Medusa: It’s Intricate

Whenever I read Greek mythology, I am always intrigued by the intricacies of the gods’ relationships!  This is a drawing I posted a few years ago, along with the story of Medusa.

 

The Gorgons of Greek mythology were so hideous that the mere sight of them would turn anyone who gazed their way to stone. They were, according to the poet Hesiod, so frighteningly repulsive to the senses that they “were not to be approached and not to be described.” Medusa, the only one of the three who was mortal, was born beautiful with a head of luxuriant, shining hair. The lusty Poseidon took a fancy to her, and disguised as a horse, seduced her in the temple of Athena. Enraged, Athena transformed Medusa into a monster whose most common portrayal shows her once beautiful hair as a mass of writhing snakes.

 

Medusa

 

She is the gypsy

Whose young have rooted

In the very flesh of her scalp.

 

Her eyes are drill-holes where

Your senses spin, and you are stone

Even as you stand before her.

 

She opens her lips to speak,

And have you believe.

She has more tongues to deceive

 

Than you can deafen your ears to.

If you could look away, the voices

From the heads of her vipers

 

Would be hard to argue.

If you could look away,

The pedestals of your feet might move.

 

If you could look away, 

The song from the cathedral of her mouth

Would fall to the floor like a lie.

 

– Frieda Hughes (1960 – )