Medusa herself appears to have been combined from at least two different figures. The first was a gorgon born to gorgons or otherwise monstrous parents, who formed a trio with her gorgon sisters. The second was a temple priestess of Athena, who was transformed into a gorgon after being raped by Poseidon. When they were combined, Medusa became the single beautiful child of a gorgon family who later became a gorgon. (I cannot see the logic behind this. Would it not make more sense that Medusa was blessed with mortal beauty that hid her true nature, only for it to be stripped away to reveal the monster within?)
Later writers twisted the story of Medusa to suit different messages. In the original story Medusa was transformed into a gorgon by Athena to scare away Poseidon when he was in the middle of raping her. In the variants, either Medusa is turned into a vain bitch who seduces Poseidon and gets comeuppance or... Athena punishes her for being raped (or being too beautiful) by turning her into a Gorgon since she could not very well punish her uncle Poseidon.
Although Topsell falsely conflated the catoblepas and the gorgons, his entry on the gorgon makes mention of the myth of Medusa. His account makes a number of odd departures and conflations: for example he names Medusa as the mother of the gorgons (her own mother?) and conflates the Gorgons with the Grey Sisters. Interestingly, Topsell describes the myth of Perseus and Medusa as an account of a war between Perseus and the Amazons. He killed their queen, Medusa, and the poets demonized them. He claims that the catoblepas is bred in Africa (presumably by the Amazons?), hence the otherwise non-sequitur association.
When Medusa was decapitated, her children by Poseidon were birthed from the stump. These were Pegasus and Chrysaor. When Perseus later flew over the Libyan desert, the blood dripping from her head gave rise to the amphisbaena and the scytale.
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| ©1998 Jonathan Hunt |
Variants on the myth of Medusa appeared in some gaming books about the medusa monster race. For obvious reasons, supplements that make medusae a playable race give them a sympathetic backstory so they can be non-evil. (Although as stated before the Greek gorgons were considered protective symbols, so this is not a new idea.)
- Tome of Horrors by Necromancer Games recounts one of the later variants of the myth almost unchanged. Here Medusa was a beautiful maiden cursed into a gorgon by the jealous Athena. When she was killed, her children with Poseidon sprung from her blood and became the medusae.
- In The Company of Medusa by Rite Publishing recounts its own variation of the myth which casts the gorgon sisters in a positive light. They were originally a trio of beautiful maidens. One had a consensual relationship with a storm god. A jealous goddess of rage and madness cursed her and her sisters into gorgons, then indoctrinated and sent a "hero" to kill her. As her sisters wept over her corpse, their tears mixed with her blood and became the medusae.
- Legendary Races: Medusa by Purple Duck Games recounts a variant of Topsell's conflation of the gorgons with the amazons. Here the medusae were a tribe of amazons renowned for archery, whose name meant "thunder-women." When their queen attracted the attentions of two gods, the two attempted to court her and bribe the tribe with promises of riches, immortality and knowledge. When the medusae spurned them, the gods cursed them into monstresses with snakes for hair and a petrifying gaze.
Research Links
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9pr2Xxaagw
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDudzBlSe6k
- http://penelope.uchicago.edu/oddnotes/topsellgorgon.html
- https://pantheon.org/articles/a/amphisbaena.html
- http://www.theoi.com/Thaumasios/Amphisbainai.html
- https://abookofcreatures.com/2016/10/28/scytale/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon
- http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Gorgones.html
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