In Unit 10 under the Instructor’s Emphasis Medusa, American culture generally imagines Medusa being born as snake headed monster whom Perseus destroyed with the assistance from the gods. Another theory says that Medusa was once a mortal woman that Poseidon raped in the temple of Athena. Athena made Medusa suffer because of her jealousy by altering her beauty and isolated her as a Gorgon because of the defiling her temple. Another theory is that Athena punished Medusa because she claimed her beauty surpassed the goddess herself in which caused offence.
An additional theory is that Poseidon oved and married Medusa and when blood fell, into the salt sea foam, it produced the winged horse Pegasus. In comparing this information from the Instructor’s Emphasis to the movie, it would seem that it differs from what was presented in the 1981 movie, Clash of the Titans. In the course book Classical Mythology by Morford, Mark P. O. , Robert J. Lenardon, and Michael Sham, Medusa is part of the Gorgon Sisters, which included two others. The Gorgon sisters were all able to turn the living into stone and Poseidon was her lover.
Medusa was Perseus greatest challenge and when she was beheaded she as pregnant and from her corpse sprang the winged horse Pegasus and a son, Chrysaor known as “He of the golden Sword”. (Morford, Lenardon, and Sham 175). Hermes and Athena advised Perseus to seek the daughter of Phorcys or the Graeae (meaning old women), who are sisters to the Gorgons for direction to kill the Kraken. The Gorgon sisters directed Perseus to nymphs who possessed certain magical objects needed for his task to free Andromeda. The Graeae only had one eye and one tooth between them.
Perseus was able to get them in order to persuade the Graeae to provide the way to the nymphs. Objects from the nymphs included the cap of invisibility, winged sandals, a wallet or kibisis. Hermes provided the Gorgons Perseus a scimitar. (Morford, Lenardon, and Sham 550). Perseus flew to the Gorgons home on the edge of the world. (Morford, Lenardon, and Sham 550). Perseus finds Medusa asleep and with the guide of Athena, Perseus uses his shield to behead Medusa and to put her head into the wallet or kibisis and out sprang Chrysaor and Pegasus from her body. Morford, Lenardon, and Sham 551). Perseus flies away wearing the winged sandals along with the cap of invisibility on his return o Seriphos to deal with Polydectes his mother’s pursuer. (Morford, Lenardon, and Sham 551). The theories presented in the book were in the movie however, the sources were differ from the movie such as the presentation of the gifts from the gods and not from the Nymphs who were not mentioned in the movie at all. There was no mention of Medusa’s sisters in the movie along with the birth of Pegasus and Chrysaor.
At the destruction of Medusa, she was asleep, but in the movie, Medusa was prepared and ready for her incoming guests. Considering another difference was that Medusa’s head was a rophy of victory to show Polydectes, Perseus’s bravery and there was no mention about the Kraken in the book theory. The theories that were identical was the mention of the Graeae and the eye along with the use of Perseus’s shield that beheaded Medusa. In H. A. Guerber’s The Myths of Greece and Rome, Polydectes wanted to get rid of Perseus in order to force Danae, Perseus’s mother to marry him.
Perseus boasted that he could slay Medusa in order to prove his bravery to Polydectes and the people. Medusa a mortal was one of the three Gorgons and sister to Euryale and Styno who were immortal. Medusa was andsome and her home was in a land where the sun never shone. She asked Minerva (the goddess Athena) if she could visit the sunny south, but Minerva refused. This upset Medusa and she declared Minerva no longer beautiful. This infuriated Minerva to punish her for her own beauty and changed her into a hideous monster.
The gods favored Perseus and provided assistance from Pluto who provided a magic helmet, which the wearer would be invisible at will, Mercury who provided his own winged sandals in order to fly and Minerva gave him her own shield to defend himself. Perseus flew northward with the gods ifts to the land of perpetual darkness and to the home of the Graeae in which were three horrible sisters who relied on one eye and tooth. They were the only ones who knew Medusa’s whereabouts. By using the invisibility, Perseus was able to capture the eye and use it as a bargaining chip for accurate directions to Medusa’s lair.
Perseus left and prepared himself to be aware of Medusa’s power, Perseus used his shield in order to guide him and found her asleep. Perseus severed her head, held it behind his back, and flew back to Polydectes with his trophy leaving the other Gorgons alive and behind. Medusa’s lood dripped on the African sand and gave birth to the race of poisonous reptiles. Blood dropped into the sea and created the famous Pegasus. Perseus journeyed on many adventures. On one of the adventures, he came across Atlas.
Atlas wanted freedom and as Perseus freed him from his burden, he looked upon Medusa’s face and changed into the rugged mountains, which bare his name. The maiden known as Princess Andromeda who was chained to the rocks by the sea was to be sacrificed to a sea monster who caused destruction to the homes along the coast. Perseus withdrew his sword to attack and he slayed the sea monster. The people cheered him on as their champion and as a reward, Andromeda was offered to Perseus to be his wife and he accepted.
Andromeda was to marry her uncle Phineus and at the wedding celebration, Phineus and his followers tried to attack Perseus, but to their surprise, he unveiled Medusa’s head and turned Phineus and his followers into stone. Perseus returns to his home with his new bride and to face Polydectes, his mother’s pursuer and turns him into stone. Medusa’s head was given to Minerva as gratitude for her assistance. Minerva pleased with the gift set the head in the center of her Aegis (shield) where all of Medusa’s ower lay dormant until needed.
In this source of information, there was no mention of Medusa’s sisters nor was there any mention that Poseidon was the cause of Athena turning Medusa into the creature that she is known. In this theory, Medusa transformed into a monster because of a request to the goddess Minerva known as Athena had declined. Medusa turned away from the goddess and that was the cause of Medusa’s transformation into the hideous creature. The gods in this theory did provide Perseus with the offered gifts to behead Medusa but the reasons used for proof was of his bravery to Polydectes.
The Graeae along with the eye were in this source and provided direction for Perseus to Medusa. Medusa again in this source was asleep and the shield was used to defeat and decapitate her, which seems to be the same in all the sources reviewed. Blood that seeped from Medusa’s head into the sea birthed Pegasus and her blood that also dripped onto the sand of Africa created race of poisonous reptiles. In the movie, Medusa’s blood did create poisonous scorpions that Perseus had to fight for his life against however; there is no mention of any altercation with the race of poisonous reptiles in Africa in this particular source.
Additional information in this source included some adventures along Perseus’s return home that included a visit with Atlas that changed his destiny. The story of Andromeda was included as one of Perseus’s adventures, however it was portrayed differently and not as the main attraction as it was in the movie. The information source ended with Medusa’s head was used to turn people into stone by Perseus that got in the way of his happiness and in the end Medusa’s head was given to Minerva (Athena) to be placed in the center of Aegis (Minerva’s shield) where all of Medusa’s power lay dormant until needed in the future.
