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.
