Cultural depictions of Medusa and Gorgons

Medusa mosaic (Roman period, Athens Archeological Museum)
The Gorgoneion was often placed at the entrance of a building, as in this Roman mosaic from Palencia (2nd century CE)

The mythological monster Medusa, her sisters, and the other Gorgons, have been featured in art and culture from the days of ancient Greece to present day. Medusa has been variously portrayed as a monster, a protective symbol, a rallying symbol for liberty, and a sympathetic victim of rape and/or a curse.

She is perhaps best recognized by her hair of living snakes and ability to turn living creatures to stone. Medusa is an ancient icon that remains one of the most popular and enduring figures of Greek mythology. She continues to be recreated in pop culture and art, surpassing the popularity of many other mythological characters.[1] Her likeness has been immortalized by artists including Leonardo da Vinci, Peter Paul Rubens, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin and Benvenuto Cellini.[2]

Ancient times to the Renaissance

Cellini's bronze statue of Perseus with the Head of Medusa, completed in the Renaissance

The Gorgoneion, or Gorgon head, known as Medusa, was used in the ancient world as a protective apotropaic symbol. Among the Ancient Greeks, it was the most widely used symbol to avert evil. Medusa's head with its goggling eyes, fangs, and protruding tongue was depicted on the shield of Athena herself.[3] Its use in this fashion was depicted in the Alexander Mosaic, a Roman mosaic (ca. 200 BC) in Pompeii. In some cruder representations, the blood flowing under the head can be mistaken for a beard.

By the Renaissance, artists depicted Medusa's head held aloft to represent the realistic human form of the triumphant hero Perseus (such as in the 1554 bronze statue Perseus with the Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini). Medusa's head was also depicted to evoke horror by making the detached head the main subject (as demonstrated by the 1597 painting Medusa by Baroque originator Caravaggio).[4]

19th century

After the French Revolution, Medusa was used as a popular emblem of Jacobinism and was often displayed as a figure of "French Liberty." This was in opposition to "English Liberty," which was personified by Athena (whose shield bore Medusa's head).[5] "To radicals like Percy Bysshe Shelley, Medusa was an 'abject hero,' a victim of tyranny whose weakness, disfiguration, and monstrous mutilation [had] become, in themselves, a kind of revolutionary power."[6] Shelley's 1819 poem, On the Medusa of Leonardo da Vinci in the Florentine Gallery was published posthumously by his wife Mary Shelley in 1824.[7] Octave Mirbeau's use of Medusa during his time has also been examined.[8]

Modern use

The image of Medusa's severed head has become one of the most-recognized images from Greek mythology. A representation of Perseus carrying this head has been featured on the cover of a number of paperback editions of Edith Hamilton's Mythology and several editions of Bulfinch's Mythology.[2] Medusa has appeared many times in animation, and her sisters are mentioned in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.

Literature

In Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief, Medusa is a minor antagonist who is killed by Percy Jackson (using a shield to avoid her paralyzing stare). He is successful because although Medusa hates Athena's daughter, Annabeth Chase, she still loves Poseidon (Percy's father). In The Son of Neptune, her sisters Stheno and Euryale are servants of Gaea intent on killing Percy in retaliation for his murder of their sister. In The Mark of Athena, the Gorgons' parents (Phorcys and Keto) and Medusa's son (Chrysaor) are antagonists. The Gorgon is Natasi Daala's flagship in Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy.

In S.J Kinciad's Insignia series, Medusa, the code-name for a Russo-Chinese Combatant, is used as a description for the girl behind the name. The name is particularly apt, for the Combatant's face is permanently marked with scars and destroyed flesh, terrifying men. When Tom Raines defeats her at the Capitol Summit in Insignia, it can also be considered a reference to the way Perseus slew Medusa using a mirrored shield.

Television

A Gorgon is a villain in an episode of the TV series Blood Ties, where her transformation is the result of her having been raped in a temple; she becomes a monster as punishment for defiling the temple, and now turns men to stone if they come too close to her emotionally in the belief that they will hurt her just like her past rapist.

Medusa (played by Jemima Rooper) appears in the BBC One series Atlantis before she became a Gorgon. She was initially an ally of Jason and a love interest for Hercules, but Jason was warned that Medusa's destiny as a monster was inevitable. She transformed into a Gorgon when she opened Pandora's Box (which Jason recovered to rescue her when she was abducted), and was forced to flee Atlantis when everyone who sees her (except Jason) turns to stone. Although he has attempted to find a cure, Jason is warned that he will some day have to choose between saving Atlantis or Medusa.

In the 1968 Doctor Who story The Mind Robber, the Second Doctor and his companions (Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot) travel to the Land of Fiction. In a Labyrinth the Doctor and Zoe encounter Medusa, but when the Doctor denies her reality she becomes a statue. The Gorgons also appear in the Doctor Who spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, with Elizabeth Sladen as former companion Sarah Jane Smith. In "Eye of the Gorgon", the Gorgon being portrayed as an alien parasite using a human host to try and create a portal to its world so that its species can invade. It is revealed that these aliens were the basis for the myth, having come to Earth three thousand years ago. One was the fabled Medusa who was killed by Perseus, another was killed about fifty years before the events of the episode by an archeologist and the last was killed when Maria Jackson used a mirror to reflect the Gorgon's attempt to turn Sarah Jane to stone back on it.

Medusa made an appearance in the fantasy-drama series Once Upon a Time in the episode The New Neverland. This version is for some reason present in the Enchanted Forest and was killed by Snow White during her honeymoon with Prince Charming, in much the same manner as Perseus.

Films

Blue-eyed monster
Medusa in 1981's Clash of the Titans

The myth of the Gorgon was the basis for the 1964 Hammer horror film, The Gorgon, which "abandoned the traditional myth entirely and tried to tell a new story".[9]

In the Italian sword and sandal comedy Arrivano I Titani, a Gorgon appears performed by an uncredited actress wearing live snakes in her hair.

Medusa was a character in the 1981 film, Clash of the Titans.[10] Special-effects creator Ray Harryhausen used stop motion animation to depict the battle with Medusa. Although "the essential story sticks closer to its sources than any other interpretation", the film takes creative liberties and Medusa's biology differs from "any previous representations, ancient or modern".[11] Medusa is also featured in the 2010 remake of the film, with her face appearing human until it contorts as she turns her victims to stone.[12]

Medusa appears in the film, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (played by Uma Thurman), where she attacks Percy Jackson and his friends as they are looking for the Pearl of Persephone in her garden (which has statues: people she has turned to stone). When Percy's friends drive a car through a wall Medusa is distracted and Percy decapitates her before escaping.

Video Games

A promotional model for EverQuest II at the E3 2006

Medusa and her Gorgon sisters have been featured in gaming since the advent of role-playing games (RPGs):

MOBA

Medusa is also a rather popular influence in various multiplayer online battle arena games, often being used as an inspiration for a number of characters in the following titles:

Medusa, the Gorgon, is a ranged agility Hero in "Defense of the Ancients" and its sequel "DOTA 2".
Medusa, the Gorgon, is a ranged hunter God in "SMITE".
Cassiopeia, the Serpent's Embrace, is a mage Champion in "League of Legends".
Vasj, the Naga Sea Witch, is a potential Hero in "Heroes of the Storm".
Midas is a melee strength Hero who has a custom skin labelled Coral Snake Medusa that features specially themed abilities in "Heroes of Newerth".

Music

British band UB40 produced a song ("Madame Medusa") for their 1980 album, Signing Off, drawing unfavorable comparisons between the mythological monster and United Kingdom Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. U.S. thrash metal band Anthrax recorded "Medusa" for their 1985 album, Spreading the Disease. British extreme metal band Cradle of Filth recorded "Medusa And Hemlock" for their 2004 album, Nymphetamine.

The Kagerou Project is a series of Vocaloid songs produced by Jin (Shizen no Teki-P) about ten children fighting for freedom. Several characters have red "eyes" giving them special abilities granted by the snakes of the Medusa Azami. Azami's daughter Shion and granddaughter Mary have Gorgon blood.

References

  1. ↑ Wilk, Stephen R. Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon, June 26, 2000, Front matter, ISBN 0-19-512431-6.
  2. 1 2 Wilk, Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon, pg. 200
  3. ↑ Jane Ellen Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, pp 196ff.
  4. ↑ Might Medici, By Robert Hughes, Time, Dec. 05, 2002
  5. ↑ Judson, B. (2001). The Politics of Medusa: Shelley's Physiognomy of Revolution. ELH. 68(1), 135-154.
  6. ↑ "Ekphrasis and the Other" by W. J. T. Mitchell, excerpted from Picture Theory(The University of Chicago Press);the paper originally appeared in South Atlantic Quarterly XCI (Summer 1992), pg. 695-719.
  7. ↑ Shelley, Percy Bysshe. The Complete Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley, 14 June 1994, pg. 621, ISBN 0-679-60111-2.
  8. ↑ Claude Herzfeld, La Figure de Méduse dans l'œuvre d'Octave Mirbeau, Librairie Nizet, Paris, 1992, 107 pages.
  9. ↑ Wilk, Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon, pg. 207.
  10. ↑ Wilk, Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon, pg. 209.
  11. ↑ Wilk, Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon, pg. 210.
  12. ↑ http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/medusa-kraken-revealed-in.php
  13. ↑ Medusa the Gorgon - Atmosfear.com.au
  14. ↑ "GameBanshee-Titan Quest Walkthrough". Gamebanshee.com. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
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