medusa

Medusa Mythologically Misunderstood! Ovid’s Metamorphoses provides a comprehensive account of Medusa, where she starts life as a priestess of Athena. She was very well known for her stunning beauty until one fateful day when Poseidon rapes her…or not (it’s a bit ambiguous). Medusa is then unjustly and cruelly cursed by Athena. She is must live as a gorgon on an isolated island with her two sisters until she’s eventually beheaded by Perseus. Although she didn’t kill anyone while alive, Perseus uses her severed head as a potent weapon to kill many, before gifting it to Athena who uses Medusa’s head on her breast plate as a powerful aegis (magical protective object).