Gorgons

The Gorgons were three sisters in Greek mythology: Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa. They were daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. These sisters were known for their terrible power to turn anyone who looked at them into stone. Euryale and Stheno were immortal, but Medusa was not, and she was killed by the hero Perseus.

Gorgons were frightening monsters with scary eyes. The image of a Gorgon’s face, called a gorgoneion, was often shown in ancient art from Greece, Etruria, and Rome. At first, Gorgons were shown as very ugly, but later they were pictured as beautiful young women. The Gorgon head was also displayed on Athena's aegis, which helped protect her and make her enemies feel very afraid. It was believed that Gorgon blood could both heal and harm people.

Etymology

The name 'Gorgon' comes from an Ancient Greek word that means 'grim' or 'fierce.' It is related to a word that makes a growling sound, like when an animal roars loudly. This name matches the scary look of the Gorgons in myths.

Family

The Gorgons were sisters in ancient stories. They were the daughters of two sea beings, Phorcys and Ceto. They also had sisters called the Graeae. Different tales tell us different families for the Gorgons. One story says they came from "the Gorgon," who was born from Typhon and Echidna, and also from Ceto. Another story says "the Gorgon" was created by Gaia to help the Giants fight the Olympian gods. Medusa, one of the Gorgons, had two children with the god Poseidon: a winged horse named Pegasus and a warrior named Chrysaor.

Mythology

The Gorgons were three sisters in ancient Greek stories. Their names were Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa. They were known for having special powers that could turn people into stone just by looking at them.

Perseus, a famous hero, was asked to bring back Medusa's head. Unlike her sisters, Medusa was not immortal, so she could be defeated. Perseus used special tools to find and safely cut off her head without looking directly at her. Her sisters tried to chase him, but he stayed hidden. The story shows how heroes in these tales often used clever tricks to overcome big challenges.

Literary descriptions

The earliest stories about the Gorgons come from writers like Hesiod and Homer from around 700–650 BC. Hesiod tells us that two of the Gorgons, Stheno and Euryale, never grew old. Homer speaks of "the Gorgon," describing her as a frightening monster. Her head appeared on Athena's clothing and Agamemnon's shield, described as scary and awful-looking, with terribly glaring eyes.

Later writers added more details. Pindar said the Gorgons had hair made of snakes and wings, and they chased Perseus in a frightening way. Apollodorus described them as having dragon scales on their heads, big tusks like pigs, bronze hands, and golden wings that let them fly. Even though they were often described as ugly, Ovid said that Medusa was once a beautiful maiden.

Iconography

Gorgons were very popular in ancient Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art, with over six hundred pictures of them known today. They appeared in many places, such as paintings on vases, decorations on buildings, shields, and coins. Some pictures show the whole Gorgon, while others show just their face, called a gorgoneion. These faces were often seen on Athena’s shield and on King Agamemnon’s shield in old stories.

Early pictures of Gorgons show them with snaky hair and scary faces, looking directly at the viewer. Later, starting around the fifth century BC, Gorgons began to be shown as beautiful young women. One famous example from this time is a painting of Perseus about to cut off the head of a sleeping Medusa.

Possible origins

People have wondered where the story of Perseus and the Gorgons, as well as gorgoneia (images of Gorgon faces), might have come from. It's not clear if the story came first and inspired the images, or if the images came first and the story was made up to explain them. They might have even developed separately and only later became connected. The oldest examples of both the story and the images are from around the same time, so it's hard to know for sure.

It's possible that the myths and images of Gorgons were influenced by stories and pictures from Near-Eastern cultures. Some features of Gorgon images seem similar to those of the Mesopotamian Lamashtu. The stories of Gilgamesh fighting Humbaba might have also influenced the tale of Perseus and the Gorgons, and gorgoneia could be linked to images of Humbaba.

The way the Gorgon is shown as Mistress of Animals in the Medusa pediment from the temple of Artemis in Corfu looks similar to images of Lamashtu.

Images of Perseus turning away while cutting off Medusa's head (Figs. 1, 7) look like Mesopotamian pictures of Gilgamesh fighting Humbaba. A bronze shield strap from Olympia from around the mid-sixth century BC shows Perseus turning away while about to cut off Medusa's head, helped by Athena. This looks a lot like a seal impression from Nuzi from around 1450 BC. This suggests that the Greeks might have misunderstood or reinterpreted these Mesopotamian images, leading to the myth of the Gorgon's stone gaze.

Most classical scholars think that gorgoneia (images of Gorgon faces) were used to scare away bad things. They believe these images started as masks worn in dances.

Jane Ellen Harrison explained that the gorgoneion is basically a mask with a body added later. The ancient Greeks knew of a frightening object called a Gorgoneion, a scary mask with glaring eyes and beast-like features. They believed a hero had killed a monster called the Gorgon, and this was its head. Many ideas grew around it, but the main idea is that the ritual mask came first, then the monster was created to explain the mask, and finally the hero was added to explain how the monster was killed.

Gorgoneia were used on shields to scare enemies away, as shown by Agamemnon's shield described by Homer in the Iliad, which had "the Gorgon, grim of aspect, glaring terribly, and about her were Terror and Rout". Evidence that gorgoneia came from masks includes groups of seventh-century BC terracotta masks: wearable helmet masks from Tiryns, and non-wearable votive masks from the Sanctuary of Orthia at Sparta, which share features with the earliest Gorgon faces. If these masks were meant to show Gorgons, it means Gorgons or gorgoneia were part of some ritual or performance.

The votive masks from Sparta have deep S-shaped lines on either side of wide-mouthed grimaces. These features look like those on much earlier terracotta plaques depicting Humbaba.

In popular culture

The story of the Gorgons, especially Medusa, has been used in many books, movies, and games. Their image of having snakes for hair and the power to turn people into stone has made them popular characters in stories and art. People often picture Medusa when they think about magical or scary creatures in tales.