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Throughout all of her work, Cixous decries phallocentric storytelling and histories in which men and the psychoanalytic lens of phallic imagery are centered in womens stories. Some stories say that there was one more unnamed Gorgon who was older than the others. She was killed by Zeusbefore he fought his father and the Titans for power. Thank you so much for the response! Hellenism (Greek: Ellinisms, Latin: Hellenismus), also less frequently called Olympianism (Greek: Olympianisms, Latin: Olympianismus) or Dodekatheism (Greek: Dodekathesms, Latin: Duodecimdeismus), is the traditional polytheistic and animistic orthopraxic religion, lifestyle, aesthetics, and ethos of the ancient Graeco-Roman world, and is the indigenous religion of the common Greek and Latin cultural sphere. In ancient history, females pray to her for confidence and strength especially in a world where men treat females as weak and helpless. It wasnt the most pleasant of behaviors but history does teach us its lessons and we should learn from them. Medusa was once a powerful feminine symbol, with control over the natural cycle and in harmony with the worlds of earth and sky. In Ovids story, Medusa is no longer the same monster that had tusks and wings. According to various sources, Medusa was the only Gorgon who was mortal, so she was able to be beheaded by the Greek hero, Perseus. Venus had many lovers both mortal and immortal. She was a beautiful maiden with golden hair. Although other greek mythology claimed that she was a priestess and one of the 3 monstrous gorgons, which are known as 3 winged females. As an ancient protection symbol, the Medusa in this way also symbolizes aspects of the mother goddess, especially as a child of Gaia, the creator. Athena brandished Medusa's head on her shield similarly to why Ancient Greek soldiers brandished Phobos's face on their shields: to insight fear. At this point, Medusas head became a desired trophy for many warriors who wanted to brave her fierce monster-like powers. Eventually, Medusa attracts the attention of Poseidon, who subsequently rapes her. Therefore, if you notice a dwindle in your spiritual consciousness, seek help from medusa. However, Poseidon fell in love with her and slept with her. Hyperallergic is a forum for serious, playful, and radical thinking about art in the world today. Men back in the day didnt have the same level of respect for women as they do today because each gender had a different role in society. Every situation you go through will turn around for your good. She is both feminine and monstrous. The rebooted TV series Charmed just did an episode touching on this, and it was really powerful because of all the work done to reclaim the character by pop culture. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. During my free time, I love reading and researching history. She has been used as an image of great learning and wisdom for years. An. I know you wrote this comment nearly a year ago, but Im actually writing a paper on this (which got me into Hellenism, but thats a whole other thing). Up to that point that was Medusa was known for a monster that had the ability to turn her victims into stone. Flower tattoos are associated with beauty . Since Ancient Greece, the snake-haired Gorgon has been a sexualized symbol of womens rage. As such she posed a great threat to the power of the Greek male-dominated sky gods. The reason for this is that the origin of philosophy and science is traceable to her. While she may be known for her monstrosity, her beauty remains just as dangerous. It is also thought that the symbol brings its owner luck, happiness, good . The story of Medusa continues to provoke renewed perspectives on its symbolism including through the lens of feminism and psychoanalysis. Born of the sea gods Phorcys and Ceto, it is often forgotten that Medusa herself is a goddess of the sea. Now Medusa is now seen as a feminist icon as her ability to turn men into stone can be seen as a way to empower womxn; as Poet Percy Shelley writes about the snaked hair womxns powers as both being full of grace and terror. Peruvian Man Found With Mummy He Called a Spiritual Girlfriend, Picker Art Gallery Presents the Works of William Earle Williams and Nona Faustine, Hito Steyerl to Deliver 2023 Wolgin Lecture at Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Preserving an Archive of Chicana and Lesbian History, Internet Goes Wild Over Outdoor Gym of Hindu Puppets, Museum Under Fire for Showing AI Version of Vermeer Masterpiece, The Society Photographer of NYCs Downtown Underground, Affordable Art Fair Returns to NYC With Contemporary Art Under $12,000, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. Because Medusa refuses a fate of silence and subjectivity, Perseus is left with no option but to decapitate Medusa for wielding her power. Save. The earliest portrayals of Medusa show a grotesque part human, part animal creature with wings and boar-like tusks. Originally from Oklahoma, she has been covering visual culture and overlooked history for print As Elizabeth Johnston says in her 2016 piece The Original Nasty Woman on Medusa: In Western culture, strong women have historically been imagined as threats requiring male conquest and control, and Medusa herself has long been the go-to figure for those seeking to demonize female authority.. Medusa in Jewelry. Dot-work Medusa tattoos might symbolize the connection to the religious part of Athena's story. these associations, Medusa is a purely sexual symbol that pertains to the sexual anxieties of women. Whether you see her as a monster or more of that, the fact is that Medusa slithering her way into being more than meets the eye. Her beauty and wisdom were her confidence and she was respected in the greek world of gods. Though there is much to say about the tragedy of Medusa's story, she became a formidable foe. Her power is also associated with protection, as she was often depicted as a guardian of the temple. Or to keep it anonymous, click here. This should be a lesson to learn. As weve mentioned, the myth of Medusa can be interpreted in various ways, but I think perhaps the most fascinating analysis is done through a feminist perspective because it unveils just how swift we are to circumvent female rage. The Classical period of Greek art from 480 to 323 BCE further associated beauty with danger when Medusa, the sirens, sphinxes, and Scylla all got a little hotter, losing some scales and wings as their bodies were more and more humanized. Jeenah Moon for The New York Times. American Traditional Medusa Tattoos Throughout the essay she encourages women to come closer in relation to her sexuality, to her womanly being, giving her access to her native strength. She goes on to say that in doing so she will get back her goods, her pleasure, her organs, her immense bodily territories. Cixous continues on, saying that for too long women's bodies have been occupied and deemed guilty guilty of everything, guilty at every turn: for having desire, for not having any; for being frigid, for being too hot; for not being both at once, perhaps even from being both woman and angry. For women in ancient times, this motif had a specific function and was of great importance. Her face looked like a monster, and venomous snakes made up her hair. The consequence led to a lifetime of living beneath her powers. In the Artemis temple of Corfu, Medusa is depicted in archaic form as a symbol of fertility with a belt of intertwined snakes on her body. 1. This experimental and multidisciplinary solo exhibition in New York City exploring the sweetness of doing nothing closes on March 12. Her existence reflected on the behavior of men during ancient times in Greece and shows how much have we advanced since then. In 1976, Hlne Cixous, a noteworthy French feminist theorist, wrote an essay called The Laugh of the Medusa, in which she unpacks this myth. Medusa is seen as a powerful symbol of female intelligence and wisdom, related to the goddess Metis . Texas Zero Property Tax Bill Has Extreme, Discriminatory Catches, Eurovision 2023 Tickets Announced on Ticketmaster, Celebrating Womens History With Qiu Jin, Chinese Revolutionary, The Penguin Tells a Batverse Scarface Story. She represented the beauty of the female gender and advocated for it. In some cases, Medusa was even considered to be a symbol of fertility. This week, a Black Southern quilt collection is donated to a Mississippi museum, the fascinating AI-generated ceramic glazes, a map of Italian Fascist monuments, and can clothing ever truly be recycled? Hence, Medusa's tale has served as a metaphor for power and bravery, particularly for women who have experienced s*xual harassment. While not the best source, Wikipedia seems to support your claim - it has images of her head used in gorgoneions. Therefore, seeing her should remind us of the power of faithfulness. The original Hamsa amulet was shaped like a hand with 3 fingers in the middle and the thumb and small finger in a curved shape on either side of the hand. In recent years, Medusa has been reformed into a tragic figure who was slut-shamed and victim blamed, simply because punishing a male god (Neptune/Poseidon) would have been considered unthinkable. Stepping on a Crack Superstition and Meaning: Its a Bad Omen? While the wild red locks of Edvard Munchs 1902 lithograph The Sin (Woman with Red Hair and Green Eyes), or Dante Gabriel Rossettis Lady Lilith (1867) with the Pre-Raphaelite subject brushing her long hair, are more of a stretch in the narrative, they reinforce the ongoing artistic portrayal of women as dangerous through their looks or power. Medusa, in effect, became the archetypal femme fatale: a conflation of femininity, erotic desire, violence, and death, writesKiki Karoglou, associate curator in the Mets Department of Greek and Roman Art and organizer of Dangerous Beauty, in an issue of theMets quarterly Bulletinon the show. The labrys symbolism is found in Minoan, Thracian, Greek, and Byzantine religion, mythology, and art, dating from the Middle Bronze Age onwards. The tragedy of Medusa reflected how ancient Greece viewed women and their attitude towards them. Her snakes have also made her one of the most popular characters from Greek mythology, with her modern depictions being widely used in modern media. The myth of Medusa lies at the nexus of conversations about symbolism, feminity, rage, and the ways women are symbols of generativity, desire, and power. As a result, she symbolizes both death and rebirth. Anyone that believes in her will enjoy this protection continually. I know it has a name but I can't think of it. In it, a nude Perseus proudly presents the dead Gorgons head in one hand, grasping some of the hair that writhes with a few subtle serpents. I remember finding out one day that the name Medusa means protectress, and it makes me wish that someone had been able to protect her. Medusa is the perfect symbol of this". Even though the curse took away her beauty, she remains an emblem of feminine confidence. The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling. Among them, the most prominent was the horse, a symbol of valor and beauty since he himself fathered many horses, the best-known being the winged horse Pegasus by the Gorgon Medusa. 7 Spiritual Meanings of Slugs in the House: Is it Good Luck? Thereby, to castrate a man is to severe his most vital organ; and to decapitate a woman is to take her most vital source of power. The Medusa tattoo features a snake-haired young woman, representing the might of women. Still no matter her form or decapitation her gaze is never averted, looking directly at the viewer as an assertion of her horrifying power that cannot be completely subverted by beauty. It was really interesting and I hadnt heard that she was a triple goddess before, so Im glad I was able to learn something new. [5] Protection [ edit] The most common interpretation of Medusa suggests she is an apotropaic symbol used to protect from and ward off the negative, much like the modern evil eye. Your email address will not be published. Ancient Greek artists originally portrayed Medusa as an almost comically hideous figure, with a lolling tongue, full beard, and bulging eyes. This image of Medusa began to shift when mustache stubble was replaced by smooth cheeks, and fangs concealed by shapely lips, as Classical artists began to feminize her once again. 59 Likes, TikTok video from Sasha Melendez (@sashamelendez15): ""Medusa and her story have been reclaimed as a symbol of strength and power, with her image also being used as a mark of protection against evils." #viral #medusa #saawareness #9thgenaccord". If we go back to Greek antiquity, Medusa was a mighty force endowed with the power to both kill and redeem. The stories of ancient Greek and Roman mythology have, over the years, been rediscovered, repurposed, and reinterpreted in more modern contexts. You will see this in movies like clash of the titans. Often times, this has allowed us to garner some sort of fable-like lesson from the stories of the Illiad or Metamorphoses. Early Greek and English authors also said that Athena was the help Perseus had to behead Medusa. Silencing Powerful Women - The beheading of Medusa can be seen as symbolic of silencing powerful women who voice their sentiments. How Long Will Joe Goldbergs Rampage Be Left Unchecked? In fact, the name Medusa is derived from the Greek verb that means "to guard" or "to protect." And at the end of the story, Athena takes Medusa's severed head and uses it as her own protection in future battle (a symbol for these dual aspects of a woman becoming integrated.) The mythologically beheaded woman is seen (or at least partially seen) does not see; she is blinded and those who have beheaded her are blinded to her real nature. As Karoglou points out, the majority of hybrids (half-human, half-animal monsters like sirens or Gorgons) in ancient Greece were female. When it comes to medusa, we have several mixed stories; however, both stories affirm the fact that medusa was very beautiful. The Greeks believed most snakes to be poisonous as well which represents the end of a life cycle. Nowadays Medusas can be seen as a symbol of revenge against the male gaze. The reason for medusas plight was her unfaithfulness to the vow she made. "When Medusa looks in the mirror, she sees the Lady of Sorrows." - Mason Cooley. Business, Economics, and Finance. This extends to even monsters like Medusa which really showed us how the ancient Greeks viewed the things around them.