Editing Gorgons (section)

==Literary descriptions==
The earliest literary accounts of Gorgons occur in works by [[Hesiod]] and [[Homer]] (c. 700&ndash;650 BC).<ref>Ogden 2008, pp. 34&ndash;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]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D270 276&ndash;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&mdash;along with several other terrifying images&mdash;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]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.711-5.763 5.738&ndash;742] (Athena's aegis), [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:11.1-11.46 11.32&ndash;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]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.335-8.380 8.337&ndash;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]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:11.601 11.630&ndash;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&ndash;237 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-shield/2018/pb_LCL503.19.xml pp. 18&ndash;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'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg002.perseus-eng1:10 10.46&ndash;48], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg002.perseus-eng1:12 12.10&ndash;14]; [[Aeschylus]] (?), ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003.perseus-eng1:780-818 799].</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, [https://referenceworks-brill-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/display/entries/NPOE/e426440.xml s.v. Gorgo 1]; [[Aristophanes]], ''[[Frogs (play)|Frogs]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0019.tlg009.perseus-eng1:460-502 475&ndash;477].</ref>

The mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] gives the most detailed description:
{{blockquote|... 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 [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.4.2 2.4.2].</ref>}}

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'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg002.perseus-eng1:12 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 (mythology)|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]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL042.235.xml 4.794–803].</ref>