Medusa

Of all the horrible monsters of ancient Greece probably the most dreadful were the horrible Gorgon sisters (derived from the Greek word gorgós, which means "dreadful"). Stheno, Euryale and, perhaps the best-known, Medusa - these names will forever be a scourge for mankind, a reminder of the consequences of offending the gods.

## History

The three Gorgon sisters were the offspring of the monstrous marine deities Phorcys and his sister Ceto. The Gorgons had many other siblings, called the Phorcydes, including the three Graeae, the dragon Ladon and, the eldest of all, Echidna - who is appropriately called the Mother Of All Monsters. All of these creatures were archaic beast deities of the sea or of the earth. Among this horrible brood the Gorgons were rather young - Echidna's birth predates even the Thurian Age - and surprisingly normal looking as they all looked human.

The eldest of the Gorgon sisters was Stheno (Greek for "forceful"). Gifted with immortality she was born in the caverns beneath Mount Olympus and she was known to be the most independent and ferocious of the three sisters. The second sister, Euryale (Greek for "far-roaming"), was noted for her bellowing cry. The last sister, Medusa ("guardian, protectress"), was born in the Gorgons' home in modern-day Libya. While her two sisters were immortal, for some reason Medusa was not.

At some point in the rather early history of Greece, the beautiful Medusa was appointed the grand priestess of the temple of Athena, but when she and the god Poseidon lay together in Athena's temple - some say he raped her - the enraged and envious Athena(who was a former classmate of Medusa's when they were both at school and regarded her as "The alpha Bitch) cursed the pregnant Gorgon. Medusa's sisters stood with her when Athena uttered the curse and thus all three Gorgon sisters were transformed. They grew wings of gold, brazen claws, the tusks of boars and the fangs and skin of serpents, while their hair was turned into living, venomous snakes and they became so terrifying that their very gaze turned those who beheld it to stone.

Enraged by Athena's punishment the Gorgons went on a killing spree through Greece. While it was incredibly hard to kill the immortal Stheno and Euryale permanently, Medusa was mortal. Thus the great hero Perseus was sent by King Polydectes of Seriphos and his patron goddess, Athena, to stop Medusa's rampage. For this task he was provided by Athena and Hermes with winged sandals, Hades' cap of invisibility, a sword, and a mirrored shield. The hero invisibly sneaked up to Medusa and severed her head from her neck from which two offspring sprang forth: the winged horse Pegasus and the golden giant Chrysaor. From that day onwards the head of Medusa became a symbol of Athena's might and in the future it would adorn the shields of the soldiers of Athens.

After her death Medusa's soul was imprisoned in the Greek hell, Tartaros, where she connected with the Titans and joined their army - for the Titans were planning to overthrow the Greek gods, the Olympians. Thus the Gorgon sisters turned into elite soldiers of the Titanic army. Prior to the Titans' escape from Tartaros and assault on Mount Olympus at some point after 490 BC the Gorgons where sent to the mortal world as a vanguard. Hiding in the Pythian Caves the Gorgons raised an elite force of minor Gorgons to prepare for the planned invasion of Mount Olympus. Two setbacks were the defeat of Medusa and Euryale by the Greek hero Kratos, however Stheno continued gathering an army and the sisters re-joined after escaping Tartaros alongside the Titans. However, the Gorgon army of the Pythian Caves was slaughtered by the so-called 'Hero of Helos' who slew Medusa and even the immortal Euryale as well. Only Stheno managed to escape the hero's wrath but she soon followed her sisters to the underworld after being killed by Kratos. With the defeat of the Titans by the Olympians the fate of the Gorgon sisters was sealed.

However, not all Gorgon offspring were killed by the Hero of Helos. Some managed to survive until 1910 when the last of the confirmed Gorgons, Megaera (not to be confused by the fury of the same name), was killed in the rural German village of Vandorf. But Medusa herself would not stay dead. During another attempted uprising of the Titans in the early 21st century Medusa was freed from Tartaros one last time, she travelled as part of the Circus of Dr.Lao, before she hid in the United States under the moniker of "Aunty Em". But history would repeat itself: the demigod Perseus "Percy" Jackson, son of Poseidon, battled Medusa and killed her once and for all. Her sisters, Stheno and Euryale, would be revived by a Demigod googling their names(the power of belief), but could not turn people into stone any longer.

But death cannot stop the tales of a creature so ghastly that it terrorized the people of Greece for centuries. From her transformation to modern times stories of Medusa, and, for that matter, of the other Gorgon sister, too, made generations tremble with fear of the unforgiving gaze that turned hundreds into stone.