They are a symbol of the union of opposites: the lion and the eagle, the bird and the serpent, beautiful and horrible at the same time, they also enslave those who dare to look at them. In ancient Greek mythology, the gorgons they were a symbol of danger and chaos, of life and death.
gorgons
The Gorgons, and Medusa, were the three daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, they were the personification of those numbing and, so to speak, petrifying sensations, which result from sudden and extreme fear. They were hideous winged monsters, whose bodies were covered with scales; hissing, writhing snakes clustered around their heads instead of hair; his hands were bronze; their teeth resembled the tusks of a boar and their whole appearance was so hideous that they turned all who saw them to stone.
According to legend, these terrible sisters inhabited a remote and mysterious region in the far west, beyond the sacred current of the Ocean. The Gorgons were the servants of Hades, who used them to terrify and frighten those souls, condemned to be kept in a constant state of restlessness as punishment for their misdeeds, while the Furies, for their part, lashed them with their whips. and tortured them endlessly. The most famous of the three sisters was Medusa, who was the only mortal.
The myth
In the Odyssey, Homer speaks of the Gorgons as monsters from Hell. According to Hesiod, they were the three daughters of the marine deities Phorcys and Ceto: Esteno (powerful), Euríale (great domain) and the most famous, Medusa (leader), who was mortal, unlike her two sisters who did not know neither the death or old age. In the XNUMXth century BC, Euripides mentions a different version with a single Gorgon, a monster designed by Gaia (Earth) to help her children, the Giants, in their battle against the gods, who was killed by Athena.
In the first century the Roman author Hyginus gives another affiliation again: the giant Typhoon and Echidna, they were the ones who fathered Medusa and her sisters. Her home was across the Western Ocean, on Mount Helicon and, according to other accounts, in Libya. From descriptions by ancients such as Ovid (Metamorphoses), the Gorgons were portrayed as young women with golden wings and bronze hands. The snakes were wrapped around their heads and belts. According to some translations, they even have boar tusks.
According to myths, they lived in the far west, across the ocean and the Hesperides. The Gorgons defended access to this mythical country. The Gorgons terrified mortals and the gods fled from them, with the exception of Poseidon, who decided to unite with Medusa. From this union two sons were born, Pegasus and Crisaor. His gaze froze those who saw his face. They were generally considered hideous: Ovid speaks of the 'repulsive face of Medusa'.
According to some versions of the myth, the blood drawn from the right side of a Gorgon could bring the dead to life, while that from her left side turned into an instantly fatal poison. It is also said that Heracles received from Athena a lock of Medusa's hair (which had the same virtues as her head) and gave it to Sterope, the daughter of Cepheus, to protect the city of Tegea against attack.
Origin of the Gorgons
With the Gorgons there are many aspects that are not clear. First of all, how many are there? Homer in the Iliad says that the head of the Gorgon is in the aegis of Zeus, and in the Odyssey the Gorgon is the monster of the underworld. Both in Homer and in Euripides, in their respective stories the Gorgon was born from Gea and was killed by Athena, we are talking about a monster; meanwhile, Hesiod speaks of three of them, who live in the west, across the ocean.
Second, problems with parents. One is Gaia, as Euripides says, or Phorcys and Ceto, or Typhoon and Echidna. The third problem: It is not clear when these women became monsters. In general, there are two options. The first is titanic. If Gaea gave birth to them, like other Titans, the gorgons may have been monsters from their origin.
The second option involves Poseidon. This is the most widespread version, framed by Ovid in Metamorphoses. According to this version, Athena, angry at the beauty of Medusa, turned the gorgons into monsters. After Poseidon took possession of Medusa in the temple of the goddess. According to another version of the myth Esteno and Euríale decided to become monsters themselves out of compassion for the fate of their sister. This is how Golosovker tragically describes all these cases:
In time immemorial, the Gorgon sisters were beautiful sea maidens. Once, the lord of the seas, Poseidon, saw Medusa and was attracted to her. The gods of Olympus disliked this: Medusa stood out so much in her beauty that she rivaled the gods and this is intolerable in mere mortals. Medusa's nonchalance and her pride aroused anger in the soul of the warrior goddess Athena.
Athena cruelly punished Medusa and her sisters, turning them into terrifying winged monsters covered in scales, with snakes for hair and huge yellow fangs protruding from their mouths. After that, they took refuge on a remote island, lost in the far west near the shores of the Ocean River, along with the grayas and the hesperides. And people told each other terrible stories about cruel and bloodthirsty gorgons.
Everyone quickly forgot about the ancient beauty of the gorgons and eagerly awaited when a hero would appear who would rid the world of the disgusting Medusa, under whose gaze all living things turned to stone. Because this was the will of Athena.
Perseus and the Gorgons
The myth of Perseus and the gorgons, according to Pindar and Apollodorus, began with an agonizing search. Perseus was the son of the mortal Danae and the god Zeus, who presented himself to her in the form of a shower of gold. He had been foretold to Danae's father, Acrisius the King of Argos, that Danae's son would kill him. So Acrisius locked her daughter in a bronze chamber to prevent her from having sex with anyone, but Zeus turned into a shower of gold and impregnated her anyway, leaving her pregnant.
When Perseus was born, Acrisius did not want to anger Zeus, and secretly threw his daughter and grandson into the sea, locked in a wooden chest. Mother and son were rescued by Dictis on the island of Serifos. It was Dictis who raised Perseus to adulthood, but it was Dictis's brother, Polydectes, the king, who would send him on a dangerous quest.
Polydectes fell in love with Perseus' mother and wanted to marry her, but Perseus protected his mother from the king's claims because he did not consider Polydectes worthy of her. Polydectes then managed to trick Perseus; he organized a great banquet under the pretext of collecting donations for the marriage of Hippodamia, the horse tamer. Polydectes demanded that his guests bring horses as gifts, but Perseus had none.
When Perseus confessed that he had no gifts, he offered any present chosen by the king. Then Polidectes proposes to him, to redeem himself, that he bring the head of Medusa, that horrible Gorgon, the only one of the three who is mortal but who petrifies you like a stone statue just by looking at her. With that, Polidectes assures to keep Perseus away from his island for a while and, in the meantime, he will take the opportunity to marry his mother. He even hopes that Perseus will lose his life during his journey.
Polydectes' plan would be perfect if it weren't for one thing. Perseus is not a mere mortal, he is the son of Zeus. And besides, Athena feels sympathy for Perseus. Athena believes that the gorgon Medusa must finally be eliminated, she must die. She then decides to help Perseus and sends him a messenger in the form of Hermes. The messenger god gives Perseus a silver shield, lends him his winged sandals, a bag, and a very sharp sickle that can cut through anything. Hermes advises Perseus to fly to the caves where three witches live: the Graeae
The Grayas were the sisters of the Gorgons. According to legend, they were either born old or born looking old. They only had one eye for the three of them, which was used alternately by each of them. Thanks to the winged sandals, Perseus quickly flies to the right place. According to one version, Perseus seizes the eye the moment it is pierced. Another version, an eye falls out of the hand of a sister and Perseus gives it back. Overwhelmed by the young man's beauty and kindness, the graya shows him the way to the island where the gorgons live.
Perseus immediately goes to the specified island, and a terrible image appears in front of him. The whole island is surrounded by statues of unlucky warriors, in whose eyes horror can be read. Finally, Perseus finds the sleeping Gorgon Medusa. He knows that he shouldn't look into her eyes. After placing the shield on the ground, Perseus waits for the gorgon to come within a short enough distance, looking only at the reflection. Perseus sees her face in the reflection behind him, and gives her a single hard blow, and the Gorgon's head falls off. Medusa is dead.
According to legend, Pegasus the winged horse and the giant Chrysaor were born from the blood of a gorgon. These were the children of Medusa and Poseidon. Immediately, Perseus put Medusa's head in a bag and started back. Wherever Perseus flew, the blood of the jellyfish dripped over land and sea. When she fell to land, she gave birth to snakes and red corals in the sea.
The blood of the gorgon had destructive and but also life-giving properties. Athena collected it in two vessels and presented it to Asclepios. Then by studying Chiron's art of medicine, she was able to bring people back to life. People stopped dying and the god of death, Thanatos, complained to Zeus. Soon Asclepios was struck by lightning. It is noteworthy that Asclepius is depicted with a staff braided with snakes. The snakes that were wrapped around the cup later became a symbol of medicine.
Strong winds arose and began to carry Perseus through the air in different directions; but by evening he reached the far West, and young Perseus was in the realm of the giant Atlas. Fearing to fly at night, Perseus headed for the ground. The giant Atlas was a rich king in this land, and he owned many herds and large orchards; in one of them grew a tree with golden branches, the leaves and fruits were also all golden.
It was foretold that one day a son of Zeus would appear and pick golden fruit from the tree. Then Atlas surrounded his garden with a high wall and asked the young Hesperides and a terrible dragon to protect the golden apples and not let anyone come near them. Perseus presented himself to Atlas as the son of Zeus and asked to be accepted. But Atlas remembered the ancient prophecy and refused to give Perseus asylum and wanted to expel him.
Perseus was offended and took Medusa's head out of the bag and showed it to Atlas. The giant could not resist the terrible power of Medusa and turned to stone. His head turned into a mountain top, and her shoulders and arms turned into spores, her beard and hair turned into dense forests. A pointed top of the mountain grew to a great size reaching to the sky, and lay with all the stars on his shoulders up to Atlas, and since then the giant has borne this heavy burden.
He flew a lot until he finally reached the shores of Ethiopia, where Cepheus reigned. Perseus saw the young and beautiful Andromeda on the deserted shore, chained to a rock. The young Ella had to expiate the guilt of her mother Cassiopeia, who once said that her daughter was the most beautiful of all nymphs. Angry, the nymphs of Poseidon complained about her and asked that she be punished. And Poseidon sent a terrible flood to Ethiopia and a sea monster that devoured people and cattle.
The oracle predicted to Cepheus that the punishment would end when he delivered his daughter Andromeda to this terrible monster to be swallowed; and she now she was chained to the stone of the sea. Perseus saw the beautiful Andromeda chained to the rock. She froze and the wind of her hair did not move, and if there were no tears in her eyes, she might think she was a marble statue.
The astonished Perseus looked at her, approached her, began to ask the crying girl what her name was, where she was from and why she was chained to that stone. Suddenly, the waves of the ocean roared and the monster came out of the depths of the ocean. Opening his horrible mouth, he ran towards Andromeda. The girl screamed in terror, King Cepheus and Cassiopeia came running but could not save her daughter and began to cry bitterly. Then Perseus spoke to them and promised to save the girl if they granted him her hand in marriage.
Cepheus and Cassiopeia agreed to this and promised to give not only the daughter but their entire kingdom to begin with. At this point, the monster emerged, cut through the waves like a ship, closer and closer, and is now almost entirely over the mountain. Then young Perseus rose into the air and held the shining shield in his hand. The monster saw Perseus' reflection in the water and lunged at him. Like an eagle meeting a serpent, Perseus swam toward the monster and plunged his sharp sword deep into it.
The wounded monster flew high into the air, then faced Perseus like a boar chased by dogs. But the young man with his winged sandals ran away from the monster and started hitting it with one sword blow after another, and black blood spurted out from the monster's mouth. During the battle, Perseus' wings got wet, and he with difficulty flew to shore. The young man ran to Andromeda and freed her from the chains.
Happy, Cepheus and Cassiopeia finally met the young hero and brought the bride and groom home. Soon a wedding party was arranged, and Eros and Hymenaeus were at the wedding with torches in hand, playing flutes and lyres, singing merry songs; the wedding guests heard the story of the hero Perseus. But suddenly a crowd came to the house of Cepheus, led by the king's brother, Phineus, who had previously courted Andromeda, but he left her when he saw her in trouble.
Phineus demanded that Andromeda be handed over to him. He raised his spear against Perseus, but Cepheus hid him. Then the furious Phineus hurled a spear at the young man with all his might, but it did not hit him. Perseus seized the same spear, and had Phineus not hidden behind the altar, he would have pierced his chest, but the spear struck one of Phineus's warriors, who fell dead to the ground. A bloody fight broke out at the party. Like a lion, Perseus fought against many enemies.
The young hero was surrounded by a large number of enemies led by Phineus. Supported by a tall column, he fought to defeat the attacking warriors, but in the end he saw that he could not defeat his outnumbered enemies. He then pulled Medusa's head out of the bag, and one by one, seeing her, the enemies turned to stone. Perseus married the beautiful Andromeda and went with his young wife to the island of Seriphos.
Along with Andromeda and the head of Medusa, Perseus finally reaches Seriphos and is horrified to hear that Polydectes would not marry a foreigner, but instead pursues his mother, who is still hiding in the temple of the goddess Hera. Perseus leaves Andromeda in the care of Dictis and goes to the king's throne room. There he finds Polydectes with his court. Perseus approaches the table and shows Medusa's head to the king and all of his advisers. They didn't say anything. Perseus hides his head in his bag and leaves, leaving everyone turned to stone.
Perseus bears no grudge against his grandfather. On the contrary, he understands his fears. He understands that only out of fear of death, Acrisius did this to them. Soon, Perseus arrives in Argos. But it was already too late, rumors reached Argos about Perseus's great achievement and that he intended to visit his grandfather. Acrisio escapes before the arrival of his grandson.
Shortly after arriving in Argos, Perseus participates in sports games organized in his honor. A crowd has gathered and an unnoticed man is sitting among them. The discus throw competition begins. Perseus throws a plate, but a strong wind current changes the path and the plate hits a person. It was Acrisius. Thus the prophecy of the oracle of Delphi is fulfilled again.
Gorgon Functions
With the word gorgoneion he refers to the gorgon's head, which was used as an ornament in Greek and Roman times. Due to its deterrent function, the gorgoneion reproduces, for example, on shields and chests, on the aegis or at the entrance of temples. In this way, the evil could be repelled or the enemy was overcome by fear. In fact, Medusa's head is said to be so terrifying that anyone who saw it was literally petrified with fear.
The frightening appearance of the gorgons was represented in terrifying shamanic masks. These were to keep the curious at bay for secret mysteries, which were not to be attended to by the uninitiated. This is also reflected in the Greek myth of Medusa, who guarded the entrance to the island of the Hesperides, where the mystery of the sacred marriage between the goddess and the king took place.
An amphora from Eleusis from about 680 B.C. C. shows two gorgons chasing Perseus after he cut his sister Medusa's head off. The "running posture" is characteristic of gorgons. Medusa was often depicted stylized in this pose. The battle goddess Eris also appeared in this pose. An unnamed masked figure in a bowl from Rhodes, who is called Potnia Theron ('Lady of the Animals') moves in the same characteristic way.
This Potnia Theron also wears a kind of gorgon mask. The name Potnia Theron owes the image to the animals that the represented figure carries in both hands. Also on this scale are symbolic signs called "sun symbols" or symbols of the cycle and fertility of nature, such as flowers and swastikas, which also decorate older images of Medusa and the gorgons. Marija Gimbutas described the discovery of gorgon masks dating back to the XNUMXth millennium BC.
Gorgons were snake-like, with large eyes, large teeth, and a long tongue. The snake is related to death and rebirth. The masks are decorated with symbols of regeneration, indicating the intimate relationship between life and death. An anthropomorphic vase from Sultana, depicting the body of a woman with a gorgon head, was probably used in a ritual for the dead.
Ten fangs are placed on the head with the tongue out. The vase has the image of a vagina on its forehead, with crescent-shaped ornaments around it. The back is decorated with spirals and two eggs. Also, the vase has bird feet.
Prehistoric masks share several characteristics with the gorgons. They have the same fixed eyes and protruding tongue. Medusa's hair is made of snakes; her gaze turns men to stone and leaves them breathless. Similar appearances are also present in goddesses from very different cultures, such as the Indian Kali, the Libyan Lamia and the Aztec Coatlicue.
At Eleusis, bee-headed gorgons have also been found, with snakes instead of antennae and front legs; these date from 675-650 BC The gorgon of Rhodes has the wings of a bee. The ancient Greeks refer to the power of Medusa's blood, which can bring death and life. When Medusa's head was cut off, the warrior Chrysaor and the winged horse Pegasus were born from her blood. Chrysaor, who was born in full armor, married Callírroe, one of the Oceanids.
Gimbutas suggests that the association of blood with life and death may be a Neolithic link between female menstrual blood and the phases of the moon. The juxtaposition of female fertility attributes, such as the vulva and symbols referring to death, reflects the Neolithic belief that the goddess brought both life and death.
The gorgon head with serpents is depicted on the aegis, a goatskin breastplate painted red. The snakes depicted on Medusa's skin or head embody the wisdom of the goddess. In Greek mythology, the goddess of wisdom Athena wears the protective aegis as a shield or on her clothing. According to some, this is the bare skin of Medusa, according to others, the aegis is the head of a gorgon.
It has also been said that the bare skin of the giant Pallas was skinned by Athena herself; according to other reports, the flayed Palas was a man or goat god. Herodotus reports that the aegis originated in Libya, in the area around the river Triton, where it is the normal pregnancy of women. According to his description, the women wore leather garments over which they wore goat skins that had been plucked, dyed with hoods, and had tassels on the hem instead of snakes.
Symbolism of the Gorgons
It is probable that Medusa and her gorgon sisters, Esteno and Euríale, who with their eyes, which turns everyone to stone, even the water freezes, who fly on wings faster than the wind, are the spirits of the storm and the cold winter that periodically visited the north of Ancient Greece (North Wind).
Their transcendent, subterranean, and otherworldly nature is also indicated by the fact that they were spawned by Phorcys (the personification of the stormy sea among ancient peoples) and Ceto, the ancestor of sea monsters, to whom, among other things, they were named. He attributes the origin of sharks and the serpentine Echidna (wife of Typhoon, the main enemy of the Olympians).
Accordingly, gorgons with such parents are chthonic monsters, hostile personifications of the elements of water and air. It should be noted that the gorgons are also somewhat dragon-like in appearance: wings, fangs in the mouth, claws on the hands, on the body almost impenetrable scales - all this indicates that the gorgons may be distant relatives of such characters as the old snake from Slavic myths.
According to another version (Golosovker ), the gorgons, grayas and other monsters of Greek myths are the remnants of the pre-Olympic pantheon, which (under the influence of the "Olympians") in the imagination of the ancient Greeks gradually became monstrous creatures. They embody for the inhabitants of the eastern spaces adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea, the danger that the unknown Far West represents.
Interesting data
- The island of Sicily is traditionally considered the place where the Gorgons lived and killed Medusa. Her image still adorns the flag of this region.
- In ancient maps of the starry sky, Perseus is traditionally depicted holding the head of Medusa in his hand, his eye being the variable star Algol (beta Perseus).
- In Goethe's "Faust", the gorgon Medusa wanders on Saturday, taking the image of Gretchen (Margaret), which confuses Dr. Faust.
- The gorgon Medusa is an iconic symbol for modern feminists. In particular, they object to the use of the image of an innocently murdered heroic woman as the logo of the Versace fashion house (Medusa Rondanini).
The Gorgoneion
The Gorgoneion is a talismanic mask against the evil eye that represents the head of the Gorgon Medusa, which during ancient times was used to decorate buildings and various objects (including coins) with the aim of warding off evil. In modern art, the gorgoneion became a decorative motif. The Gorgoneion was an image of a gorgon's head, as is known, staring at stone. After Perseus' slaying of the monster, this head was attached to Athena's aegis to intimidate the goddess's enemies.
The Gorgoneion is the most famous type of apotropaion (image that removes corruption), an ugly caricatured image that caused both laughter and fear. Plutarch says that such a talisman attracts the evil eye of the wicked, distracting him from the victim. Some researchers suggest that this ritual mask preceded the formation of the well-known myth about the Gorgons and Perseus: the ritual object came first; then a monster was invented to fit that face; the hero who kills the monster appeared in the myth even later.
One of the arguments supporting this theory, which also applies to the Sphinx and the Chimera, is that Egyptian art knows the Sphinxes, but knows no Oedipus, and in ancient art proper, the number of Gorgons and Chimeras, represented separately, in quantitative terms, surpass images of them with the victorious heroes many times over. Similar gruesome face masks can be found in many ancient and primitive cultures, from Peru to Thailand.
The exact date of the beginning of the use of this guardian talisman is unknown. In ancient times, it was extremely popular, as evidenced by the large amount of existing archaeological evidence. According to Orphic doctrines, the gorgoneion was the symbol of the lunar disk. The tradition was preserved in Byzantium, it was used by the Gnostics, it became known in Russia, and only in the art of the New Time did the Gorgoneion become a simple decorative pattern that did not have a magical function.
However, this plot (possibly due to its art) remains a popular tattoo theme. And for the criminal environment, the image of the head of a gorgon (with a sword and a burning torch) is interpreted as a symbol that avoids danger; "I will avenge evil", which obviously echoes the original meaning of the gorgoneion.
The origin of the Gorgoneion iconography remains unclear. It is argued that the original type - a face twisted into a grimace, with a protruding tongue and boar tusks - is already found in Phoenician art, even before the Greek masters, by whom it was gradually perceived and transformed. Also, the place of origin of this image is sought in Ancient Egypt. A similar image of a woman is found in Minoan art (found at Knossos, dating to 1500-1450 BC).
The oldest gorgoneions in ancient Greek art were discovered during excavations in Tiryns and date back to 700 BC. C. Over time, they appear more and more frequently in Proto-Corinthian. An early depiction of a gorgon's head is found on a clay metope from the temple of Apollo at Thermos (c. 625 BC). In sculpture, it first appears on the pendant from the Temple of Athena in Corfu (590 BC).
As a rule, such a gorgoneion (archaic type) was an absolutely symmetrical image with large fierce eyes, a wide flattened nose with dilated nostrils. A gorgon's mouth usually froze in a creepy smile, showing a terrible throat and teeth. Instead of hair, the face is framed by curly snakes.
The "magical" tracking effect is created by the fact that the gorgon's pupils are located strictly in the middle of the eyeballs, creating the well-known "tracking gaze" effect that casts a spell on the viewer. It has been suggested that a similar type might have developed from images of a lion's face with fangs and a mane.
Historians note in the early Attic black-figure vase painting the Gorgoneion's kinship with the image of the orgiastic god Dionysus, who was the only one of all the Olympians to be depicted full-faced. Sometimes Medusa has a beard, which makes it difficult to distinguish her from Dionysus himself; in fact, she sometimes she is not a beard, but spurts of blood that flow from the severed neck
In later art, beginning in the XNUMXth century BC, with the advent of the classical period and the displacement of the unpleasant old chthonic deities by the beautiful Olympian gods, the Gorgon's head becomes the face of a woman frozen in agony. , but distinguished by wonderful beauty, and ordinary hair could even replace traditional snakes.
All the harsh and frightening facial features are gone. An illustration of the tendency to eliminate the terrible is the replacement of the Gorgoneion on Attic coins with the image of the goddess Athena in profile, which happened at the same time.
Here are some links of interest:
- Greek mythological beings
- Golden Fleece
- God apollo