The Medusa Reader (Culture Work (Paperback))

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Medusa remained a common theme in art in the nineteenth century, when her myth was retold in Thomas Bulfinch's Mythology. Together, these women and goddesses beckon us into a land of magic and monsters, impossible tasks and serpentine journeys, while simultaneously underscoring the importance of weaving – generally women’s work – in the classical world. The three Gorgon sisters—Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale—were all children of the ancient marine deities Phorcys (or "Phorkys") and his sister Ceto (or "Keto"), chthonic monsters from an archaic world. In most versions of the story, she was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who was sent to fetch her head by King Polydectes of Seriphus because Polydectes wanted to marry Perseus's mother. Photograph: Richard Saker/The Observer Jessie Burton: her book ‘is destined to become as much an artefact of our own age as it is an illumination of the ancient past’.

The Medusa Reader - Joseph Campbell Foundation

Perseus then flew to Seriphos, where his mother was being forced into marriage with the king, Polydectes, who was turned into stone by the head. In the 20th century, feminists reassessed Medusa's appearances in literature and in modern culture, including the use of Medusa as a logo by fashion company Versace. The myth of Medusa, her story of rape by Poseidon, decapitation by Perseus, and Athena’s revenge on the victim, is interpreted in a variety of ways throughout the ages. As soon as they begin to speak, at the same time as they’re taught their name, they can be taught that their territory is black: because you are Africa, you are black.Misunderstood as a tragic beauty that embodied death, Medusa had been recorded in History as a Gorgon raped by Poseidon, punished by Athena, and conquered by Perseus.

Lesson 2: Medusa by Carol Ann Duffy - EDUTRONIC Lesson 2: Medusa by Carol Ann Duffy - EDUTRONIC

Jane Ellen Harrison argues that "her potency only begins when her head is severed, and that potency resides in the head; she is in a word a mask with a body later appended. In Greek mythology, Medusa ( / m ɪ ˈ dj uː z ə, - s ə/; Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα, romanized: Médousa, lit. Or rather, it’s woven by female characters, because to give voice to this very 21st-century impulse, she uses a classical literary convention known as ekphrasis, or the telling of tales through descriptions of striking works of art – in this case, tapestries. Pegasus had been sacred to her because the horse with its moon-shaped hooves figured in the rain-making ceremonies and the installment of sacred kings; his wings were symbolical of a celestial nature, rather than speed. In classical Greek art, the depiction of Medusa shifted from hideous beast to an attractive young woman, both aggressor and victim, a tragic figure in her death.Medusa is generally described as a human female with living venomous snakes in place of hair; those who gazed into her eyes [ citation needed] would turn to stone. He received a mirrored shield from Athena, sandals with gold wings from Hermes, a sword from Hephaestus and Hades's helm of invisibility. The words “text” and “textile” share a common Latin root, and throughout antiquity there was a persistent connection between the two. But a certain blind woman has caught Medusa's eye and maybe-- just maybe-- Medusa will be able to love once more. While ancient Greek vase-painters and relief carvers imagined Medusa and her sisters as having monstrous form, sculptors and vase-painters of the fifth century BC began to envisage her as being beautiful as well as terrifying.