Medusa, the most beautiful and only mortal Gorgon sister, is a sea spirit. Thank you for the reference in the "further reading" section!You probably didn't notice this, but I actually address nearly the exact same claims that you address here about Medusa having supposedly originally been an African goddess with dreadlocks in an answer I wrote over a year ago on Quoraon the exact same day that I posted the article on my blog that you've linked here, as it happens.In the answer, though, I don't go into anywhere near as much depth as you've gone into here. In Keats's version, the student Lycius replaces Menippus the Lycian. Send your order in a special package containing an embossed gift bag, tissue paper, Awe branded polishing cloth and a notecard. For this Athena punished her hideously. Algol, usually considered a star of ill-fortune, is traditionally perceived as representing Medusas eye. ((lacuna)) They were slain in Libya by the shepherd Cephalion, brother of Nasamon, son of the Nymph Tritonis and Amphithemis, whsoe flocks they were plundering.. Statues of Medusa were used to guard Pagan Greek temples. At the moment of her death, two sons sprung from her blood: Pegasus (the famed winged horse) and Chrysaor. [72], By the Early Middle Ages, lamia (pl. Berbers are people that speak one of the Berber group of languages Tamazight, Shawiya, Tuareg, and so on. In the movie, Lamia is described as "the most feared of all Demons" and having the head and hooves of a goat. They are not strictly speaking "witches", but they are referred to as such by convention. [63] According to a scholiast to Ovid, it had a serpent's body carrying a human face. 1st century BC) gave a de-mythologized account of Lamia as a queen of Libya who ordered her soldiers to snatch children from their mothers and kill them, and WebMedusa teaches us to know and love ourselves outside of the expectations of patriarchal society. The story of the Minotaur, for example, is often interpreted in the same way. As an infant he was cast into the sea in a chest with his mother by Acrisius, to whom it had been prophesied that he would be killed by his grandson. For Apollonius in speech declares that the seductress is "one of the empousai, which most other people would call lamiai and mormolykeia". [68][69][o] The idea that these creatures were lamiai seems to originate with Alex Scobie (1977),[71] and accepted by other commentators. The Perseus legend didnt originate in Chemmis; Medusa and the Gorgons didnt originate in the modern territory of Libya. [40], A longstanding joke makes a word play between Lamia the monster and Lamia of Athens, the notorious hetaira courtesan who captivated Demetrius Poliorcetes (d. 283 BC). Her image was used in Byzantine Greece to protect pregnant women and newborns. While Medusa and the Gorgons have often been interpreted as representative of a danger of the sea, some scholars believe that their origin lies in history rather than solely in the realm of legend. WebMedusa was a Libyan Goddess who was worshiped by The Amazons. Upon learning this, Zeus's wife Hera robbed Lamia of her children, the offspring of her affair with Zeus, either by kidnapping or by killing them. Some interpretations argue that Medusa was a Libyan goddess who was equated with Athena before the Greeks defeated them and, Another origin is that Medusa and her sisters were so beautiful that they angered Athena by bragging about being more beautiful than the goddess, in any case, Athena turned them into monsters so hideous men would turn to stone if they looked at them. banished Medusa to an island and cursed her to have snakes for hair and a face so revolting it would turn the onlooker to stone. 1st century BC) gave a de-mythologized account of Lamia as a queen of Libya who ordered her soldiers to snatch children from their mothers and kill them, and whose beauty gave way to bestial appearance due to her savageness. Once upon a time, in the ancient world, Medusa was little more than a terrifying monster. What makes you cringe? Myth evolves. More recently she has appeared as a stop-motion monster (Clash of the Titans, 1981); a woman embittered in old age (Percy Jackson, 2005); an adorable floating head (Hades, 2020). Before the girls are set fighting, the whole people choose the fairest maid, and arm her with a Korinthian (Corinthian) helmet and Greek panoply, to be then mounted on a chariot and drawn all along the lake shore. A Roman-era mythographic text describes the Gorgons as follows: Perseus escaped from the other two Gorgons using the cap of Hades. [19][b][c], Aristophanes wrote in two plays an identically worded list of foul-smelling objects which included the "Lamia's testicles", thus making Lamia's gender ambiguous. [4], In the myth, the Lamia was originally a beautiful woman beloved of Zeus, but Zeus's jealous wife Hera robbed her of her children, either by kidnapping and hiding them away, killing them, or causing Lamia herself to kill her own offspring. 144 (trans. [43], Regarding the seductress, Apollonius further warned, "you are warming a snake (ophis) on your bosom, and it is a snake that warms you". The loss of her children drove Lamia insane, and in vengeance and despair, Lamia snatched up any children she could find and devoured them. "The Views on Medusa Goddess in Mythology." The famous snakes in her hair, for example, are similar to the snakes that are part of many other monsters like Typhon. [73] Pope Gregory I (d. 604)'s exegesis on the Book of Job explains that the lamia represented either heresy or hypocrisy. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Although the lower body of Draper's Lamia is human, he alludes to her serpentine history by draping a shed snakeskin about her waist. Was the Griffin a Bird from Greek Mythology. 11(. These include the half-woman, half-snake beasts of the "Libyan myth" told by Dio Chrysostom, and the monster sent to Argos by Apollo to avenge Psamathe (Crotopus). And those analogues that exhibit a serpentine form or nature have been especially noted. The story of Medusa seems to obviously be one of a terrible monster. He also received the winged sandals of Hermes, a sword made by Hephaestus, and the invisibility helm of Hades. This remoteness was a hallmark of some of mythologys most fearsome creatures. Medusa in Libya Medusa is a powerful symbol today, as powerful as ever whether you imagine her as the monstrous demon of early Greek art, the beautiful Hamilton, H.C.; Falconer, W. You can't really say you are "reviving" her worship, rather I think it would be more appropriate to say that you are creating her cultus. Medusa's popularity is somewhat Newer Than They Think. In almost all versions, Medusa is humanoid (occasionally, she has a snake tail instead of legs) and Always Female. (And nope, we don't source our examples from our editing service! So don't look at that illustration. Stesichorus (500s BCE) also mentions the Sarpedonian island in connection with the story of Chrysaor, who sprang from Medusas neck after she was beheaded. 180.) The lamiai (Greek: ) also became a type of phantom, synonymous with the empusai who seduced young men to satisfy their sexual appetite and fed on their flesh afterward. If Medusa is African at all, shes going to be Berber. [1.1] ATHENE (by Poseidon) (Herodotus 4.180, Pausanias 1.14.6) And then there are some that offer a compromise and state that she was both beautiful and terrible at the same time. Translating names in this way is called interpretatio graeca. Nowadays Siwa is mostly Berber. Lamia has been ascribed serpentine qualities, which some commentators believe can be firmly traced to mythology from antiquity; they have found analogues in ancient texts that could be designated as lamiai (or lamiae) which are part-serpent beings. Press J to jump to the feed. [citation needed]. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. Her hideousness, deadliness, and removal from the civilized word all made Medusa a monstrous figure. She was doing nothing wrong, living on an island and defending herself after being cursed by the gods, but even then still got killed by some do-gooder hero with a hard on for rulership. [45][h] The empousa admits in the end to fattening up her victim (Menippus of Lycia) to be consumed, as she was in the habit of targeting young men for food "because their blood was fresh and pure". Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : Another myth suggests that Athena possessed more than Medusas head: she flayed Medusa and wore her skin. Petrification from, A gorgon joins the City Watch of Ankh-Morpork in the, Previous throwaway mentions: A cross-eyed gorgon with a stone nose was mentioned by one of the monster hunters in. Engraged, Athena, unable to punish Poseidon, banished Medusa to an island and cursed her to have snakes for hair and a face so revolting it would turn the onlooker to stone. Reading example essays works the same way! In some versions, her hair-snakes are venomous. You may have heard that Medusa was originally a Libyan goddess or alternatively, that the Greek myth of Medusa was designed to demonise black women. Perseus was the son of Zeus and Dana, the daughter of Acrisius of Argos. lamiai or lamiae) was being glossed as a general term referring to a class of beings. edd., Strabo. Let us know! Please confirm you want to block this member. Image i - A wooden door panel intended to guard the house from an unwelcome guest (Thomas Regnaudin, c. 1660). They took care of the young goddess Athena after her birth from the head of Zeus beside the lake. It can be used to destroy or overwhelm any other power. The TImeoroi were perhaps Naiad-nymphs of the fresh-water springs of the region. (2023). TRITONIS was the goddess-nymph of the salt-water lake Tritonis in Libya, North Africa. Whats the historical low-down? Snakes are traditionally associated with menstruation. WebSome believed that Medusa was the Libyan Goddess, Neith, who was the Goddess of Hunting and War. As I said at the start, its entirely a matter of what people want. The woman's decision is entirely inconsequential. I have no doubt that a spirit could appear adopting the name and visage of Medusa, I just think it is good to be cognizant that worship of Medusa is thoroughly modern and did not occur in the past. It is eventually revealed that Medusas are the larval form of hydras. Classic Medusa, in contrast, is an Oedipal/libidinous symptom. Looking at forbidden mother (in her hair-covered genitals, so to speak) stiffens the subject in illicit desire and freezes him in terror of the Father's retribution. There are no recorded instances of Medusa turning a woman to stone. The ancient Greco-Roman imagination gradually shifted the Gorgons home, from an island in the Atlantic, eastwards to the African mainland: perhaps in Morocco, perhaps at the Strait of Gibraltar. Some nymphs in Greek mythology were famous, but others were only known in a certain time Hecate Greek Goddess of Witchcraft : The Complete Guide. (See further Lloyd 1994: 367369.). There are also people who worship people from the Arthurian legends. English composer Dorothy Howell composed a tone poem Lamia which was played repeatedly to great acclaim under its dedicatee Sir Henry Wood at the London Promenade concerts in the 1920s. Parallels between the story and imagery of Medusa and other notable monsters has led to the theory that she, like them, may have been based in history. She was imported into Greece as one of the Gorgons, daughter of Phorcus and his sister Ceto. One of mythologys most terrible monsters may have originally been a goddess. Anthropologists and historians regularly tell us, in fact, that Berber as an overarching ethnic category is a comparatively recent phenomenon. "), "The Views on Medusa Goddess in Mythology." In Ancient Greece, the Gorgoneion (Greek: ) was a special apotropaic amulet showing the Gorgon head, used most famously by the Olympian deities Athena and Zeus: both are said to have worn the gorgoneion as a protective pendant. When citing an essay from our library, you can use "Kibin" as the author. Lamia appears as an antagonist in Rick Riordan's The Demigod Diaries, appearing in its fourth short story The Son of Magic. He goes on to express an opinion that most Greek gods names originally came from Egypt (2.50). Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses. Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses Written by Judika Illes Copyright 2009 by Judika Illes. Please like and share this article if you found it useful. In addition, the Medusa Nebula within the constellation of Gemini features snakelike filaments of glowing gas. She vowed to be celibate her entire life as a priestess of Athena until she fell in love with Poseidon. [45][92], A foul odor has been pointed out as a possible common motif or attribute of the lamiai. Her petrification powers then may be still present, totally absent, voluntary or, eh, body part specific. Poseidon, especially attracted to her voluptuous hair, assaulted her in the temple of Athena. In Statius' version, the monster had a woman's face and breasts, and a hissing snake protruding from the cleft of her rusty-colored forehead, and it would slide into children's bedrooms to snatch them. This, of course, indicates that, in the time period when the myth of Medusa is first attested, her having snakes for hair was not seen as integral to her character. Perseus used it as a weapon before surrendering it to Athena. Athena is a goddess of crafts but not just any crafts. All three were so hideous, that the shock of seeing them would turn anyone into stone, which Apollo as punishment then sends the child-devouring monster to Argos. Ancient sources do indeed put Medusa in or near northern Africa. Now, I cant speak from a position of authority on this, but in my limited experience, Berbers arent keen on this pigeonholing. He did so by using the helm of Hades to escape their sight. He is the older brother of Zeus, and the younger brother of Hades, and is one of the Twelve Olympians. Not only is Medusa identified with Libya, she also had dealings with the three Graeae who had the removable eye shared between them. According to some historians, it may have been because Medusa herself was once a goddess. The leading candidate for the Egyptian deity at Chemmis that he calls Perseus is Horus. Depending on the version of the story, she either reciprocated, and (with a little help from her sisters) let Poseidon into Athena's temple and slept with him on the altar, or was simply raped by the god. Because she is a reminder to be unapologetically ourselves and fierce in the face of oppression, Add gift message and Deluxe Gift packaging, Liquid error: include usage is not allowed in this context. WebSome interpretations argue that Medusa was a Libyan goddess who was equated with Athena before the Greeks defeated them and demonized her as Athena's enemy and [101], In modern Greek folk tradition, the Lamia has survived and retained many of her traditional attributes. Addition, the daughter of Acrisius of Argos the rest of the young Goddess after. The Berber group of languages Tamazight, Shawiya, Tuareg, and the invisibility helm Hades... Containing an embossed gift bag, tissue paper, Awe branded polishing cloth and a notecard people who worship from! 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