"HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREECE
& MOVIE INFO"
PAGE 3
"History of Medusa the Gorgon"

Medusa was the youngest and most beautiful of the three daughters
of the sea Titans Porcys and Ceto. She was blessed with untold
beauty and had long flowing hair that  fell gently down from her head.
Medusa was the only mortal of the three sisters, and all  were very wise
serving as priestesses under the goddess of wisdom and war Athena.

The god Poseidon longed for beautiful Medusa, and in a moment of
uncontrolled passion he raped Medusa  in Athena's own temple.  The
three sisters than became angry and hated all men do to Poseidon's
action.

Athena soon grew disgusted with  the three sisters new found
wickedness, and the defiling sexual act that was committed  in her
temple.  Athena transformed the three girls into hideous beasts, with
wings and numerous snakes for hair. These beasts became known as
the Gorgons and were so horrid to behold that whosoever looked at
them would  instantly turn to stone.

Medusa the Gorgon

As time went on Medusa and her sisters grew continually more wicked
and took untold pleasure in torturing their victims. Their cruelty was
than brought to an end by the Greek hero Perseus who with the help
of the gods slew  Medusa.

The goddess Athena provided Perseus with a silver shield, the god
Hermes winged sandals, and the god Hades a helmet which would
make the wearer invisible.

Wearing Hades helmet Perseus became invisible and approached the
sleeping Medusa. He slew her by looking at her image through a
reflection on Athena's shield, but never looked upon her with his own
eyes knowing full well that this would turn him to stone. Chopping off
her head he placed it into a bag to present it later to the goddess
Athena.

But as soon as he slue the Gorgon Medusa her sisters woke up in rage
and raced to capture and kill Perseus, but with the help of the winged
sandals that Hermes had given him, and the invisible helmet of Hades
he managed to evade an escape the angered sisters.

From Medusa's dead body sprang forth the elegant winged horse
Pegasus and the giant winged horse Chrysaor the result of the union
of Medusa and Poseidon.

Perseus than presented Medusa's head to the goddess Athena, who
placed Medusa's head into the center of her shield the Aegis, which
she than wore over her breastplate.
GEE...Can you imagine waking up to
that in the morning?  Somehow
there just wouldn't be enough coffee
or booze to make it better!
Hmmm., Reality or
myth?
You have to admit,
there are a lot of
ancient  stone statues
around, huh?
Video From the movie,
"Clash of the Titans"
(1981)
"CYCLOPS"
A couple of things I bet you didn't know!
1)  There were several Cyclops. The most
famous is
the story of Polyphemus, (son of
Poseidon), he is the most popular
cyclops. He fought with Odysseus, who
came out victorious, and left Polyphemus,
blinded.
2) We always thought the Ancients just
made this up however, we find now that it
kinda was based on a misunderstanding -
mistaken -identity. (How does that grab
you)
It seems that the Ancients found a skull of
a mastodon and assumed the hole in the
center was for an eye.  (I see said the
blind guy!) (Yeah,..I know! Bad Joke)
Ancient Mastodon
Skull
I can see how
they would have
been confused.
More Buttons To
Play With!
Now don't lose you head
(Get It?)
Polyphemus just before he
fought with Kirk Douglas in
the movie Ulysses (λυσσεύς)
1955
"Content"
Clash of The Titans; Cyclops;
Where the myth may have
originated.
"Pegasus" (Greek: Πήγασος, Pégasos, 'strong')
In Greek mythology, Pegasus is the winged horse that was fathered by Poseidon with Medusa.
When her head was cut of by the Greek hero Perseus, the horse sprang forth from her pregnant
body. His galloping created the well Hippocrene on the Helicon (a mountain in Boeotia).

When the horse was drinking from the well Pirene on the Acrocotinth, Bellerophon's fortress, the
Corinthian hero was able to capture the horse by using a golden bridle, a gift from Athena. The gods
then gave him Pegasus for killing the monster Chimera but when he attempted to mount the horse it
threw him off and rose to the heavens, where it became a constellation (north of the ecliptic).

In another version, Bellerophon killed the Chimera while riding on Pegasus, and when he later
attempted to ride to the summit of Mount Olympus, Zeus sent a gadfly to sting the horse, and it
threw Bellerophon off its back.