Editing Gorgons (section)

===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>