Gorgon

  By Kpoto demo Judex   

 Let's hurriedly and less hastingly jump into drawing materials and statements from around to vividly construct the Gorgons, one of the most vicious and yet tempting and seducing myths of time. They are extremely cool characters to make use of especially in comics, movies and so on. Well, it's pretty amazing how scary some writers may want to poise them as, but really they can be quite the damsels in distress if you quite harness your mind toward the fictions and leads behind them. Well, the Gorgons were three mortal sisters: Euryale ("far-roaming"), Stheno ("forceful"), and Medusa ("ruler") and because of Lady Medusa's disrespect in Athena's temple, these three sisters were turned into terrifying creatures. (Would you like to suffer for the sins of your sibling, especially the offence you know nothing about?)

The Gorgons are described as monstrous creatures with rudely impenetrable scales, living snakes for hair, hands made of brass, sharp fangs and a beard, blah blah blah. They are said to live in the ultimate west, near the ocean, guarding the entrance to the Underworld. In Greek mythology a Gorgon is a monstrous feminine creature whose appearance would turn anyone who laid eyes upon it to stone. Later there were three of them: Euryale ("far-roaming"), Sthenno ("forceful"), and Medusa ("ruler"), the only one of them who was mortal. They are the three daughters of Phorcys and Ceto.

The Gorgons are monstrous creatures covered with impenetrable scales, with hair of living snakes, hands made of brass, sharp fangs and a beard. They live in the ultimate west, near the ocean, and guard the entrance to the underworld.

A stone head or picture of a Gorgon was often placed or drawn on temples and graves to avert the dark forces of evil, but also on the shields of soldiers. Such a head (called a gorgoneion) could also be found on the older coins of Athens. Artists portrayed a Gorgon head with snake hair, and occasionally with a protruding tongue and wings.

Medusa, the youngest of the mortal sisters, courted Poseidon in Athena's temple. Outraged, Athena changed Medusa into the ugliest monster imaginable. Her gaze could turn anyone she looked upon to stone. Her sisters went to Athena demanding that she turned their sister back, but Athena only turned them into monsters as well. 

 

Gorgon physiology has been re-imagined in various ways over time; such traits include hands made of brass, bodies covered in armour-like scales and even having the lower body of a serpent rather than humanoid legs. One characteristic that has always remained constant since the beginning of the legend is the snakes for hair. These snakes are all alive and constantly writhe and hiss atop the Gorgon's head and are said to be extremely poisonous. 
The concept of the Gorgon is at least as old in classical Greek mythology as Perseus and Zeus. The name is Greek, being derived from "gorgos" and translating as terrible or dreadful. Gorgoneia (figures depicting a Gorgon head, see below) first appear in Greek art at the turn of the eighth century BC. One of the earliest representations is on an electrum stater discovered during excavations at Parium. Other early eighth-century examples were found at Tiryns. Going even further back into history, there is a similar image from the Knossos palace, datable to the fifteenth century BC. Marija Gimbutas even argues that "the Gorgon extends back to at least 6000 BC, as a ceramic mask from the Sesklo culture...". In her book, Language of the Goddess, she also identifies the prototype of the Gorgoneion in Neolithic art motifs, especially in anthropomorphic vases and terracotta masks inlaid with gold.

The large Gorgon eyes, as well as Athena's "flashing" eyes, are symbols termed "the divine eyes" by Gimbutas (who did not originate the perception); they appear also in Athena's sacred bird, the owl. They may be represented by spirals, wheels, concentric circles, swastikas, firewheels, and other images. The awkward stance of the gorgon, with arms and legs at angles is closely associated with these symbols as well.

Possibly related, a female figure, probably a sea-goddess is depicted on a Minoan gold ring from the island Mochlos in Crete. The goddess has a monstrous head and she is sitting in a boat. A holy tree is depicted, probably related to the Minoan cult of the tree.

Some Gorgons are shown with fangs, consisting of wild boar tusks, while other representations lack fangs and show a forced smile displaying large teeth and sometimes a protruding tongue. In some cruder representations, stylized hair or blood flowing under the severed head of the Gorgon has been mistaken for a beard or wings.

 

An Amazon with her shield bearing the Gorgon head image, Tondo of an Attic red-figure kylix, 510–500 BC

Some reptilian attributes such as a belt made of snakes and snakes emanating from the head or entwined in the hair, as in the temple of Artemis in Corfu, are symbols likely derived from the guardians closely associated with early Greek religious concepts at the centers such as Delphi where the dragon Delphyne lived and the priestess Pythia delivered oracles. The skin of the dragon was said to be made of impenetrable scales.
The most well-known ability of the Gorgon is their power to turn living beings into stone with but a glance. How this power works has been described in such ways as the Gorgon's eyes meeting her victim's or victims being so repulsed by the creature's horrible visage that the life is literally frightened out of them. The Gorgon sisters are also stated to be immortal, with the exception of Medusa who was actually slain by the hero Perseus. 

      

       

This article uses some delicate material(s) from the "Gorgon" article on the Mythology wiki at "Wikia" and is licensed under the "Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License." and some other unreferenced materials and gossips from movies, comics and tv dramas.