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Gorgons

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File:Berlin Painter ARV 197 11 Gorgo pursuing Perseus (02).jpg
Running Gorgon; amphora, Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2312 (c. 490 BC)<ref>Krauskopf and Dahlinger, pp. 311–312 (Gorgo, Gorgones 331); Digital LIMC 9805; LIMC IV-2, p. 187 (Gorgo, Gorgones 331); Hard 2004, p. 59, fig. 2.5.</ref>

The Gorgons (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; Template:Langx),<ref>Grimal, s.v. Gorgons.</ref> in Greek mythology, are three monstrous sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, said to be the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. They lived near their sisters the Graeae, and were able to turn anyone who looked at them to stone. Euryale and Stheno were immortal, but Medusa was not and was slain by the hero Perseus.<ref>Bremmer 2006, s.v. Gorgo 1; Bremmer 2015, s.v. Gorgo/Medusa; Gantz, p. 20; Grimal, s.v. Gorgons; Tripp, s.v. Gorgons.</ref>

Gorgons were dread monsters with terrifying eyes. A Gorgon head was displayed on Athena's aegis, giving it the power both to protect her from any weapon, and instill great fear in any enemy. Gorgon blood was said to have both the power to heal and harm.

Representations of full-bodied Gorgons and the Gorgon face, called a gorgoneion (pl. gorgoneia), were popular subjects in Ancient Greek, Etruscan and Roman iconography. While Archaic Gorgons and gorgoneia are universally depicted as hideously ugly, over time they came to be portrayed as beautiful young women.

EtymologyEdit

The name 'Gorgon' is associated with the Ancient Greek adjective Template:Transliteration (Template:Wikt-lang), which, of an eye or look, means 'grim, fierce, awesome, dazzling',<ref>The Cambridge Greek Lexicon svv. γοργός, Γοργώ; Beekes, s.v. γοργός.</ref> and is thought to derive from the Sanskrit stem garğ.<ref>Mack, p. 599 n. 5; Napier 1992, p. 102; Phinney, p. 447; Feldman, p. 487; Howe, p. 210.</ref> The stem has connotations of noise, and Germanic and Romance languages have many derivatives from this stem referring to the throat (e.g. 'gorge') or the guttural sounds produced in the throat (e.g. 'gargle', 'gurgle').<ref>Howe, p. 210, n. 10 with many more examples.</ref> It has been understood as meaning to growl, roar or howl,<ref>Mack, p. 599 n. 5; Napier 1992, p. 102; Phinney, p. 447.</ref> while Thalia Feldman suggests that the closest meaning for the stem might be the onomatopoeic grrr of a growling beast.<ref>Feldman, p. 487.</ref>

FamilyEdit

According to Hesiod and Apollodorus, the Gorgons were daughters of the primordial sea-god Phorcys and the sea-monster Ceto, and the sisters of three other daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, the Graeae.<ref>Gantz, p. 19; Hesiod, Theogony 270–277; Apollodorus, 1.2.6, 2.4.2 (calling the Graeae the "Phorcides").</ref> However, according to Hyginus, they were daughters of "the Gorgon", an offspring of Typhon and Echidna, and Ceto,<ref>Tripp, s.v. Gorgons; Hyginus, Fabulae Preface 9, 35.</ref> while Euripides, in his tragedy Ion, has "the Gorgon" being the offspring of Gaia, spawned by Gaia to be an ally for her children the Giants in their war against the Olympian gods.<ref>Gantz, p. 448; Euripides, Ion 986–991, 1055.</ref> Medusa had two offspring by Poseidon, the winged-horse Pegasus and the warrior Chrysaor.<ref>Grimal, s.v. Gorgons; Tripp, s.v. Medusa; Hesiod, Theogony 278–281; Apollodorus, 2.4.2.</ref>

MythologyEdit

Dwelling placeEdit

Where the Gorgons were supposed to live varies in the ancient sources.<ref>Fowler 2013, p. 252; Hard 2004, pp. 59–60; Gantz, p. 20.</ref> According to Hesiod, the Gorgons lived far to the west beyond Oceanus (the Titan, and world-circling river) near its springs, at the edge of night where the Hesperides (and the Graeae?) live.<ref>Fowler 2013, p. 254; Gantz, p. 20; Hesiod, Theogony 274–282. As to whether Hesiod means to include the Graeae as also living there, Fowler reads Hesiod as including the Graeae, while Gantz does not. Compare with Apollodorus, 2.4.2, which has Perseus fly to "the ocean" [i.e Oceanus] to find the Gorgons.</ref> The Cypria apparently had the Gorgons living in Oceanus on a rocky island named Sarpedon.<ref>Bremmer 2006, s.v. Gorgo 1; Hard 2004, p. 60; Ganz, p. 20; West 1966, p. 246 line 274 πέρην κλυτοῦ Ὠκεανοῖο; West 2003, Cypria fr. 30 West [= fr. 24 Allen = fr. 32 Bernabé]. Pherecydes also has the Gorgons living somewhere in Oceanus, see Gantz, p. 20; Pherecydes fr. 11 Fowler (Fowler 2000, pp. 280–281) [= Scolia on Apollonius of Rhodes 4.1515a].</ref> Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound places them in the far east "across the surging sea" on the "Gorgonean plains of Cisthene", where the Graeae live, while his lost play Phorkides (another name for the Graeae) apparently placed them at "Lake Tritonis", a mythological lake set somewhere in westernmost North Africa.<ref>Fowler 2013, p. 254; Hard 2015, p. 176 16 Tritonis; Sommerstein, pp. 260–261; Aeschylus (?), Prometheus Bound 790–800; Aeschylus fr. 262 [= Eratosthenes, Catasterismi 22 (Hard 2015, p. 16)]. For lake Tritonis, and the Gorgons being located in North Africa, see also: Herodotus, 2.91.6, 4.178, 4.186.1; Pausanias, 3.17.3.</ref> And the fifth-century BC poet Pindar has Perseus, apparently on his quest for the Gorgon head, visit the Hyperboreans (usually considered to dwell in the far north). However, whether Pindar means to imply that the Gorgons lived near the Hyperboreans is unclear.<ref>Fowler 2013, p. 254; Bremmer (2006), s.v. Gorgo 1; Gantz, p. 20 ; Pindar, Phythian 10.30–48. Although Bremmer reads Pindar as having located the Gorgons "among the Hyperboreans", Fowler does not conclude that Pindar did this, while Gantz says that Pindar "may or may not" have done so.</ref>

PetrificationEdit

Pherecydes notes that Medusa's face turned men to stone, and Pindar describes Medusa's severed head as "stony death".<ref>Gantz, p. 20; Pherecydes fr. 11 Fowler (Fowler 2000, pp. 280–281) [= Scolia on Apollonius of Rhodes 4.1515a]; Pindar, Phythian 10.46–48.</ref> In Prometheus Bound, it says that no mortal can look at them and live.<ref>Gantz, p. 20; Aeschylus (?), Prometheus Bound 800.</ref> According to Apollodorus, all three of the Gorgons could turn to stone anyone who saw them.<ref>Apollodorus, 2.4.2.</ref>

PerseusEdit

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File:DSC00401 - Tempio C di Selinunte - Perseo e Medusa - Sec. VI a.C. - Foto G. Dall'Orto crop.jpg
Perseus beheading Medusa; Metope from Temple C at Selinus, Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum 3920 B (sixth century BC)<ref>Marconi, pp. 142–143, 236–237; Gantz, p. 21; Krauskopf and Dahlinger, p. 313 (Gorgo, Gorgones 307); Digital LIMC 9733.</ref>

Stheno and Euryale were immortal, whereas Medusa was mortal.<ref>Hesiod, Theogony 270–277; Apollodorus, 2.4.2.</ref> According to Apollodorus' version of their story, Perseus was ordered by Polydectes (his enemy) to bring back the head of Medusa. So guided by Hermes and Athena, he sought out the sisters of the Gorgons, the Graeae who had only one eye and one tooth which they shared. Perseus managed to steal their eye and tooth, and refused to return them, unless they would show him the way to the nymphs, which they did. Perseus got from the nymphs, winged sandals, which allowed him to fly, and the cap of Hades, which made him invisible. He also received an adamantine sickle (harpē) from Hermes. Perseus then flew to Oceanus, found the Gorgons asleep. And when Perseus managed to behead Medusa by looking at her reflection in his bronze shield, Pegasus and Chrysaor sprang from Medusa's neck, and Stheno and Euryale chased after him, but were unable to see him because he was wearing Hades' cap of invisibility. When Perseus brought back the Gorgon head, as ordered, with averted eyes he showed the head to Polydectes who was turned to stone. Perseus returned the things he had acquired from the nymphs and Hermes, but gave the Gorgon head to Athena.<ref>Bremmer 2015, s.v. Gorgo/Medusa (which calls Apollodorus' version "canonical"); Apollodorus, 2.4.2–3. See also Aeschylus (?), Prometheus Bound 798–800.</ref>

Athena's Gorgon aegisEdit

File:Antikensammlung Berlin 369.JPG
Athena wearing her snake-fringed Gorgon aegis; plate attributed to Oltos, Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen F2313 (c. 525–475 BC)<ref>Beazley Archive 200575.</ref>

According to Apollodorus, after Perseus gave the Gorgon head to Athena, she "inserted the Gorgon's head in the middle of her shield",<ref>Apollodorus, 2.4.2–3.</ref> apparently a reference to Athena's aegis. In the Iliad, the aegis is a device, usually associated with Athena, which was decorated with a Gorgon head.<ref>Gantz, pp. 84–85; Homer, Iliad 5.738–742. For a detailed discussion of Athena's Gorgon aegis see Cook, pp. 837–867.</ref> Athena wore it in battle as a shield which neither Apollo's spear, or even Zeus' thunderbolt could pierce.<ref>Gantz, p. 84; Iliad 5.738–742, 21.400–402.</ref> According to the Iliad, Hephaestus made the aegis for Zeus, while according to a Hesiod fragment, Metis made it for Athena, before Athena was born.

However, Euripides, in his tragedy Ion, has a character say that Athena's aegis was made from the skin of the Gorgon, the offspring of Gaia, who Gaia had brought forth as an ally for her children the Giants and who Athena had killed during the Gigantomachy.<ref>Gantz, p. 84; Homer, Iliad 15.309–310; Hesiod fr. 294 Most [= 343 MW]; Euripides, Ion 987–997. Other accounts name other opponents whom Athena was supposed to have killed and flayed for her aegis, including the Giant Pallas (Apollodorus, 1.6.2), an invulnerable Koan warrior Asterius, and others, see Robertson, p. 42.</ref> In the same play, Euripides has Creusa describe a weaving she made "like an aegis, bordered with serpents" with a "Gorgon in the middle".<ref>Euripides, Ion 1417–1423.</ref> He also mentions Athena's "Gorgon-faced shield" in his tragedy Electra.<ref>Euripides, Electra 1254–1257.</ref>

In vase-painting, Athena is often shown wearing her aegis, fringed with snake-heads.<ref>Hard 2004, p. 74.</ref>

Gorgon bloodEdit

In some accounts, the blood of "the Gorgon" (any Gorgon?) was said to have both the power to heal and harm.<ref>Bremmer 2006, s.v. Gorgo 1.</ref> According to Euripides' Ion, Athena gave two drops of blood from the Gorgon she slew for her aegis to Erichthonius, one of which "wards off diseases and nourishes life", while the other "kills, as it is poison from the Gorgon serpents".<ref>Euripides, Ion, 1003–1015, 1055, 1265.</ref> While according to Apollodorus, Athena gave Asclepius some of the blood the Gorgon, "and while he used the blood that flowed from the veins on the left side for the bane of mankind, he used the blood that flowed from the right side for salvation, and by that means he raised the dead."<ref>Apollodorus, 3.10.3. Compare with Apollodorus, 2.7.3, which says that Heracles, who had received a lock of Medusa's hair from Athena, gave it to Tegea for the city's protection from attack (according to Pausanias, 87.47.5, the lock of hair was given to Tegea by Athena herself), see Gantz, p. 428.</ref>

Gorgon cryEdit

The loud cry that came from the Gorgons—perhaps related to 'Gorgon' being derived from the Sanskrit garğ, with its connotations of a growling beast—was also part of their mythology.<ref>According to Howe, p. 212, "It is clear that some terrible noise was the originating force behind the Gorgon: a guttural, animal-like howl". Mack, p. 599, n. 5 notes that sound, "though only indirectly a feature of the face, was central to the conceptualization of Medusa's terrifying power". See also Feldman, pp. 487–488.</ref>

The Hesiodic Shield of Heracles (c. late seventh–mid-sixth century BC), which describes Heracles' shield, has the Gorgons depicted on it chasing Perseus, with their shrill cry seemingly being heard emanating from the shield itself:

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The Gorgons, dreadful and unspeakable, were rushing after him, eager to catch him; as they ran on the pallid adamant, the shield resounded sharply and piercingly with a loud noise.<ref>Most's translation of Hesiod, Shield of Heracles 230–233.</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Pindar tells us that the cry of the Gorgons, lamenting the death of Medusa during their pursuit of Perseus, was the reason Athena invented the flute.<ref>Gantz, p 20; Howe, pp. 210–211; Vernant, pp. 117, 125.</ref> According to Pindar, the goddess:

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wove into music the dire dirge of the reckless Gorgons which Perseus heard pouring in slow anguish from beneath the horrible snakey hair of the maidens ... she created the many-voiced song of flutes so that she could imitate with musical instruments the shrill cry that reached her ears from the fast-moving jaws of Euryale.<ref>Svarlien's translation of Pindar, Pythian 12.7–11, 18–21. According to Vernant, p. 117, Pindar is saying here that the sound emitted by the pursuing Gorgons came "both from their maiden mouths and from the horrible heads of snakes associated with them".</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Nonnus, in his Dionysiaca, also has the fleeing Perseus "listening for no trumpet but Euryale's bellowing".<ref>Nonnus, Dionysiaca 25.58; see also Dionysiaca 13.77–78, 30.265–266.</ref> The desire to evoke this Gorgon cry may account for the typical distended mouth seen in Archaic Gorgon iconography.<ref>According to Howe, p. 211, the "reason that the Gorgon appears on monuments with a great distended mouth [was] to convey to the spectator the idea of a terrifying roar"; Vernant, p. 118, lists a "terrifying cry" and a "gaping grin" as one of several elements "linking the monstrous face of Gorgo to the warrior possessed by menos (murderous fury)".</ref>

Literary descriptionsEdit

The earliest literary accounts of Gorgons occur in works by Hesiod and Homer (c. 700–650 BC).<ref>Ogden 2008, pp. 34–35.</ref> Hesiod provides no physical description of the Gorgons, other than to say that the two Gorgons, Sthenno, and Euryale did not grow old.<ref>Gantz, p. 20; Hesiod, Theogony 276–277.</ref> Homer mentions only "the Gorgon" (otherwise unnamed) giving brief descriptions of her, and her head. In the Iliad she is called a "dread monster" and the image of her head, which appears—along with several other terrifying images—on Athena's aegis, and Agamemnon's shield, is described as "dread and awful", and "grim of aspect, glaring terribly".<ref>Gantz, pp. 85, 304; Homer, Iliad 5.738–742 (Athena's aegis), 11.32–37 (Agamemnon's shield).</ref> Already in the Iliad, the Gorgon's "glaring" eyes were a notably fearsome feature. As Hector pursues the fleeing Achaeans, "exulting in his might" ... ever slaying the hindmost", Homer describes the Trojan hero as having eyes like "the eyes of the Gorgon".<ref>Ogden 2008, p. 34; Homer, Iliad 8.337–349.</ref> And in the Odyssey, Odysseus, although determined "steadfastly" to stay in the underworld, so as to meet other great men among the dead, is seized by such fear at the mere thought that he might encounter there the "head of the Gorgon, that awful monster", leaves "straightway".<ref>Homer, Odyssey 11.630–37.</ref>

The Hesiodic Shield describes the Gorgons chasing Perseus as being "dreadful and unspeakable" with two snakes wrapped around their waists, and that "upon the terrible heads of the Gorgons rioted great Fear", perhaps a reference to snakes writhing about their heads.<ref>Gantz, p. 20; Shield of Heracles 229–237 (Most, pp. 18–21).</ref> Pindar makes snakes for hair explicit, saying that Perseus' Gorgon head "shimmered with hair made of serpents", and that the Gorgons chasing Perseus also had "horrible snaky hair", so too in Prometheus Bound where all three Gorgons are described as "winged" as well as "snake-haired".<ref>Gantz, p. 20; Pindar, Phythian 10.46–48, 12.10–14; Aeschylus (?), Prometheus Bound 799.</ref> The Gorgon's reputation for ugliness was such that the Athenian comic playwright Aristophones could, in 405 BC, ridicule the women of the Athenian deme Teithras by referring to them as Gorgons.<ref>Bremmer 2006, s.v. Gorgo 1; Aristophanes, Frogs 475–477.</ref>

The mythographer Apollodorus gives the most detailed description:

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... the Gorgons had heads twined about with the scales of dragons, and great tusks like swine's, and brazen hands, and golden wings, by which they flew".<ref>Frazer's translation of Apollodorus, 2.4.2.</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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While such descriptions emphasize the hideous physical features of the Gorgon, by the fifth century BC, Pindar can also describe his snake-haired Medusa as "beautiful".<ref>Pindar, Pythian 12.16.</ref> And the Roman poet Ovid tells us that Medusa was originally a beautiful maiden, but because of a sexual encounter with Neptune (the Roman equivalent of the Greek Poseidon) in Minerva's temple (Minerva being the Roman equivalent of the Greek Athena), Minerva punished Medusa by transforming her beautiful hair into horrible snakes.<ref>Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.794–803.</ref>

IconographyEdit

Gorgons were a popular subject in ancient Greek, Etruscan and Roman art,<ref>Bremmer 2015, s.v. Gorgo/Medusa.</ref> with over six hundred representations cataloged in the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC).<ref>Krauskopf and Dahlinger, p. 288 (351 entries); Krauskopf, p. 331 (118 entries); Paoletti, pp. 345–346 (206 entries). For a comprehensive discussion of Gorgon/gorgoneion iconography see: Krauskopf and Dahlinger, pp. 285–330 (images: LIMC IV-2, pp. 163–188); Krauskopf, pp. 330–345 (images: LIMC IV-2, pp. 188–195); Paoletti, pp. 345–362 (images: LIMC IV-2, pp. 195–207. For other discussions see: Carpenter, pp. 134–139; Karoglou, pp. 4–25; Ogden 2013, pp. 93–94; Vernant, pp. 112–116.</ref> In addition to the many examples found on vase paintings, Gorgons occur in a wide variety of other contexts, including architectural ornamentation, shield devices, and coins.<ref>Vernant p. 112, which also mentions Gorgons "decorating household utensils, hanging in artisan's' workshops, attached to kilns, set up in private residences". For architecture, see Belson 1981. For Greek shield devices, see Chase 1902. Although preserved gorgoneia on actual shields are rare, Chase lists 47 examples (pp. 95 (XVII, XXVII), 106–108 (CXIX–CXXV)) of gorgoneia on representations of shields, and argues (p. 79) that "the constant recurrence of the commoner devices—the bull's head, the gorgoneion, the lion, the serpent, the tripod, can hardly be explained except upon the supposition that these devices were in constant and widespread use throughout the whole period of Greek civilization". For coins, see Kroll 1981; Cook, pp. 853–856.</ref> Some representations show full-bodied Gorgons, while others, called gorgoneia, show only the face (or head) of a Gorgon, such as those described in the Iliad as appearing on Athena's aegis, and Agamemnon's shield.<ref>Ogden 2008, p. 34; Homer, Iliad 5.738–742 (Athena's aegis), 11.32–37 (Agamemnon's shield).</ref> The earliest representations of both types are found from roughly the same time period, the mid-seventh century BC.<ref>Ogden 2013, p. 93; Ogden 2008, pp. 34–36.</ref>

Archaic Gorgons typically have snaky hair either with snake-like curls (Figs. 8, 9), or actual snakes protruding from their heads (Figs. 2, 5, 6, 10). The faces of Archaic Gorgons are particularly distinctive, typically with large menacing eyes, tripartite scroll-like (volute) noses, wide mouths with rictus-like grins or grimaces, lolling tongues, fangs and/or tusks (Figs. 4, 5, 6), and sometimes beards (Figs. 3, 4, 13, 15).<ref>Ogden 2013, p. 93; Wilk, pp. 32–33; Gantz, p. 21.</ref> Aside from its particular monstrousness, the most distinctive feature of archaic representations of Gorgons is that the head is always facing frontally (en face) with its large fierce eyes glaring directly at the viewer.<ref>Vernant, pp. 112–113, identifies "two fundamental characteristics" in the archaic representations of Gorgons as "first frontality ... second, monstrousness". Ogden 2008, p. 35, describes this "direct frontal stare, seemingly looking out from its own iconographical context and directly challenging the viewer" as "a shocking and highly exceptional thing in the context of Greek two-dimensional imagery." See also Wilk, pp. 32–33.</ref>

Consistent with the change in literary descriptions seen in the works of Pindar and Ovid mentioned above, beginning in the fifth century BC, representations of Gorgons and gorgoneia transition from hideous monsters to beautiful young women, with such representations becoming typical in the fourth century BC.<ref>Ogden 2013, p. 96; Karoglou, pp. 4–5, places this transition, along with similar transitions for other mythical female human-monster hybrids, in the larger context of "the idealizing humanism" of Greek art of the Classical period, "when ugliness was largely avoided"). For a discussion of this Iconographic transition see Karoglou, pp. 6–26, which traces Medusan iconography from the ancient to the modern. See also Cook, pp. 848–858.</ref> One of the earliest such "beautiful" Gorgons (mid-fifth century BC) is a red-figure pelike (Fig. 11), which shows Perseus, with head turned away, about to behead a sleeping Medusa.<ref>Karoglou, pp. 9–10.</ref> While gorgoneia continue to be ubiquitous through the end of antiquity, after the fourth century BC full-bodied Gorgons ceased to be represented.<ref>Karoglou, pp.11–12.</ref>

Full-bodied GorgonsEdit

Full-bodied Gorgons are usually shown in connection with the Perseus-Medusa story.<ref>Ogden 2013, p. 93.</ref> The earliest representations (mid-seventh century BC) of such Gorgons are a Boeotian relief pithos (Fig. 1), which depicts Perseus, with head turned away, decapitating a Gorgon, and the Eleusis Amphora (Fig. 2), which shows two Gorgons chasing Perseus fleeing with a severed Gorgon head. That the Perseus on the pithos averts his gaze shows that already in these earliest images it was understood that looking directly at the Gorgon's face was deadly.<ref>Gantz, pp. 21, 304; Ogden 2008, pp. 35–36; Ogden 2013, p. 93; Carpenter pp. 134–135.</ref> Of particular interest is the famous Medusa pediment (early sixth century BC) from the temple of Artemis in Corfu (Fig. 6), which shows a winged-Medusa in the characteristic Knielauf (kneeling-running) position, with two snakes wrapped around her waist, like the Gorgons described in the Hesiodic Shield of Heracles.<ref>Gantz, p. 21; Krauskopf and Dahlinger, p. 311 (Gorgo, Gorgones 289).</ref>

Although the Gorgon being beheaded on the Boeotian pithos is depicted as a female centaur, with neither wings nor snakes present, and the Gorgons on the Eleusis Amphora, have wingless, wasp-shaped bodies with cauldron-like heads, by the end of the seventh century BC, humanoid bodies, with wings, and snakes around their head, necks, or waist, such as depicted on the Medusa pediment, become typical.<ref>Ogden 2013, p. 93; Ogden 2008, pp. 35–36; Gantz, p. 21.</ref> Unlike the depictions of gods and heroes, which are usually shown in profile, Archaic Gorgons, even when their bodies are presented in profile (usually running), their heads are (as noted above) always turned frontally displaying their full face, directly gazing at the viewer.<ref>Ogden 2008, p. 35; Wilk, pp. 32–33; Vernant, p. 112.</ref>

GorgoneiaEdit

Of the depictions of ancient Greek demons, the gorgoneion is, by far, the most frequently occurring.<ref>Krauskopf and Dahlinger, p. 288.</ref> Thought to have had an apotropaic (protective) function, gorgoneia are often found on architectural elements such as temple pediments, and ornamental antefixes and acroteria, or decorating various round objects, such as shields, coins, and the bottoms of bowls and cups.<ref>Ogden 2013, p. 93; Wilk, p. 33. For a discussion of the apotropaic function of gorgoneia, see Ogden 2008, p. 37. For gorgoneia in Greek architecture, see Belson 1981.</ref> As with full-bodied Gorgons the earliest representations are found from the mid-sixth century BC. The earliest example of a "beautiful" gorgoneion is the Medusa Rondanini (Fig. 20), which is thought to be a Roman copy of a Greek original dated to either the fifth-century BC or the Hellenistic period.<ref>Karoglou, pp. 14, 16; Ogden 2013, p. 96; Krauskopf, pp. 347–348 (Gorgo, Gorgones 25).</ref>

Athena's victory over the Giant Enceladus—with a gorgoneion on her shield—was apparently depicted on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi (latter part of the sixth century BC). In Euripides's Ion (c. 412–412 BC), the Chorus describes seeing, on the temple's stone walls, Athena "brandishing her gorgon shield" against Enceladus.<ref>Euripides, Ion 205–211. For the date of the temple standing at the time of Ion's production, see Stieber, p. 289, n. 61.</ref> Pausanias describes seeing a votive golden shield dedicated by the Spartans and their allies after the Battle of Tanagra (457 BC), with a gorgoneion (or possibly a full-bodied Gorgon) depicted in relief being displayed at the Temple of Zeus at Olympia.<ref>Krauskopf and Dahlinger, p. 300, no. 158a, which says that Pausanias's Μέδουσαν τὴν Γοργόνα ("Medusa the Gorgon") probably means a gorgoneion rather than a running Gorgon; Chase, p. 74; Pausanias, 5.10.4.</ref>

Possible originsEdit

File:Stone amulet. The demon Lamashtu stands on a donkey and suckles a wild pig and a jackal. Lamashtu preyed on women during childbirth and on their newborn babies. There is an incomplete Akkadian cuneiform inscription, an incantation.jpg
Lamashtu with lion's head, standing on a donkey, holding snakes, with a suckling pig and dog; bronze plate from Charchemish.<ref>Burkert, p. 84, fig. 5.</ref>

There has been considerable and wide-ranging speculation concerning the possible origins of the story of Perseus and the Gorgons, as well as gorgoneia, the representations of Gorgon faces.<ref>For discussions of such previous speculations (usually followed by new speculations of their own) see, for example, Hopkins 1934, pp. 341–344; Cook 1940, pp. 845–846; Howe 1954, pp. 209–212; Phinney 1971, p. 446; Belson 1981, II p. 8 n. 1; Wilk 2000, pp. 87–104.</ref> The origins of the Perseus-Gorgon story, and gorgoneia, even with respect to each other, are uncertain. The Perseus-Gorgon story might have come first inspiring the development of gorgoneia, or gorgoneia might have come first, in which case the Perseus story might have served an etiological function, as an origin myth, developed as a way to explain where gorgoneia had come from. It is also possible that the Perseus story and gorgoneia developed independently, but later converged. Since the earliest literary and iconographic evidence of both the Perseus story and gorgoneia are roughly contemporaneous, such evidence seems unable to definitively distinguish between any of these three scenarios.<ref>Ogden 2008, p. 37.</ref>

It is possible that the mythology and/or the iconography of Gorgons were subject to Near-Eastern influence.<ref>Ogden 2013, p. 94; Bremmer 2006, s.v. Gorgo 1.</ref> In particular elements of full-bodied Gorgon iconography seem to have been borrowed from that of the Mesopotamian Lamashtu.<ref>Ogden 2013, p. 95; Bremmer 2006, s.v. Gorgo 1; Burkert, p. 84–85.</ref> Mesopotamian depictions of Gilgamesh slaying Humbaba, may have influenced the Perseus-Gorgon story, while gorgoneia may be connected to images of Humbaba.<ref>Ogden 2013, pp. 94–95; Ogden 2008, pp. 32–33; West 1997, p. 454; Carter, pp. 360–366; Hopkins 1934.</ref>

Perseus and the GorgonsEdit

File:Lamashtu plaque 9167.jpg
Lamashtu holding two snakes and suckling a dog (?) and pig, in Knielauf position, on a donkey; Louvre AO 22205<ref>Louvre AO 22205.</ref>

The Gorgon as Mistress of Animals, in the Medusa pediment from the temple of Artemis in Corfu (Fig. 6) shows affinities with images of Lamashtu.<ref>Ogden 2013, p. 95; Ogden 2008, p. 38.</ref> As Walter Burkert has noted, Lamashtu has several characteristic iconographic elements which include an animalistic head atop a humanoid body, often in the Knielauf (kneeling-running) position, with the presence of snakes, a horse or ass, animal offspring, and sometimes in the Mistress of Animals configuration. All of these elements are present, for example, in the Medusa pediment.<ref>Burkert, pp. 83–85.</ref>

Images which show Perseus, with head turned away, decapitating Medusa (Figs. 1, 7), resemble Mesopotamian depictions of Gilgamesh slaying the wild man Humbaba. Such depictions can show Gilgamesh with head turned away looking behind him for a goddess to pass him a weapon.<ref>Ogden 2013, pp. 94–95, fig. 2.3; Ogden 2008, pp. 38–40, fig. 3.2; West 1997, p. 454; Burkert, p. 85, calling these depictions "models for representations of Perseus killing the Gorgon"; Carter, pp. 360–362.</ref> In particular, a bronze shield strap from Olympia (mid-sixth century BC), which shows Perseus with his head turned away about to decapitate Medusa, assisted by Athena,<ref>Krauskopf and Dahlinger, p. 312 (Gorgo, Gorgones 292); Roccos, p. 339 (Perseus 120); Demargne, p. 1003 (Athena 502) with figure, p. 1026, B3; LIMC VII.2, p. 290 (Perseus 120 a); Burkert, p. 86, fig. 6 (top right); Digital LIMC 8770 (Gorgo, Gorgones 292).</ref> bears a striking resemblance to a seal impression from Nuzi c. 1450 BC.<ref>Burkert, p. 86, fig. 6 (top left).</ref> This suggests the possibility that Greeks misinterpreted or reinterpreted these Mesopotamian images, giving rise, through a process that Burkert has described as a "creative misunderstanding", to the myth of the Gorgon's petrifying gaze.<ref>Ogden 2013, p. 95; Ogden 2008, pp. 32–33; Burkert, p. 87.</ref>

The gorgoneionEdit

The consensus among classical scholars seems to be that the function of a gorgoneion was apotropaic, as a device (an apotropaion) to ward away unwanted things, and which was in origin a dancer-worn mask.<ref>Mack, p. 572. See for example: Faraone, p. 38; Vernant, pp. 111; Jameson, p. 27; Howe, p. 213.</ref> The classic formulation of this view is that of Jane Ellen Harrison, the gorgoneion as a "ritual mask misunderstood":<ref>Mack, p. 599, n. 3.</ref>

File:Humbaba mask-AO 12460-IMG 0652-black.jpg
Humbaba with deep S-shaped furrows on either side of a wide-mouthed grimace; Mesopotamian terracotta mask, Louvre AO 12460 (early second millennium BC)<ref>Carter, pp. 355, 356 fig. 1; Louvre AO 12460.</ref>

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... in her essence Medusa is a head and nothing more; 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 primitive Greek knew that there was in his ritual a horrid thing called a Gorgoneion, a grinning mask with glaring eyes and protruding beast-like tusks and pendent tongue. How did this Gorgoneion come to be? A hero had slain a beast called the Gorgon, and this was its head. Though many other associations gathered round it, the basis of the Gorgoneion is a cultus object, a ritual mask misunderstood. The ritual object comes first; then the monster is begotten to account for it; then the hero is supplied to account for the slaying of the monster.<ref>Harrison, p. 187.</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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That gorgoneia were used as apotropaic shield devices, at least, seems evident from Agamemnon's gorgoneion-shield, which Homer describes in the Iliad as displaying "the Gorgon, grim of aspect, glaring terribly, and about her were Terror and Rout".<ref>Ogden 2008, p. 37; Homer, 11.32–37.</ref> Supporting the view that gorgoneia originated as masks, are two groups of seventh-century BC terracotta gorgonion-like masks: a group of wearable helmet masks from Tiryns, and another group of non-wearable votive masks from the Sanctuary of Orthia at Sparta, which share some features with the typical earliest representations of Gorgon faces. If such masks were in fact intended to represent the face of a Gorgon, then they would show that Gorgons or gorgoneia played a role in some kind of ritualistic or dramatic practice or performance.<ref>Ogden 2008, pp. 37–38. For the Tiryns masks see Carter, p. 360; Napier 1986, pp. 85, 86 Pl. 34. For the Spartan masks see: Rosenberg 2015; Carter 1987; Napier 1986, pp. 46–47, Pls. 9a-12b; Dickins, pp. 163–186 (Pls. XLVII–LXII).</ref>

The gorgonesque votive masks from Sparta have deep S-shaped furrows on either side of wide-mouthed grimaces. Such features resemble those on the much earlier terracotta plaques depicting Humbaba.<ref>Ogden 2008, pp. 38–40; Carter, pp. 355, 357 fig. 2, 358 fig. 3, 360–366; Napier 1986, p. 49 Pls. 11a, 12b; Dickens, pp. 166–167 (Pls. XLVII–XLIX), which classifies these masks as "Old Women".</ref>

In popular cultureEdit

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NotesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

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