Gorgon
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{{about|the Greek mythological monster}}
{{Refimprove|date=December 2007}}
[[Image:Gorgon Louvre F230.jpg|thumb|A Gorgon with limbs akimbo - c. 500 BC [[Louvre]]]]
In [[Greek mythology]], the '''Gorgon''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Γοργών or Γοργώ, [[Greek transliteration|transl.]] ''Gorgon'' or ''Gorgo'', "terrible" or, according to some, "loud-roaring") was a vicious [[female]] [[monster]] with sharp [[fang]]s who was a protective [[deity]] from early religious concepts. Her power was so strong that one attempting to look upon her would be turned to [[stone]]; therefore, such images were put upon items from [[temples]] to [[wine]] [[krater]]s for protection. The Gorgon wore a [[Belt (clothing)|belt]] of [[serpent]]s that intertwined as a clasp, [[Confronted-animals|confronting]] each other.
In late mythology, it was said that there were three Gorgons and that the only mortal one of them, [[Medusa]], had hair of living, venomous snakes that she received as a punishment from [[Athene]]. That image has become especially famous. However, the Gorgon exists in the earliest of written records of Ancient Greek religious beliefs such as those of Homer.
[[Image:Gorgon at the Corfu Archaelogical Museum.jpg|thumb|350px|The Gorgon, flanked by [[lioness]]es and showing her belt clasp of serpents, as depicted at the [[pediment]] of the seventh century B.C. temple on display at the [[Archaeological Museum of Corfu]]]]
The Gorgon held the primary location at the [[pediment]] of the temple at [[Corfu]]. It is the oldest stone pediment in Greece and is dated to c. [[600 BC]].
==Classical tradition==
[[Image:Cratère de Vix 0007.jpg|thumb|Gorgon on the volute handle of the "[[Vix Grave|Vix krater]]", ca 500 BC, a trade item or gift 5'4" in height, excavated from a woman's grave in France in 1953 by Pierre Jouffroi]]
Gorgons are sometimes depicted as having wings of [[gold]], brazen claws, the [[tusk]]s of [[boar]]s, but most often with the fangs and skin of a [[serpent]]. The oldest oracles were said to be protected by [[serpent (symbolism)|serpents]] and a Gorgon image often was associated with those temples. [[Lioness]]es or [[sphinx]]es frequently are associated with the Gorgon as well. The powerful image of the Gorgon was adopted for the classical images and myths of Zeus and Athena, perhaps being worn in continuation of a more ancient imagery.
[[Homer]], the author of the oldest known work of European literature, speaks only of one Gorgon, whose head is represented in the [[Iliad]] as fixed in the center of the [[aegis]] of [[Zeus]]:
:''"About her shoulders she flung the tasselled aegis, fraught with terror...and therein is the head of the dread monster, the Gorgon, dread and awful, a portent of Zeus that beareth the aegis."''(5.735ff)
Its earthly counterpart is a device on the shield of [[Agamemnon]]:
:''"...and therein was set as a crown the Gorgon, grim of aspect, glaring terribly, and about her were Terror and Rout."''(11.35ff)
The date of Homer was controversial in antiquity, and is no less so today. [[Herodotus]] said that Homer lived 400 years before his own day, which would place Homer about 850 BC;<ref>[[Herodotus]] 2.53.</ref> but other ancient sources gave dates much closer to the [[Trojan War]].<ref>Barbara Graziosi, ''The Invention of Homer'' (Cambridge 2002) 98-101.</ref> Those who believe that the stories of the Trojan War derive from a specific historical conflict usually date it to the twelfth or eleventh centuries BC, often preferring the dates given by [[Eratosthenes]], 1194–1184 BC, which roughly corresponds with archaeological evidence of a catastrophic burning of [[Troy VIIa]]. For modern scholarship, 'the date of Homer' refers to the date of the poems as much as to the lifetime of an individual. The scholarly consensus is that "the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'' date from the extreme end of the ninth century BC or from the eighth, the ''Iliad'' being anterior to the ''Odyssey'', perhaps by some decades."<ref>Pierre Vidal-Naquet, ''Le monde d'Homère'', Perrin 2000, p19</ref> They are presumed to have existed as an oral tradition that eventually became set in historical records. Even at that early time the Gorgon is displayed as a [[vestige]] of ancient powers that preceded the historical transition to the beliefs of the [[Classical Greece|Classical Greeks]], displayed on the chest of [[Athene]] and Zeus.
In the ''[[Odyssey]]'', she is a monster of the underworld:
:''"...and pale fear seized me, lest august [[Persephone]] might send forth upon me from out of the house of [[Hades]] the head of the Gorgon, that awful monster..."''(11.635)
[[Image:Douris cup Jason Vatican 16545-2fix-p1AthenePythonAegisIdenticalWgorgon.JPG|thumb|300px|[[Athena]] wears the ancient form of the Gorgon head on her [[aegis]], as the huge serpent who guards the [[golden fleece]] regurgitates [[Jason]]; cup by [[Douris (vase painter)|Douris]], Classical Greece, early fifth century BC - Musei Vaticani]]
Around 700 BC, [[Hesiod]] ([[Theogony]], [[Shield of Heracles]]) increases the number of Gorgons to three—[[Stheno]] (the mighty), [[Euryale]] (the far-springer), and [[Medusa]] (the queen), and makes them the daughters of the sea-god [[Phorcys]] and of [[Ceto|Keto]]. Their home is on the farthest side of the western ocean; according to later authorities, in [[Ancient Libya|Libya]].
The [[Attica, Greece|Attic]] tradition, reproduced in [[Euripides]] ([[Ion (play)|Ion]]), regarded the Gorgon as a monster, produced by [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] to aid her children, the Titans, against the Olympian deities and she was slain by [[Athena]], who wore her skin thereafter. Of the three Gorgons, only Medusa is mortal.
[[Aeschylus]], who lived from c. 525–456 BC, says that the three Gorgons had only one tooth and one eye among them (see also the [[Graeae]]), which they had to swap among themselves, however they are not depicted as such and this may be a confusion with tales that relate to the Graeae.
[[Apollodorus]], c. 180-120 BC, (11.2.6, 2.4.1, 22.4.2) provides a good summary of the Gorgon myth. Much later stories claim that each of three Gorgon sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, had snakes for hair, and that they had the power to turn anyone who looked at them to stone.
According to [[Ovid]] (''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]''), a [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] poet writing in 8 AD, Medusa alone had serpents in her hair, and this was due to [[Athena]] (Roman [[Minerva]]) cursing her. Medusa had copulated with [[Poseidon]] (Roman [[Neptune (god)|Neptune]]) in a [[temple]] of Athena, after being aroused by the golden color of Medusa's hair. Athena therefore changed the enticing golden locks into serpents.
[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (5.10.4, 8.47.5, many other places), a geographer of the second century A.D., supplies the details of where and how the Gorgons were represented in Greek art and architecture.
==Perseus and Medusa==
{{Greek myth}}
In late myths, Medusa was the only one of the three who was not immortal; hence [[Perseus (mythology)|Perseus]] was able to kill her by cutting off her head while looking at her in the reflection of mirrored shield he supposedly got from the [[Graeae]].
Some authors say that Perseus was armed with a scythe by [[Hermes]] ([[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]]) and a mirror (or a shield) by [[Athena]] ([[Minerva]]). Whether the mirrored shield or the scythe, these weapons allowed him to defeat Medusa easily. From the blood that spurted from her neck sprang [[Chrysaor]] and [[Pegasus]], her two sons by [[Poseidon]]. Other sources say that each drop of blood became a snake. He gave the head, which had the power of turning into stone all who looked upon it, to Athena, who placed it in her shield. According to another account, Perseus buried it in the marketplace of [[Argos]].
According to other accounts, either he or Athena used it to freeze [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]] into stone, transforming him into the [[Atlas Mountains]] that held up both heaven and earth.<ref>[[Polyeidos (poet)|Polyeidos]], Fragment 837; Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' 4.627</ref> He also used it against a competing suitor. Ultimately, he used it against King Polydectes, who originally had sent him to kill Medusa in hopes of getting him out of the way, while he pursued Perseus's mother, Danae.
So the story goes, Perseus returns to the court of King Polydectes, who is sitting at his throne with Danae. The king asks if Perseus has the head of Medusa, and he replies "here it is" and holds it aloft, turning the whole court to stone.
Another legend says that Perseus used the shield to make the Gorgons see their own reflections and thus turning them all to stone.
==Protective and healing powers==
[[Image:Hydria gorgon BM B58.jpg|thumb|220px|Archaic (Etruscan) fanged goggle-eyed gorgon flanked by [[sphinxes]] on a ''[[hydria]]'' from [[Vulci]], 540-530 BC]]
In Ancient Greece a ''Gorgoneion'' (or stone head, engraving, or drawing of a Gorgon face, often with snakes protruding wildly and the tongue sticking out between her fangs) frequently was used as an [[Apotropaic magic#Apotropaic symbols|apotropaic symbol]] <ref>Garber, Marjorie. ''The Medusa Reader'', [[24 February]] [[2003]], Introduction, pg. 2, ISBN 0-415-90099-9.</ref> and placed on doors, walls, floors, coins, shields, breastplates, and [[tomb stone|tombstone]]s in the hopes of warding off evil. In this regard ''Gorgoneia'' are similar to the sometimes grotesque faces on Chinese soldiers’ shields, also used generally as an amulet, a protection against the [[evil eye]]. In some cruder representations, the blood flowing under the head can be mistaken for a beard.
In Greek mythology, blood taken from the right side of a Gorgon could bring the dead back to life, yet blood taken from the left side was an instantly fatal poison. [[Athena]] gave a vial of the healing blood to [[Asclepius]], which ultimately brought about his demise. [[Heracles]] is said to have obtained a lock of Medusa’s hair (which possessed the same powers as the head) from Athena and to have given it to Sterope, the daughter of [[Cepheus, King of Tegea|Cepheus]], as a protection for the town of [[Tegea]] against attack. According to the later idea of Medusa as a beautiful maiden, whose hair had been changed into snakes by Athena, the head was represented in works of art with a wonderfully handsome face, wrapped in the calm repose of death.
==Origins==
[[Image:GorgonSheild3p from Mourning of Akhilleus Louvre E643.jpg|thumb|Protective Gorgon on the shield of Achilles at his burial by [[Thetis]]; Corinthian black-figure hydria, 560–550 BC - [[Louvre]]]]
The concept of the gorgon is at least as old in mythology as Perseus and Zeus. The name is Greek, being from "gorgos" translating as ''terrible''. Other scholars find the goddess to have early origins in Ancient Greek religion.
Author [[Marija Gimbutas]] (''Language of the Goddess'') believed she saw the prototype of the ''[[Gorgoneion]]'' in [[Neolithic]] art motifs, especially in anthropomorphic vases and [[terra cotta]] masks inlaid with gold.
The large eyes, as well as Athena's flashing eyes, are a symbol termed "the divine eyes" by Gimbutas (who did not originate the perception), appearing also in Athena's bird, the owl. They can be represented by spirals, wheels, concentric circles, swastikas, firewheels, and other images.
The [[fang]]s of the Gorgons are those of [[serpent (symbolism)|snakes]] and are likely derived from the guardians closely associated with early Greek religious concepts at the centers of [[oracle]]s.
==Gorgons in popular culture==
[[Image:Medusa by Caravaggio.jpg|thumb|200px|Baroque [[Medusa]] combined beauty and horror: ''Medusa,'' by [[Caravaggio]] - after 1590, [[Uffizi Gallery]], [[Florence, Italy]]]]
{{main|Medusa and gorgons in popular culture}}
During the late sixteenth century or early seventeenth century, the [[Baroque]] artist, [[Caravaggio]], painted Medusa as a beautiful woman who was horrified by her own locks that had been converted into serpents, as displayed to the right.
As with [[Cyclops|Cyclopes]], [[harpies]], and other beasts of Greek mythology, Gorgons have been popularized in modern times by the fantasy genre such as in books, comics, role-playing games, and video games.
[[Charles Dickens]] talks about the 'Gorgon's head' and compares the Gorgon to the Marquis St. Evremonde in Chapters 8-9 of 'A Tale of Two Cities'.
[[Libba Bray]] has also included a Gorgon character bound to a boat by the Order, a group of sorceress, in her trilogy; "A Great and Terrible Beauty", "Rebel Angels", and "The Sweet Far Thing"
Medusa the Gorgon appears in the 1981 film "[[Clash of the Titans]]". Stop-motion animation by the legendary [[Ray Harryhausen]].
==References==
{{commonscat|Gorgons}}
{{reflist}}
==Sources==
*{{1911}}
*''Additional material has been added from the 1824 [[John Lemprière|Lemprière]]'s [[Lemprière's Bibliotheca Classica|Classical Dictionary]].''
[[Category:Greek legendary creatures]]
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