Medusa

Also known as: Gorgon · Family: Gorgon · Role: Gorgon · First appears: Fable 46

In fable 46, Perseus killed Medusa and carried away her head; when he revealed it at the kingdom of Atlas, Atlas was transformed into a mountain: “Atlas, great as he is, becomes a mountain.” In fable 47, the blood of Medusa, daughter of Phorcys, produced Pegasus and Chrysaor after her beheading, while her poison turned sea plants into coral when exposed to air.

According to some, Neptune was Medusa’s suitor and deflowered her in Minerva’s temple. Minerva punished this by changing the Gorgon’s hair into hideous snakes. Later, the blood of Medusa was said to have opened a fountain through the hoof of Pegasus, her child by Neptune according to some.

Relationship record

Life events

• Perseus reveals Medusa’s head, transforming Atlas into a mountain.(Fable46 · 📍 kingdom of Atlas)
  • With: Perseus Atlas
  • “Atlas, great as he is, becomes a mountain.”
• Medusa’s poison transforms sea weeds into coral when exposed to air.(Fable47)
  • “Even now the same nature remains in the coral, that it receives hardness from contact with the air; and what was a plant in the sea, out of the sea becomes stone.”
• Pegasus and Chrysaor are born from Medusa’s blood after Perseus beheads her.(Fable47)
  • With: Pegasus Chrysaor
  • “and that Pegasus and his brother,[90] fleet with wings, were produced from the blood of {her}, their mother.”
• Minerva transforms Medusa’s hair into hideous snakes as punishment.(Fable47)
  • With: Minerva
  • “The daughter of Jove turned away, and covered her chaste eyes with her shield. And that this might not be unpunished, she changed the hair of the Gorgon into hideous snakes.”

Fable 46

• with Perseus (killer and victim) “Perseus, the son of Jupiter and Danaë, having killed Medusa, carries her head into Africa, where the blood that runs from it produces serpents.”

Fable 47

• parent: Phorcys “The descendant of Abas tells them that there is a spot situate beneath cold Atlas, safe in its bulwark of a solid mass; that, in the entrance of this, dwelt the two sisters, the daughters of Phorcys, who shared the use of a single eye;”
• child: Pegasus “and that Pegasus and his brother,[90] fleet with wings, were produced from the blood of {her}, their mother.”
• child: Chrysaor “and that Pegasus and his brother,[90] fleet with wings, were produced from the blood of {her}, their mother.”
• enemies with Perseus “and that, while a sound sleep held her and her serpents {entranced}, he took the head from off the neck;”
• with Minerva (Minerva punished Medusa by changing her hair into snakes.) “And that this might not be unpunished, she changed the hair of the Gorgon into hideous snakes.”
• enemies with Minerva “The sovereign of the sea is said to have deflowered her in the Temple of Minerva. The daughter of Jove turned away, and covered her chaste eyes with her shield. And that this might not be unpunished, she changed the hair of the Gorgon into hideous snakes.”

Fable 48

• parent: Phorcys “Moreover, I will give thee a monument to last forever, and in the house of my father-in-law thou shalt always be seen, that my wife may comfort herself with the form of her betrothed.” {Thus} he said, and he turned the daughter of Phorcys to that side, towards which Phineus had turned himself with trembling face.”

Fable 49

• enemies with Perseus “Polydectes continues his hatred against Perseus, and treats his victories and triumphs over Medusa as mere fictions”
• with Perseus (Perseus uses Medusa's face to turn Polydectes to stone.) “Thou also detractest from his praises, and dost allege that the death of Medusa is {but} a fiction. ‘We will give thee a proof of the truth,’ says Perseus; ‘have a regard for your eyes, {all besides};’ and he makes the face of the king {become} stone, without blood, by means of the face of Medusa.”
• with Pegasus (Pegasus springs from Medusa's blood.) “The fame of the new fountain[26] has reached my ears, which the hard hoof of the winged steed sprung from the blood of Medusa has opened.”

Fable 55

• child: Pegasus “This was Medusa, who, according to some, was the mother of the horse Pegasus, by Neptune”
• with Perseus (interaction) “though it is more generally said that it sprang from her blood, when she was slain by Perseus.”
• admirer: Neptune “This was Medusa, who, according to some, was the mother of the horse Pegasus, by Neptune,”

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Extracted from the original text of The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Made with Rho MD.