Medusa is one of the best known villainesses from Greek mythology, and is one of the most recognisable characters to appear in the stories of Ancient Greece. Most people today will recognise Medusa as a Gorgon, and someone who can turn people into stone, just by having them look into her eyes.

There is a lot more to the story of Medusa than most people are aware of though, and her story actually commences when she is wronged by the gods of Mount Olympus.

Unlike other stories from Ancient Greece, the storyline of Medusa is fairly straightforward, and has relatively few of the variations that often make Greek mythological stories difficult to understand. Much of the story is taken from Hesiod, although Medusa is also mentioned by Homer.

In Greek mythology Medusa was the offspring of the ancient line of gods, being the daughter of Phorcys and Ceta. Phorcys and Ceto were children of Gaia (Earth) and Oceanus (Ocean), and so predated the Olympian gods. Despite being mortal, Medusa had two immortal sisters, Sthenno and Euryale, who combined, made up the three Gorgons.

In her youth, Medusa was a beautiful woman, with long flowing hair that attracted many suitors. Medusa’s role in the ancient world was to act as a priestess in the temple of Athena.

The sea god Poseidon saw Medusa at work in the temple, and overcome with her beauty raped her. Athena observed the rape, and outraged at the sacrilege of her temple, punished Medusa by turning her long hair into snakes, and ensuring that anyone who looked on her new ugliness directly would turn into stone.

As with many such tales it is the mortal who were blamed for any transgression undertaken by a god.

There is one competing version of events that sees Medusa cursed for attempting to compete with Athena about who was more beautiful. In this version, Medusa argued with Athena, and claimed that the goddess was jealous of her, the mortal Medusa. There is an argument over whether Medusa was made ugly, or whether she retained her beauty, and it was her sorrowful look and snakes that caused the petrification of observers.

This could well have been the end of Medusa’s story, and the Gorgon could have lived out her days in her cavern with her sisters; but the story of Medusa would then be intertwined with that of the Greek hero Perseus. 

Perseus required the head of Medusa, to aid his quest of rescuing his mother, Danae, from King Polydectes of Seriphus. With the assistance of the gods, Athena, who provided her reflective shield, and Hermes, who gave Perseus the magical winged sandals, Perseus embarked on his adventure.

Perseus first had to get information from the Graeae, the three grey women, who were additional sisters of Medusa. The Graeae had but one eye and one tooth between them, so Perseus took the eye and kept it until the Graeae told Perseus everything he required.

With the information obtained, Perseus made his way to Medusa’s cavern. There he found the stony figures of men and animals who had gazed upon the Gorgon. Perseus managed to get close to Medusa by using Athena’s shield as a mirror, therefore avoiding a direct gaze. Medusa was then beheaded.

Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon, and from her decapitated body the winged horse Pegasus, and the giant Chrysaor were born. Subsequently, Pegasus was used by Bellerophon in his adventures, whilst Chrysaor became the King of Iberia.

Even in death, Medusa still had a role to play in Greek mythology. Though the remaining Gorgons chased after Perseus, they were unable to catch him.

As he flew over the Red Sea, blood from the decapitated head dripped creating the sea’s coral. Perseus also used Medusa’s head as a weapon and rescued Andromeda from Cetes, a sea monster ravaging Ethiopia.

Some writers also claimed that Perseus used the head of Medusa to turn the Titan Atlas into stone, creating the Atlas Mountains. As Atlas was very much alive when Heracles, Perseus’ descendant saw him, this story is somewhat contrived.

Perseus made one final use of the head, rescuing his mother from an imminent wedding; Perseus turned all those present, aside form his mother, into stone.

With the quest completed, Medusa’s head was passed from Perseus to the goddess Athena, who placed it on her Aegis, her shield, to be used when the goddess fought.

There are some similarities between Medusa and the goddess Hera. The worship of both female deities predates the creation of the Mount Olympus gods; prior to the rise of ancient Greece, Medusa was worshiped in Africa as a serpent goddess. The importance of many female deities, including Hera and Medusa, decreased with the arrival of the Hellanes people in Greece; and the more male dominated religion of the Olympian gods took precedence.

Nevertheless, the female Medusa is today far more famous than many of the male deities of the Greek pantheon.