Debunking the myth of the Gorgon Medusa: Why the monster became a symbol of the House of Versace and the island of Sicily

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The myth of Gorgon Medusa inexhaustible in its content. This monster appeared in nightmares of more than one generation of children who were brought up on ancient Greek myths. Well, still: a monster covered with scales, with huge arms, steel claws, long sharp fangs, writhing snakes instead of hair and with a terrifying look that turns into stone anyone who dares to look into his eyes. Who really was this ominous monster, and is it possible to imagine that Evil can give rise to Good and that Beauty is punishable. In this review, you can find answers to these and other questions.

Gorgon Medusa. The myth of the origin of the sinister monster

However, the gorgon Medusa was not always a chthonic monster. To be more precise - Medusa (from the ancient Greek - "protector, sovereign"). According to the legend of ancient Greek mythology, Medusa was the most beautiful of the three sisters - sea maidens, whose parents were the gods of the stormy sea and the depths. A beautiful girl with golden long curls aroused admiration among men and envy, destructive for her, among women.

The god of the sea Poseidon himself was fascinated by her. Somehow trying to hide from his encroachments, Medusa hid in the temple of Athena, but the cunning ruler of the seas, turning into a bird, overtook the girl and forcibly took possession of her. The goddess Athena, who disliked her, became terribly angry and turned the beauty into a monstrous monster covered with thick scales. According to one version of the ancient myth, her face became

The main version says that the Gorgon's face was female, with long yellow fangs, terrible eyes that could kill everyone with just one look and hair that turned into poisonous snakes.

The sisters of Medusa, having decided to share her fate, also turned into gorgons. And according to another version, Athena herself turned them into monsters, whose But, unlike her sister's Medusa, they were immortal. Wanting to hide from people, they went to the "end of the earth", and an island lost in the ocean became their habitat.

And among the people began to circulate terrible stories about cruel and bloodthirsty gorgons and legends that those who could take possession of the head of Medusa, he would receive the sacred title of "lord of fear." The goddess Athena, who never forgave Medusa for her unearthly beauty, encouraged Perseus, the son of Danai and Zeus, a hot and ambitious young man, to this feat. As soon as she spoke a word, Perseus recklessly declared that he could get everything:

And Athena gave him a shield, polished to a shine, and Hermes, the god of eloquence, gave him an adamant sickle with which to cut off Medusa's head. On the way, Perseus obtained winged sandals, an invisibility helmet and a magic bag. And armed with a sickle and a shield, putting on sandals, the brave man decapitated the sleeping Medusa, looking into a shining copper shield at her reflection, so as not to meet her eyes, which turned all living things into stone.

Then, hiding the trophy in a bag, Perseus hid from the angry gorgon sisters in an invisible helmet. And from the shed blood of Medusa, her children were born - the handsome giant Chrysaor and the famous winged snow-white horse Pegasus, the favorite of the muses and the patron saint of poets, who were the fruit of her connection with Poseidon. The drops of Medusa's blood that fell into the waters of the seas and oceans turned into corals, and the drops that fell on the lands of Libya turned into poisonous snakes and hydras.

On the way home, the brave Perseus, using the severed head of the gorgon as a formidable weapon, performed many feats. He saved Andromeda, the royal daughter, who was given to be devoured by a sea monster by a rejected bridegroom. Saved his mother from the claims of Polydect, turning him and all his followers into stone statues.

In the end, Perseus handed the severed head of Medusa to Athena, which she attached to her legendary shield - the aegis, the "Gorgoneion". The warrior goddess herself began to be called not only the "Gorgon-killer", but also "Gorgopa" - a goddess with a terrible gaze.

And this is just one of many versions of the legend of the Gorgon Medusa, unfairly punished for her beauty.

Gorgon Medusa, sung by poets, painters, sculptors

At different times, many artists, sculptors, poets were inspired by ancient Greek myths, and in their work they turned to this ambiguous image.

The canvas "Head of Medusa Gorgon" is a work of the Italian artist Michelangelo Caravaggio, commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Del Monte to be presented as a gift to Ferdinand I, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

An old oriental shield made of poplar boards acquired in an antique shop served as a basis for stretching the canvas for Caravaggio, on which the artist tried to convey the inexpressible in the language of painting, that is, to capture the scream escaping from the mouth of the severed head of the gorogona. The artist managed to achieve an amazing illusion - through pictorial techniques. He turned a convex shield into a concave surface, on which a severed head with a face distorted from horror and viciously hissing snakes instead of hair, screams in pain, exuding streams of blood.

Before this unusual shield was sent to Florence, it was seen by many connoisseurs of Caravaggio's work, including the poet Giambattista Marinoa, who inspired by what he saw wrote a lengthy poem dedicated to the canvas, filled with enthusiastic epithets: "You won - the villain fell, And on Medusa's shield face. Such painting did not know, So that a scream could be heard on the canvas."

Caravaggio's canvas also inspired his student Peter Paul Rubens, who borrowed the idea from his teacher and painted his painting "The Head of the Gorgon Medusa".

The artist's desire to scare, shock and amaze his contemporaries with his work, depicting the severed head of Medusa, achieved its goal. The head of a mythical monster, with living snakes instead of hair, a face distorted with a grimace of pain, eyes full of horror and fear of death; spilled blood, from which more and more snakes are born, creeping in different directions, shakes the viewer to the core and enters into a numbness.

Medusa's head as a symbol of protector and lady

In ancient Greece, the gorgoneion, depicting the head of Medusa, became a popular talisman designed to protect against evil, and coral beads began to serve as a protective amulet.

Over the centuries, the head of Medusa has ceased to be portrayed so badly, and her image has become associated with the good goddess. And the gorgoneion has become a common decorative element that adorns many architectural monuments erected over the long centuries of antiquity and the Middle Ages.

This artifact began to protect the owners from various misfortunes and other adversities. In our time, the Gorgoneion is the emblem of the House of Versace and is present in the official heraldic symbol of the island of Sicily.

The modern version of the Gorgoneion is more restrained and calm - the snakes are replaced by ears of wheat, showing the abundance of the island.

Versace products not only delight in beauty, but also protect their wearer from evil. And to look away from them is just as hard as from the fatal eyes of Medusa.

The sea maiden also hit the starry sky. In the constellation of the destroyer Perseus, there is an asterism (a group of stars) called the Head of the Gorgon.

The Italian artist Titian in his work has repeatedly turned to ancient Greek myths. Canvas "Punishment of Sisyphus" is a confirmation of this.