page_title: Apotropaic magic
section_title: Ancient Greece
hierarchical_section_title: Apotropaic magic / Symbols / Ancient Greece
caption_attribution_description: Una versión arcaica de Medusa en el frontón de un templo de Corfú. Museo arqueológico de Corfú.
context_page_description: Apotropaic magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of vague superstition or out of tradition, as in good luck charms, amulets, or gestures such as crossed fingers or knocking on wood. The Greeks made offerings to the "averting gods", chthonic deities and heroes who grant safety and deflect evil.
context_section_description: Among the ancient Greeks, the most widely used image intended to avert evil was that of the Gorgon, the head of which now may be called the Gorgoneion, which features wild eyes, fangs, and protruding tongue. The full figure of the Gorgon holds the apex of the oldest remaining Greek temple where she is flanked by two lionesses. The Gorgon head was mounted on the aegis and shield of Athena.
caption: The Gorgon, flanked by lionesses and showing her belt clasp of serpents; the pediment of the 580 BCE temple of Artemis in Corfu. Archaeological Museum of Corfu.
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