#greekmonster

“Athena’s Aegis,” by me, (#10 in my “Quest for the Gorgon Head” series)

PART 10: With justice served and his mother saved, Perseus returned his Adamantine blade to Hermes, and the helmet of invisibility and winged sandals to the nymphs, and of Medusa’s head he offered it to grey-eyed Athena who placed the head upon her “Aegis” (armored breastplate) as a sacred weapon. Later in life, Perseus returns to his original homeland, fulfilling the original prophecy by accidently killing his grandfather with an accidental discus throw. Perseus and andromeda go on to found the great kingdom of Mycenae.

The original Aegis armor was described as a goat hide with golden tassels wrapped over a shield used by Zeus in the war against the Titans. In an alternative account, in the Olympians war against the titans, Athena strips a giant monster, Pallas, of his skin and wears the skin as armor. In ancient Greek vase paintings we can see a metal corselet worn by Athena upon her torso, with Medusas head positioned abreast. In Homer’s Iliad, Apollo borrows the Aegis, and joining in the war, provokes terror upon the battlefield with it, as it was said to produce “…a sound as from myriad roaring dragons.” (Iliad, 4.17)

combing through the references about the Aegis was a bit tricky. Does anyone have anything to add about this sacred piece of armor? Did i miss anything?

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Part 9: Upon returning to Seriphos, Perseus finds his mother fearing for her life in the temple from the lecherous King Pholydectes, who had assumed our hero dead. Perseus rushes into the throne room, turns his head away, and unleashes the full power of Medusa’s gaze upon the king and his soldiers, freezing them to cold stone before they could attack or even flee.

This is an amazing climactic scene, and is appropriately dramatic. It brings to mind the fairytale trope, where a character must conquer and remove an evil step-parent who has usurped and corrupted the natural parentage. We also have the fascinating symbolic motif of defeating a monster, then absorbing and using the monster’s powers against other adversaries. So, the monster’s abilities, initially a deadly danger, have now become an advantageous tool in the hero’s repertoire.

On the flip side, this situation reminds me of an example where a character thought they had a magic tool, but it turned out to be a deadly weapon. When Hercules saw the centaur Nessus attempting to rape his wife Deinara, Hercules shot him with an arrow tipped with the poison of the hydra. While Nessus lay dying, the centaur tricked Deianeira, telling her his magic blood was a love potion. Later in life, when her trust was waning, she spread the blood on a robe and gifted it to her husband, who was burned a live by the hydras poison in the blood.

Can you think of any other examples in Greek myth of heroes using defeated foes weapons as tools, or vice versa?

Coming next…Athena receives the head of Medusa for her Aegis! :D

“Cetus and Andromeda” (#8 in my “Quest for the Gorgon Head” series)

part8: Having successfully acquired his prize, Perseus flies over the sea for home. But along a foreign coast, he hears cries. A young woman, Andromeda, chained to a rock as a sacrifice, with a vicious sea beast approaching. (Andromeda’s mother, Queen Cassiopia, had bragged that her daughter’s beauty was greater than even the sea nymph Nereids. The nymphs were outraged as such hubris, and Poseidon sent a flood and sea creature to ravage the kingdom. Ammon the oracle prophesied the kingdom would be spared if Andromeda were offered as sacrifice). When young Perseus laid eyes upon the helpless girl, he fell in love, and vowed to fight the Sea serpent. Upon defeating the beast, Andromeda marries Perseus and they fly away together.

Perseus and Andromeda later go on to have many children and are the founder of the Mycenae kingdom, from which the Greek kings Agamemnon and Menelaus from the Iliad hail. Upon her death, Andromeda was placed in the sky as a constellation in honor by Athena.

There are other fascinating examples of the god’s punishing mortals for their hubris. The king Salmoneus was struck down by Zeus for comparing himself to the king of gods. Tantalus, attempting to trick the gods by serving them the meat of his own son, was condemned to everlasting punishment in the underworld, “tantalized” by hunger and thirst with fruit and water always moving out of reach. The Roman poet Ovid writes of Arachne, who boasted of her weaving being better than Athena, and was turned into a spider by the goddess, cursed to weave forever.

Can you think of other examples where the gods punished mortals for their prideful transgressions?

Coming next…Perseus returns to find some drama at home with his mother and king Polydectes!!!

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“The Birth of Pegasus and Chrysoar” (#7 in my “Quest for the Gorgon Head” series)

Part7 : But Perseus was not turned to stone by Medusas gaze, for he used his bronze shield as a mirror. Before Medusa could rise and attack, Athena guided Perseus sword-hand, decapitating the monster. From the bloody neck stump of Medusa, from Poseidon’s seed, two bizarre children were born; Pegasus the winged horse, and a son, Chrysaor. Not far off, the Gorgon sisters awoke in fury. There was little time. Perseus secured Medusa’s head into his Kibis, and fled into the night upon his winged sandals, while the screeching gorgon sisters sought the killer in vain.

Here we have another example of a strange, “higher birth” in Greek mythology. It brings to mind Athena’s birth, fully formed and armored, from Zeus’ cracked forehead.
        Pegasus is an important figure in Greek mythology. In some versions of the Perseus myth Pegasus is ridden away, while in others, Perseus flees the gorgon upon his winged sandals.  Pegasus appears in another hero myth, being tamed and ridden by the hero Bellerophon to kill the fire breathing beast; Chimera. Later, Bellerophon attempted to ride Pegasus to Olympus, but Zues caused him to fall. Pegasus continued on to Olympus, joining the King of gods as his thunderbolt bearer, and receiving a constellation in the horses honor.

Pegasus’ brother Chrysaor means “golden-blade.” Some variations tell of him as a giant, while others say he was a winged boar. Chrysoar went on to lay with an oceanid nymph to father a three bodied, four-winged Giant named Geryone. During Hercules quest to perform 12 tasks, his 10th task is to collect the cattle of Geryone. But… that’s a tale for another time.

Coming next…a certain sea serpent and princess in peril!

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“The Gaze of Medusa”, by me (#6 in my “Quest for the Gorgon Head” series)

Part 6: With his winged sandals, Perseus flies over the sea finally coming to the barren lands of the three Gorgon sisters; the immortals- Stheno and Euryale, and the mortal sister-Medusa. Passing amongst the stony victims of animals and mortals alike, he stealthily descends deep into their lair where they sleep. Using Athena’s shield as a mirror, and invisible due to hades helmet, he quietly floats over to Medusa, rising his Adamantine sickle high for the death stroke. But she hears him! She awakes in rage, unleashing the full terrible power of her gaze upon the intruder!

In the oldest, archaic representations of the gorgon in Greek art (tombs, coins, breastplates, rooms,) the frightening head seems to function as an “apotropaic” symbol (protective amulet) to ward off evil, known as a “Gorgoneian. A fascinating aspect of the portrayal of the gorgon head in Ancient Greek art is that she uniquely portrayed as front facing, strikingly meeting the viewer’s gaze head on. While most other God’s and mortal character’s faces and bodies are shown in side profile views.

There are multiple sources for the stories involving Medusa. In Homer’s Odyssey, the gorgon is vaguely referred to as a frightening head from the underworld. In Hesiod’s “Theogany,”(700 B.C. Greece) increases the number to three sisters, with Medusa being a monster from birth who willingly lays with Poseidon, and resides in the far lands with her Gorgon sisters. It’s not until 700 years later, in the Roman Poet Ovid’s "Metamorphosis” (8 A.D.) that Medusa is completely reinvented as a beautiful mortal, and chaste priestess of Athena, who, after being raped by Poseidon in Athena’s temple, is cruelly cursed by Athena with snake for hairs and a stony gaze, and then exiled. In fact, although the gorgon was always associated with snakes, it seems to be Ovid who first makes Medusa’s hair actually be snakes. The Gorgon head is also shown on Athena’s breastplate or shield as her “Aegis” for protection, (which we’ll see and revisit in more detail at the end of Perseus myth.) The Medusa character in Myth is a great example of Myths having fluidity and variations, and citing your literary sources when discussing myths is important for us all to know which time period and culture we are alluding to.

So, what do you guys think of Medusa and Gorgon’s history and development? Am i missing any important info?

Coming next…the beheading of medusa!

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