Medusa had how many heads

Richter, Gisela M. Vernant, Jean-Pierre. Zeitlin, pp. Visiting The Met? Terracotta antefix with the head of Medusa. Terracotta aryballos in the form of a helmeted head. Terracotta kylix: Siana cup drinking cup Attributed to the C Painter.

Terracotta stand Signed by Ergotimos as potter. Part of the marble stele grave marker of Kalliades. Terracotta painted gorgoneion antefix roof tile.

Terracotta amphora jar Signed by Andokides as potter. Terracotta kylix: eye-cup drinking cup Signed by Nikosthenes as potter. Bronze neck-amphora jar with lid and bail handle. Terracotta lekythos oil flask Attributed to the Diosphos Painter. Terracotta lekythos oil flask Attributed to the Brygos Painter. Terracotta column-krater bowl for mixing wine and water Attributed to the Orchard Painter.

Terracotta gorgoneion antefix roof tile. Gold pendant in the form of a gorgoneion Gorgon's face. Terracotta pelike jar Attributed to Polygnotos. Bronze greave shin guard. Terracotta two-handled vase. Terracotta reilef roundel with head of Medusa. Wall painting: Perseus and Andromeda in landscape, from the imperial villa at Boscotrecase. Marble head and torso of Athena. Citation Glennon, Madeleine.

Ancient Greece, 1— A. Keywords 1st Century A. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.

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Performance Performance. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Analytics Analytics. Probably there were several oral traditions and versions of the story. Apollodorus and Ovid simply brought together some of these stories in one single, more or less, coherent narrative. The two of them produced three daughters, known as the Gorgons.

Among those three, Medusa was the only mortal. No explanation is given for this strange phenomenon. Phorkys and Keto also produced another set of triplets, the Graie, as well as other monsters and deities. It is certainly not a coincidence that both the Gorgons and the Graie were sets of three sisters.

Also the giant Geryon, the grandson of Medusa, had three heads or three bodies according to different sources. According to Ovid, Medusa was initially a beautiful young woman. This was seen as a great hubris towards the goddess whose sacred space was polluted. As is common with Greek gods , Athena directed her anger towards poor mortal Medusa who was not responsible for these events and was the true victim. In both cases, however, the result was the same. In the end, Athena turned Medusa into a figure of horror, a Gorgon with venomous snakes instead of hair.

Her face was so ugly that whoever looked at her turned into stone. The key person in the story, other than Medusa herself, is Perseus. His story begins when Zeus mated with Danae in the form of a rain of gold. Out of this union, the legendary hero Perseus was born. Then he invited Perseus to the wedding and asked for horses as wedding gifts from all guests.

At the time, horses were an extremely expensive gift. Imagine being invited to a wedding where you are expected to bring a new car as a gift. Perseus responded to the extraordinary request with sarcasm. Obviously, Polydektes had knowledge of who Medusa powers and hoped that she would kill Perseus, thus allowing him to marry Danae unopposed. Therefore, Medusa had to take the punishment even though she was the victim.

Athena turned Medusa from a beautiful maiden into a hideous beast, unable to stare someone in the eye without turning them into stone. The hair that once attracted compliments as the source of her beauty became venomous snakes.

Medusa was now a Gorgon. Medusa was not the only Gorgon. She had two sisters named Stheno and Euryale. The parents of the Gorgons were Phorcys and Keto. Not much is known about the other two Gorgons other than that they were immortal, whereas Medusa was not.

Probably Medusa was mortal to serve the storyline of her beheading by Perseus because no further explanation is provided for this weird fact. At least, this is how ancient artists depicted them.

Interestingly, in many of these early depictions, the Gorgons appeared with wings. But this appearance did not remain the same throughout the ages. Apollodorus writes that the Gorgons had, amongst others, tusks and golden wings! This was known as the gorgoneion and was typically a cartoonish spherical head, with big, wide eyes and open mouth with tongue and tusks showing.

The gorgoneion has been called a mask of terror and no one can tell if the myth preceded the gorgoneion or the gorgoneion the myth. Stephen Wilk, who wrote a book on the Medusa , believes that the gorgoneion was an archetypal image of the dead.