The legends of the Gorgons cast them as foreign others living outside of the known Greek world and horrific beings to be feared and ultimately vanquished.
Archaic depictions are monstrous and inexplicable—the Gorgon seems to be both male and female, both human and animal. The sixth-century B. Classical and Hellenistic images of Medusa are more human, but she retains a sense of the unknown through specific supernatural details such as wings and snakes. These later images may have lost the gaping mouth, sharp teeth, and beard, but they preserve the most striking quality of the Gorgon: the piercing and unflinching outward gaze.
Her very presence is foreign, dangerous, and potent, as are her specific characteristics. In the Odyssey , her head was kept in Hades to drive the living from the world of the dead. The Perseus myth provides us with the phenomenon that her face and gaze could turn men to stone.
Perseus and Athena were required to control such threatening forces and harness their power. This harness was taken up by ancient Greek artists, who represented the Gorgon across all periods and in all media. Medusa is a deadly and cryptic other, but she is also ubiquitous, with an undeniable energy that inspired artists to repeat her semblance and story in diverse ways across literature, lore, and art through ancient Greece, Rome, and beyond.
Glennon, Madeleine. Belson, Janer Danforth. Childs, William A. Michael Padgett, pp. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Danner, Peter. Krauskopf, Ingrid. Zurich: Artemis, Mack, Rainer.
Marconi, Clemente. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Milne, Marjorie J.
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