Editing Gorgons (section)

== Mythology ==
===Dwelling place===
Where the Gorgons were supposed to live varies in the ancient sources.<ref>Fowler 2013, p. 252; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA59 pp. 59&ndash;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]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D270 274&ndash;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 [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.4.2 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, [https://referenceworks-brillonline-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/gorgo-e426440?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.brill-s-new-pauly&s.q=Gorgo s.v. Gorgo 1]; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA60 p. 60]; Ganz, p. 20; West 1966, p. 246 line 274 πέρην κλυτοῦ Ὠκεανοῖο; West 2003, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/greek_epic_fragments_trojan_cycle_cypria/2003/pb_LCL497.107.xml Cypria fr. 30 West] [= fr. 24 Allen = fr. 32 Bernabé]. [[Pherecydes of Athens|Pherecydes]] also has the Gorgons living somewhere in Oceanus, see Gantz, p. 20; Pherecydes fr. 11 Fowler (Fowler 2000, pp. 280&ndash;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, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7IMSBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA176 p. 176 16 ''Tritonis'']; Sommerstein, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-attributed_fragments/2009/pb_LCL505.261.xml pp. 260&ndash;261]; [[Aeschylus]] (?), ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003.perseus-eng1:780-818 790&ndash;800]; Aeschylus fr. 262 [= [[Eratosthenes]], ''[[Catasterismi]]'' 22 (Hard 2015, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7IMSBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 p. 16])]. For lake Tritonis, and the Gorgons being located in North Africa, see also: [[Herodotus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.91.6 2.91.6], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1:4.178 4.178], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1:4.186.1 4.186.1]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.17.3 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), [https://referenceworks-brillonline-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/gorgo-e426440?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.brill-s-new-pauly&s.q=Gorgo s.v. Gorgo 1]; Gantz, p. 20 ; [[Pindar]], ''Phythian'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg002.perseus-eng1:10 10.30&ndash;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>

===Petrification===
 
[[Pherecydes of Athens|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&ndash;281) [= Scolia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]] 4.1515a]; [[Pindar]], ''Phythian'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg002.perseus-eng1:10 10.46&ndash;48].</ref> In ''Prometheus Bound'', it says that no mortal can look at them and live.<ref>Gantz, p. 20; [[Aeschylus]] (?), ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003.perseus-eng1:780-818 800].</ref> According to Apollodorus, all three of the Gorgons could turn to stone anyone who saw them.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.4.2 2.4.2].</ref>

===Perseus===
{{further|Perseus|Medusa}}
[[File:DSC00401 - Tempio C di Selinunte - Perseo e Medusa - Sec. VI a.C. - Foto G. Dall'Orto crop.jpg|thumb|227x227px| [[Perseus]] beheading Medusa; [[Metope]] from Temple C at [[Selinus]], [[Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum]] 3920 B (sixth century BC)<ref>Marconi, pp. 142&ndash;143, 236&ndash;237; Gantz, p. 21; Krauskopf and Dahlinger, [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20IV-1%20Eros-Herakles/page/n173/mode/1up p. 313 (Gorgo, Gorgones 307)]; [[Digital LIMC]] [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-742d76720be54-e 9733].</ref>]]

Stheno and Euryale were immortal, whereas Medusa was mortal.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D270 270&ndash;277]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.4.2 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, [https://oxfordre-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-2871 s.v. Gorgo/Medusa] (which calls Apollodorus' version "canonical"); [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.4.2 2.4.2&ndash;3]. See also [[Aeschylus]] (?), ''[[Prometheus Bound]] ''[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003.perseus-eng1:780-818 798&ndash;800].</ref>

===Athena's Gorgon aegis===
[[File:Antikensammlung Berlin 369.JPG|thumb|Athena wearing her snake-fringed Gorgon [[aegis]]; plate attributed to [[Oltos]], Munich, [[Staatliche Antikensammlungen]] F2313 (c. 525&ndash;475 BC)<ref>Beazley Archive [https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/EE62EDF2-FAEC-4CE5-BD9F-AF3A1C35477E 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>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.4.2 2.4.2&ndash;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&ndash;85; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.711-5.763 5.738&ndash;742]. For a detailed discussion of Athena's Gorgon aegis see Cook,  [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie03cook/page/837/mode/2up?view=theater pp. 837&ndash;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]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.711-5.763 5.738&ndash;742], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:21.400-21.433 21.400&ndash;402].</ref> According to the ''Iliad'', [[Hephaestus]] made the aegis for Zeus, while according to a Hesiod fragment, [[Metis (mythology)|Metis]] made it for Athena, before Athena was born.

However, [[Euripides]], in his tragedy ''[[Ion (play)|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 (Greek mythology)|Giants]] and who Athena had killed during the [[Gigantomachy]].<ref>Gantz, p. 84; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:15.281-15.311 15.309&ndash;310]; [[Hesiod]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-other_fragments/2018/pb_LCL503.391.xml?result=2&rskey=2vIwst fr. 294 Most] [= 343 MW]; [[Euripides]], ''[[Ion (play)|Ion]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg010.perseus-eng1:966-997 987&ndash;997]. Other accounts name other opponents whom Athena was supposed to have killed and flayed for her aegis, including the Giant [[Pallas (Giant)|Pallas]] ([[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.6.2 1.6.2]), an invulnerable [[Kos|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 (play)|Ion]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg010.perseus-eng1:1395-1436 1417&ndash;1423].</ref> He also mentions Athena's "Gorgon-faced shield" in his tragedy ''[[Electra (Euripides play)|Electra]]''.<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Electra (Euripides play)|Electra]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg012.perseus-eng1:1238-1263 1254&ndash;1257].</ref>

In vase-painting, Athena is often shown wearing her aegis, fringed with snake-heads.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA74 p. 74].</ref>

===Gorgon blood===
In some accounts, the blood of "the Gorgon" (any Gorgon?) was said to have both the power to heal and harm.<ref>Bremmer 2006, [https://referenceworks-brill-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/display/entries/NPOE/e426440.xml 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 (son of Hephaestus)|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 (play)|Ion]]'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg010.perseus-eng1:998-1047 1003&ndash;1015], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg010.perseus-eng1:1048-1060 1055], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg010.perseus-eng1:1261-1281 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>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.10.3 3.10.3]. Compare with Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.7.3 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 (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.47.5 87.47.5], the lock of hair was given to Tegea by Athena herself), see Gantz, p. 428.</ref>

===Gorgon cry===
The loud cry that came from the Gorgons&mdash;perhaps related to 'Gorgon' being derived from the Sanskrit ''garğ'', with its connotations of a growling beast&mdash;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&ndash;488.</ref>

The Hesiodic ''[[Shield of Heracles]]'' (c. late seventh&ndash;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:
{{blockquote| 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]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-shield/2018/pb_LCL503.19.xml 230&ndash;233].</ref>}}

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&ndash;211; Vernant, pp. 117, 125.</ref> According to Pindar, the goddess:
{{blockquote|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'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg002.perseus-eng1:12 12.7&ndash;11, 18&ndash;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>}}

[[Nonnus]], in his ''[[Dionysiaca]]'', also has the fleeing Perseus "listening for no trumpet but Euryale's bellowing".<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca02nonnuoft/page/254/mode/2up?view=theater 25.58]; see also ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft/page/434/mode/2up 13.77&ndash;78], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/nonnos-dionysiaca/1940/pb_LCL354.417.xml 30.265&ndash;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>