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Medusa
Western Libya
Danger Level: 9/10
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Abilities
Petrifying GazeSerpent HairImmortal Blood
Lore & Legend
The Mortal Gorgon
Of the three Gorgons only Medusa is mortal. Perseus beheads her with Athena's aid; Pegasus and Chrysaor spring from the neck. Ovid adds the later tale that Athena punished Medusa's beauty after Poseidon's assault in the temple — a Roman overlay on an older beheading myth.
The head remains a weapon: the aegis, the apotropaic face on shields.
Primary Sources
“And from the Gorgon the horse Pegasus sprang, and Chrysaor the hero, when Perseus cut off her head.”