Medusa is a character that has been mentioned in many movies, games, and stories but her origins actually originated from Greek mythology. Many hunters wanted to fetch Medusa's head but every man who looked in her eyes became a stone. Medusa was one of the three Gorgon sisters - Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale. These three sisters have incredible powers and have living venomous snakes in place of their hair. But Medusa was not like this from the beginning and the special thing was that among these three sisters Medusa was the only one who was born mortal and very beautiful. Both the other sisters were monsters in appearance and immortal too. Medusa is said to be the daughter of the Phorcys and Ceto, but in many places, she is also said to be the daughter of Gorgon and Ceto. The history of Medusa is much more complicated and it is very difficult for us to confirm what is right and what is wrong.
If we see the meaning of Medusa, it means guardian or protectress and as we said earlier, Medusa was very beautiful and especially her hair. So now let's talk about the story of Medusa being a monster, Medusa was not always like this, she had to face the anger of Athena, an ancient Greek Goddess, due to which Medusa was in the condition of misery, but the person who was most guilty is Poseidon, who became obsessed with Medusa's beauty and raped her. Whatever happened to Medusa reflects the cruelty of the greek gods because Medusa was not a monster from the beginning, and where did the snakes come from in place of her hair and from where did she get such a curse that any man who would gaze upon her face would turn into a stone. So these were the atrocities of the greek gods that Medusa suffered. But later Perseus beheaded Medusa and with her head, Perseus fought and won many battles, and in the end, he gave this head of Medusa back to Athena greek goddess.
Medusa had great faith in Athena goddess from the very beginning and she always used to worship her. Medusa wanted to spend her entire life in Athena's temple, but one of the conditions was that the girl should be a virgin because here comes the point of purity. Therefore, Medusa became a priestess and started spending her time in Athena's temple. Now the stories of Medusa's beauty began to spread far and wide, so people started coming to see Medusa in the temple of Athena. Now Athena slowly began to realize this and she became jealous of Medusa as to why people consider her so beautiful. On the other hand, Poseidon was also becoming obsessed with Medusa's love or beauty, he expressed his love to Medusa several times but Medusa was engaged in devotion to Athena due to which she repeatedly refused Poseidon's proposal. Now Poseidon argued with Athena many times to get Medusa, but Athena refused to give Medusa to Poseidon. After the refusal of Poseidon's proposal, he was very angry and now he decided to get Medusa forcefully. Medusa ran to Athena's temple to save her life and requested Athena to save her life, but Athena did not listen to her call, therefore Poseidon raped Medusa in Athena's temple. Now after doing all this Poseidon went away from there and Medusa was there in the temple, weak and helpless. Now Medusa pleaded for help to Athena but in those days it was considered a sin to lose virginity without marriage, that is why Athena cursed Medusa that the beauty she is proud of and for cheating her goddess whenever she will see a man or a man will see her, he will become a stone on his own. Even, if Medusa sees her face in mirror or something shiny, she herself will become a stone. The enraged Athena transformed Medusa's beautiful hair to serpents and made her face so terrible to behold that the mere sight of it would turn onlookers to stone. Medusa was now looking like a monster like the rest of her sisters, a winged human female with living venomous snakes in place of hair.
Medusa was now very angry with all the Greek gods because they had done very bad to her. Previously, the beauty of Medusa was the topic of discussion but now it was completely opposite to that, now a reward was set to cut off her head, such news began to spread everywhere. So many hunters went to cut off her head but everyone had the same condition that all of them turned into stone until Perseus defeated her. Perseus was the son of Zeus and the mortal Danae. He was cleverly sent by King Polydectes of Seriphus to fetch Medusa's head because Polydectes wanted to marry Perseus's mother. Perseus was very protective of his mother and would not allow Polydectes near her. Therefore, Polydectes hatched a plot to get him out of the way. He felt that the Perseus would never return and that his mother would be of Polydectes. Now for bringing the head of Medusa, the Greek Gods had decided that Perseus would do it, so that's why Gods helped him because they were well aware of Polydecte's plan. Perseus received a mirrored shield from Athena, gold, winged sandals from Hermes, a sword from Hephaestus and Hades's helm of invisibility. As we know that Medusa was the only one of the three Gorgons who was mortal and did not become immortal even after Athena's curse. Perseus was able to slay her while looking at the reflection from the mirrored shield he received from Athena. But Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon before becoming a dangerous monster and when Perseus beheaded her, Pegasus, a winged horse, and Chrysaor, a giant wielding a golden sword, sprang from her body. After this Perseus used Medusa's head in many places to win the battles. Before his return to Seriphos, once Perseus met the titan Altas, he attacked Perseus but upon seeing Medusa's head, he too became stone. Now there is another anecdote that the Red Sea corals were formed due to 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 beautiful princess Andromeda. Now finally Perseus went to Seriphos, where Polydectes was about to forcibly marry his mother, but with the help of Medusa's head, he also turned into stone. Perseus then gave Medusa's head to Athena, who placed it on her shield, the Aegis.
There are many myths in Greek mythology about Medusa, the biggest of which is that she was a monster from the beginning and the other was that she was proud of her beauty but it is completely wrong. Here Medusa seems a victim more than evil who put her faith in Goddess Athena but she did not protect her from Poseidon. Medusa undoubtedly became a monster, but it was an unexpected fate she faced.
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