No man or monster has slithered their way into our hearts quite like the snake-haired seductress with the obsidian stare. With a gaze that can turn men to stone, she has been terrorizing and petrifying humanity for thousands of years; Medusa.

The Origin Medusa

Medusa’s history dates back all the way to the works of Homer.  Homer writes that the warrior Goddess Athena arms herself with an aegis (a piece of clothing or a shield, it’s not entirely clear) that bears a “Gorgon head.” The Gorgon is a quote “fearful monster, fearful and terrible,” according to Homer in both the Iliad and the Odyssey. 

So, what’s a Gorgon? According to Greek mythology the Gorgons were the three daughters of the sea gods Phorcys and Ceto. Greek poet Hesiod described Medusa and her sisters as women with snakes hanging from their belts. Greek scholar Apollodorus, described the Gorgon sisters as having scaled heads, large tusks and golden wings. He also adds one other crucial detail that Medusa loses her head at the hands of Perseus, the half-god offspring of Zeus.

Armed with a sickle made of adamantine and a helmet that turns him invisible, Perseus sneaks up on the sleeping Gorgons, using his shield as a mirror to avoid looking Medusa in the eyes before he chops her head off. And according to legend, when Perseus killed Medusa, two children spring forth from her body; Chrysaor and Pegasus. Yes the winged-horse owe adore is the son of a snake-hair monster and the god of the sea.

The Modern Medusa

The first century BC and the Roman poet Ovid decided to reboot the Medusa franchise with his own origin story and things get a lot dramatic for Medusa. In Metamorphoses, She is beautiful with lovely flowing, long hair. One day, the god Neptune finds her in a temple dedicated to Minerva and rapes her. Minerva punishes the outrage by transforming Medusa’s hair into serpents; and with that, the modern Medusa takes shape. She’s got snakes for hair and a deadly eye contact.

There are a few theories on Medusa’s origins and how her story has evolved, but why the strange power to turn men into stone with just a gaze? Its possible that we’ll never be sure what the real reason for this is. However we can find an explanation for why is Medusa female? A female with dramatic serpentine hair, and powerful petrifying gaze.

From A Symbol Of Protection To A Sign Of Seduction

Actually, from the Ancient Greeks to the Middle Ages, she was a sign of protection! Shields and temple doors were adorned with images of her, a face with a protruding tongue, wide eyes, and fangs. She served as a warning. Perhaps it can be said that Medusa is one of the ancient interpretations of the evil eye. It was during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance that Medusa moves from terrifying monster to predatory, seductive woman. Through a Christian lens, she was seen as vice incarnate—as a symbol of a woman’s power to lead men astray. Perseus is reframed as a symbol of virtue, triumphing over Medusa. So, a victim of sexual assault becomes a predatory sexual being. 

But it’s in the the Century that Medusa, with a little help from poet Percy Shelley, sheds that skin and undergoes her most interesting transformation of all … After seeing this painting, incorrectly attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, Shelley was inspired to write a poem about Medusa. Shelley attributes her power to “grace” not evil, writing:

“Its horror and its beauty are divine. Upon its lips and eyelids seems to lie Loveliness like a shadow, from which shrine, Fiery and lurid, struggling underneath, The agonies of anguish and of death. Yet it is less the horror than the grace Which turns the gazer’s spirit into stone.”

Medusa: The Female Hero

With these words Shelley finds something new in the story of Medusa:

“Not a stoney stare, but a mesmerizing gaze.  Not a monster, but a terrifying beauty. Not vice incarnate, but the feminine sublime.”

More recently, some feminists adopted Medusa as a symbol of female resistance and revenge. A creature that can literally turn the leering male gaze against itself. But not all interpretations have been so generous. Leave it to Sigmund Freud who argued that the Medusa myth was a metaphor for a fear of castration.

In films like Clash of the Titans and Percy Jackson and the Olympians we see Medusa both as the powerful, dangerous living woman, and as a defeated, decapitated head. Medusa’s gender is her defining feature—just as much as that writhing head of snakes. Remember, it is never just the eyes that are removed to take her power, the whole head is needed—the female face in its entirety. Her defeat by decapitation demonstrates that we see femininity as a threat.

Victim or villain. Beast or beauty. Medusa lingers in our collective imagination because she’s a powerful symbol. If you think women are scary, she’s a scary woman. But if you look a little deeper, you’ll find there’s more than meets the eye.