The Gorgoneion, Head of the Gorgon
In Greek mythology, the Gorgons were a trio of monster sisters — Stheno, Euryale and Medusa — with golden wings and snakes for hair whose hideous visages could turn humans to stone. Medusa was once a beautiful maiden, but Athena turned her lovely hair into snakes as punishment after Medusa had a sexual tryst with Poseidon in Athena’s temple. The three sisters lived together on an island and spent their days doing whatever it is that Gorgons do until Perseus showed up and decapitated Medusa. He used her severed head to kill King Polydectes, who had fallen in love with Perseus’s mother, Danae.
(As an aside, the 1981 film The Clash of the Titans (and the 2010 remake) depicts Perseus’s battle with Medusa, but in this tale, he uses her severed head to turn the Kraken to stone, saving the kingdom of Argos from destruction. The Kraken’s origins are apparently in Norse — not Greek — mythology, but it’s still a great tale. Perseus then flings the head into the sea, which serves as the basis for the ancient Roman belief that red coral is the hardened blood of Medusa.)
Anyway, back to the business at hand…
Head of Medusa, Antonio Canova.
According to Elworthy’s The Evil Eye, “…Perseus presented the terrible head to Pallas, the Athenian goddess, who placed it on her aegis, and in nearly all her statues, and those of her Roman counterpart Minerva (Athena), she bears this notable mask as an amulet. Originally the aegis was a goat’s hide worn as a protective garment, but later it became a breastplate and afterwards a shield. When Minerva is represented with a shield as the war goddess, she has the gorgon’s head emblazoned upon it. Thus was first set the fashion of bearing some prophylactic device by men in battle which should first attract the angry glance of their enemies and then baffle their malignity.”
And so we learn that the visage of the Gorgon, or Gorgoneion, was applied to coins, artwork and buildings in the ancient world as an apotropaic motif. Earlier depictions of the Gorgon’s countenance were quite hideous, typically featuring a tongue protruding from a fanged grimace. But over time Medusa acquired more classically attractive features and a somewhat tragic expression. (See, for example, the cameos below.) Today, Medusa is a feminist symbol of women’s power. The gorgoneion is worn as a protective pendant and has been immortalized in the logo of Italian fashion house Versace.
Terracotta antefix (roof tile), 6th century B.C. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Gorgon Head antefix, The J. Paul Getty Museum.
Coin of Populonia with the Head of a Gorgon, Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Running Gorgon c. 540 BC. Bronze. Yale University Art Museums
Gold pendant in the form of the Gorgoneion. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Bronze ornament from a chariot pole 1st–2nd century A.D. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Hand Mirror decorated with the head of Medusa, The J. Paul Getty Museum
Head of Medusa cameo 1840–50, Cameo by Benedetto Pistrucci. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Head of Medusa, Arnold Böcklin. Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
Oval gem with the head of Medusa and inscription, 2nd or 3rd century AD, Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
Inscription reads: "If they talk, let them not be believed by Alexios! Chnoubis!"
Shell cameo depicting Medusa, late 19th century. Lightner Museum, St. Augustine, FL.
Perseus with the Head of Medusa, 1804–6 Antonio Canova Italian. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Medusa ca. 1860–70, Luigi Saulini, Italy. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Pallas Athena holding a shield with Medusa's head in her right hand and a lance in her left hand, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Terracotta two-handled vase, late 4th–early 3rd century B.C. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Lidded vase with Medusa decoration and snake handles ca. 1891. Metropolitan Museum of Art.