Gorgons (Art by Brian Leblanc)
A Gorgon is a mythical female monster with the lower body of a snake and hair replaced with numerous snakes originating from Greco-Roman mythology.
Overview[]
The Greeks originally believed there were three gorgon sisters, with two of them, Stheno and Euryale, being immortal, but their sister Medusa was not and was slain by the demigod hero Perseus. The Gorgon sisters were said to be the daughters of two sea deities: Ceto, the sea monster, and Phorcys, her brother-husband.
The first Gorgon was said to be one of the monsters sired from Typhon and Echidna. The Attic tradition, reproduced in Euripides (Ion), regarded the Gorgon as a monster, produced by Gaia to aid her children, the Titans, against the new Olympian deities. Classical interpretations suggest that Gorgon was slain by Athena, who wore her skin thereafter.
Virgil mentions that the Gorgons lived in the entrance of the Underworld. Diodorus and Palaephatus mention that the Gorgons lived in the Gorgades, islands in the Aethiopian Sea. The main island was called Cerna.
Description[]
While descriptions of Gorgons vary, the term most commonly refers to three sisters who are described as having hair made of living, venomous snakes and horrifying visages that turned those who beheld them to stone.
Some Gorgons are shown with broad, round heads, serpentine locks of hair, large staring eyes, wide mouths, tongues lolling, the tusks of swine, large projecting teeth, flared nostrils, and sometimes short, coarse beards. (In some cruder representations, stylized hair or blood flowing under the severed head of the Gorgon suggests a beard or wings.)
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.