The legend of Perseus beheading Medusa means, specifically, that "the Hellenes overran the goddess's chief shrines" and "stripped her priestesses of their Gorgon masks", the latter being apotropaic faces worn to frighten away the profane. He received a mirrored shield from Athena, gold, winged sandals from Hermes, a sword from Hephaestus and Hades's helm of invisibility. Since Medusa was the only one of the three Gorgons who was mortal, Perseus was able to slay her while looking at the reflection from the mirrored shield he received from Athena. Are You Learning English? He believes that one reason for her longevity may be her role as a protector, fearsome and enraged. One example is that of the flag and emblem of Sicily, together with the three legged trinacria. Their genealogy is shared with other sisters, the Graeae, as in Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound, which places both trinities of sisters far off "on Kisthene's dreadful plain": Near them their sisters three, the Gorgons, winged Learn a new word every day. According to Ovid, in northwest Africa, Perseus flew past the Titan Atlas, who stood holding the sky aloft, and transformed him into stone when he tried to attack him. Sy het slange in plaas van hare op haar kop gehad en enigiemand wat na haar gekyk het, het in klip verander. Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words? Mid 18th century named by association with Medusa. It is in the Roman poet Ovid ’s Metamorphoses that her story is … In classical antiquity the image of the head of Medusa appeared in the evil-averting device known as the Gorgoneion. Medusa, in Greek mythology, the most famous of the monster figures known as Gorgons. "[22], In issue three, Fall 1986 for the magazine Woman of Power an article called Gorgons: A Face for Contemporary Women's Rage, appeared, written by Emily Erwin Culpepper, who wrote that "The Amazon Gorgon face is female fury personified. Archetypal literary criticism continues to find psychoanalysis useful. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'medusa.' Then Perseus gave the Gorgon's head to Athena, who placed it on her shield, the Aegis.[10]. "[8] In the Odyssey xi, Homer does not specifically mention the Gorgon Medusa: Lest for my daring Persephone the dread, [39], Classical Greek depiction of Medusa from the fourth century BC, The triple form is not primitive, it is merely an instance of a general tendency... which makes of each woman goddess a trinity, which has given us the. "[22], Medusa's visage has since been adopted by many women as a symbol of female rage; one of the first publications to express this idea was a feminist journal called Women: A Journal of Liberation in their issue one, volume six for 1978. World Register of Marine Species. Accessed 18 Nov. 2020. Probably the feminine present participle of. In 1940, Sigmund Freud's "Das Medusenhaupt (Medusa's Head)" was published posthumously. Harrison's translation states "the Gorgon was made out of the terror, not the terror out of the Gorgon."[8]. Its purpose was to act as a guardian for female power, keeping the book solely in the hands of women. "And she's not deadly. 1Zoology A free-swimming sexual form of a coelenterate such as a jellyfish, typically having an umbrella-shaped body with stinging tentacles around the edge. Two versions of Medusa were created by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio – one in 1596 and the other in 1597 – depicting the exact moment she was executed by Perseus. During that time, Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon. "The Laugh of the Medusa" is largely a call to arms, urging women to reclaim their identity through writing as she rejects the patriarchal society of Western culture. A free-swimming sexual form of a coelenterate such as a jellyfish, typically having an umbrella-shaped body with stinging tentacles around the edge. "Only the Gorgon has the savage, threatening appearance to serve as an immediately recognized symbol of rage and a protector of women's secrets," wrote Wilk. See Article History. ‘Two major adult body types characterize the phylum: the medusa is typically a mobile pelagic organism, and the polyp is typically a sessile benthic … 2 plural medusae\ mi- ˈdü- ˌsē. In some species, medusae are a phase in the life cycle which alternates with a polypoid phase. The gods were well aware of this, and Perseus received help. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). It was chosen because she represents beauty, art, and philosophy. If a member of the audience describes your speech as. Due to its bizarre and intricate design, the painting is said to complement Caravaggio's unique fascination with … [citation needed]. Numerous analyses have made us familiar with the occasion for this: it occurs when a boy, who has hitherto been unwilling to believe the threat of castration, catches sight of the female genitals, probably those of an adult, surrounded by hair, and essentially those of his mother. ", "The Timeless Myth of Medusa, a Rape Victim Turned Into a Monster", Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, Online version at Harvard University Press, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, "Medusa in Myth and Literary History" – English.uiuc.edu, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Medusa&oldid=988535557, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 13 November 2020, at 19:40. Brenneman portrayed half of Billy McBride’s (Billy Bob Thornton) mighty, Gold thought that genes unique to jellyfish would be active during the transformation from polyp to, To go from being a stationary polyp to a floating, In the 1990s Italian researchers discovered that Turritopsis dorhnii, a jellyfish the size of a pen tip, reverts back and forth from a, If so, scientists are hopeful that once conditions in the lake improve, a new generation will again produce the free swimming adult, Post the Definition of medusa to Facebook, Share the Definition of medusa on Twitter, On the Difference Between 'Incite' vs 'Insight'. Jane Ellen Harrison argues that "her potency only begins when her head is severed, and that potency resides in the head; she is in a word a mask with a body later appended... the basis of the Gorgoneion is a cultus object, a ritual mask misunderstood. Classic Medusa, in contrast, is an Oedipal/libidinous symptom. [24], Even in contemporary pop culture, Medusa has become largely synonymous with feminine rage. Edward Burne-Jones' Perseus Cycle of paintings and a drawing by Aubrey Beardsley gave way to the twentieth century works of Paul Klee, John Singer Sargent, Pablo Picasso, Pierre et Gilles, and Auguste Rodin's bronze sculpture The Gates of Hell.[36]. There are no recorded instances of Medusa turning a woman to stone. The model was one Harryhausen’s most complex and in 2020 it was voted third favourite among his many creations. In Freud's interpretation: "To decapitate = to castrate. Athena’s) temple,[6] Athena punished Medusa by transforming her beautiful hair into horrible snakes. She argues that men's retelling of the narrative turned Medusa into a monster because they feared female desire. As well has having snakes for hair, she was given a serpent-like body and rattlesnake-like tail. Inscribe the breath of the whole woman. (Pythian Ode 12). In a late version of the Medusa myth, by the Roman poet Ovid (Metamorphoses 4.794–803), Medusa was originally a beautiful maiden, but when Poseidon had sex with her in "Minerva's" (i.e. The 2nd-century BC novelist Dionysios Skytobrachion puts her somewhere in Libya, where Herodotus had said the Berbers originated her myth, as part of their religion. Delivered to your inbox! In Greek mythology, Medusa (/mɪˈdjuːzə, -sə/; Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress")[1] also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. In most versions of the story, she was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who was sent to fetch her head by King Polydectes of Seriphus because Polydectes wanted to marry Perseus's mother. The inclusion of Medusa in the center implies the protection of the goddess Athena, who wore the Gorgon's likeness on her aegis, as said above. Through many of her iterations, Medusa pushes back against a story that seeks to place the male, Perseus, at its center, blameless and heroic. The terror of Medusa is thus a terror of castration that is linked to the sight of something. A story of victim blaming, one that she says sounds all too familiar in a current American context. From Hades should send up an awful monster's grisly head. Beth Seelig analyzes Medusa's punishment from the aspect of the crime of having been raped rather than having willingly consented in Athena's temple as an outcome of the goddess' unresolved conflicts with her own father, Zeus. [30] "You only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her," writes Cixous. The cover featured the image of the Gorgon Medusa by Froggi Lupton, which the editors on the inside cover explained "can be a map to guide us through our terrors, through the depths of our anger into the sources of our power as women. When Perseus beheaded her, Pegasus, a winged horse, and Chrysaor, a giant wielding a golden sword, sprang from her body.[7]. She claims "we must kill the false woman who is preventing the live one from breathing. Most sources describe her as the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto,[2] although the author Hyginus makes her the daughter of Gorgon and Ceto.[3]. Those who gazed into her eyes would turn to stone. "[29] Cixous wants to destroy the phallogocentric system, and to empower women's bodies and language. "[22] Griselda Pollock analyses the passage from horrorism to compassion in the figure of the Medusa through Adriana Cavarero's philosophy and Bracha Ettinger's art and Matrixial theory. 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. Author Sibylle Baumbach described Medusa as a “multimodal image of intoxication, petrifaction, and luring attractiveness," citing her seductive contemporary representation, as well as her dimensionality, as the reason for her longevity.[25]. Available from. How to pronounce medusae (audio) Last edited on 13 November 2020, at 19:40, Cultural depictions of Medusa and Gorgons, "Bulfinch Mythology – Age of Fable – Stories of Gods & Heroes", Frank Justus Miller translation, as revised by G. P. Goold, "The Rape of Medusa in the Temple of Athena: Aspects of Triangulation", "Endless the Medusa: a feminist reading of Medusan imagery and the myth of the hero in Eudora Welty's novels. With snakes for hair—hatred of mortal man—, While ancient Greek vase-painters and relief carvers imagined Medusa and her sisters as having monstrous form, sculptors and vase-painters of the fifth century began to envisage her as being beautiful as well as terrifying. These Foreign Words And Phrases Are Now Used In English. How to use a word that (literally) drives some pe... Do you know what languages these words come from? "Medusa has since haunted Western imagination, materializing whenever male authority feels threatened by female agency," writes Johnston. In one interview after another we were told that Medusa is 'the most horrific woman in the world' ... [though] none of the women we interviewed could remember the details of the myth. [32][33] In this interpretation of Medusa, attempts to avoid looking into her eyes represent avoiding the ostensibly depressing reality that the universe is meaningless. [17][18][19][20] The name "Medusa" itself is often used in ways not directly connected to the mythological figure but to suggest the gorgon's abilities or to connote malevolence; despite her origins as a beauty, the name in common usage "came to mean monster. Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible). Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. ‘A medusa, or jellyfish, is part of the life cycle of just one major group of animals, the cnidarians.’. [16], In the 20th century, feminists reassessed Medusa's appearances in literature and in modern culture, including the use of Medusa as a logo by fashion company Versace. Cixous calls writing "an act which will not only 'realize' the decensored relation of woman to her sexuality, to her womanly being, giving her access to her native strength; it will give her back her goods, her pleasures, her organs, her immense bodily territories which have been kept under seal." In some species, medusae are a phase in the life cycle which alternates with a polypoid phase. Through the lens of theology, film, art, and feminist literature, my students and I map how her meaning has shifted over time and across cultures. Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way. 'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'? Medusa (Grieks: Μέδουσα) was in die Griekse mitologie ’n Gorgo, ’n vroulike monster en een van drie susters. In Greek mythology, Medusa (/ mɪˈdjuːzə, - sə /; Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress") also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Stephen Wilk, author of Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon, questioned Medusa's enduring status among the feminist movement. [23], Elana Dykewomon's 1976 collection of lesbian stories and poems, They Will Know Me by My Teeth, features a drawing of a Gorgon on its cover. She was usually represented as a winged female creature having a head of hair consisting of snakes; unlike the Gorgons, she was sometimes represented as very beautiful. In some species, medusae are a phase in the life cycle which alternates with a polypoid phase. Send us feedback. He plays with the concept by replacing Medusa's face with his own, as an indication of his immunity to her dreadful gaze. [9] In a similar manner, the corals of the Red Sea were said to have been formed of Medusa's blood spilled onto seaweed when Perseus laid down the petrifying head beside the shore during his short stay in Ethiopia where he saved and wed his future wife, the lovely princess Andromeda who was the most beautiful woman in the world at that time. Medusa has been depicted in several works of art, including: Medusa remained a common theme in art in the nineteenth century, when her myth was retold in Thomas Bulfinch's Mythology. 14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1. Johnston goes on to say that as Medusa has been repeatedly compared to Clinton during the 2016 presidential election, she proves her merit as an icon, finding relevance even in modern politics. The only mortal gorgon, whom Perseus killed by cutting off her head. In an ode written in 490 BC Pindar already speaks of "fair-cheeked Medusa".[5]. Inspired by the #metoo movement, contemporary figurative artist Judy Takács returns Medusa's beauty along with a hashtag stigmata in her portrait, #Me(dusa)too. According to Hesiod and Aeschylus, she lived and died on an island named Sarpedon, somewhere near Cisthene. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Perseus then flew to Seriphos, where his mother was being forced into marriage with the king, Polydectes, who was turned into stone by the head. What made you want to look up medusa? Medusa has been featured in several works of fiction, including video games, movies, cartoons and books. "From Gorgon and Ceto, Sthenno, Euryale, Medusa". The most influential depiction of Medusa in film is arguably the stop motion animation created by Ray Harryhausen for Clash of the Titans (1981). The three Gorgon sisters—Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale—were all children of the ancient marine deities Phorcys (or "Phorkys") and his sister Ceto (or "Keto"), chthonic monsters from an archaic world. Here Are Our Top English Tips, The Best Articles To Improve Your English Language Usage, The Most Common English Language Questions, one can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about medusa. “Medusa.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/medusa. The Gorgon/Medusa image has been rapidly adopted by large numbers of feminists who recognize her as one face of our own rage. [28], Feminist theorist Hélène Cixous famously tackled the myth in her essay "The Laugh of the Medusa." Municipal coat of arms of Dohalice village, Hradec Králové District, Czech Republic, Ceremonial French military uniform belt of World War I, Medusa is honored in the following scientific names:[37], The petrifying image of Medusa makes an instantly recognizable feature in popular culture. She's beautiful and she's laughing. The blood of Medusa also spawned the Amphisbaena (a horned dragon-like creature with a snake-headed tail). Medusa was the only Gorgon who was mortal; hence her slayer, Perseus, was able to kill her by cutting off her head. [26] Beyond that, Medusa's story is, Johnston argues, a rape narrative. Some classical references refer to three Gorgons; Harrison considered that the tripling of Medusa into a trio of sisters was a secondary feature in the myth: A number of early classics scholars interpreted the myth of Medusa as a quasi-historical – "based on or reconstructed from an event, custom, style, etc., in the past",[11] or "sublimated" memory of an actual invasion.[12][13]. In so doing, we unravel a familiar narrative thread: In Western culture, strong women have historically been imagined as threats requiring male conquest and control, and Medusa herself has long been the go-to figure for those seeking to demonize female authority. ‘Cnidarians have two basic body forms, medusa and polyp.’. In particular, the designer Versace's symbol is reflected through the Medusa-head symbol. "[31], Medusa has sometimes appeared as representing notions of scientific determinism and nihilism, especially in contrast with romantic idealism. an actual historic rupture, a sort of sociological trauma, which has been registered in this myth, much as what Freud terms the latent content of a neurosis is registered in the manifest content of a dream: registered yet hidden, registered in the unconscious yet unknown or misconstrued by the conscious mind. Elizabeth Johnston's November 2016 Atlantic essay called Medusa the original 'Nasty Woman.' Noted by Marjorie J. Milne in discussing a, WoRMS Editorial Board (2017). Definition of medusa. Volgens Hesiodus was Medusa die enigste van die Gorgone wat sterflik was. 'All Intensive Purposes' or 'All Intents and Purposes'? That is to say, there occurred in the early thirteenth century B.C. Does English Have More Words Than Any Other Language? Medusa was beheaded by the Greek hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head, which retained its ability to turn onlookers to stone, as a weapon[4] until he gave it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield. Jack London uses Medusa in this way in his novel The Mutiny of the Elsinore:[34]. Not that we're looking to start something. She remained a priestess to Athena after her death and was risen with fresh hair. The head of Medusa is featured on some regional symbols. Medusa is widely known as a monstrous creature with snakes in her hair whose gaze turns men to stone. The Medusa story has also been interpreted in contemporary art as a classic case of rape-victim blaming, by the Goddess Athena. 1 capitalized [Latin, from Greek Medousa] : a mortal Gorgon who is slain when decapitated by Perseus. Another example is the coat of arms of Dohalice village in the Czech Republic. "[15] In this perspective the "ravishingly beautiful" Medusa (see above) is the mother remembered in innocence; before the mythic truth of castration dawns on the subject. Furthermore, the poisonous vipers of the Sahara, in the Argonautica 4.1515, Ovid's Metamorphoses 4.770 and Lucan's Pharsalia 9.820, were said to have grown from spilt drops of her blood.