Hundreds of years later the Roman poet Ovid, in his Metamorphoses, written in around 8 CE, imagined a backstory for Medusa – Ovid’s version is one whose disturbing elements are often forgotten in retellings which focus more on the figure of Perseus than on the experience of Medusa herself.
Pindar tells the story of how the music of the flute was invented by the goddess Athena as an imitation of the other Gorgons’ lament for the death of their sister. In a later version of this story, by the poet Pindar (who was composing his works in the early fifth-century BCE, the emphasis is again on the heroism of her killer, who carries Medusa’s snake-haired head with him to inflict ‘stony death’ on those who see it.
Of these three monsters, only Medusa is mortal – Perseus kills her by cutting off her head. In Hesiod’s early ancient Greek poem Theogony (dated to around 700 BCE), she is one of three sisters, the Gorgons, who are so terrifying that those who look on them turn to stone. Like all myths, the story of Medusa is one that has changed over time. In his post Dr Emma Bridges, ICS public engagement fellow, provides a very short introduction to the legend and suggests some places to look for further information about the millennia-old story. Making Medusa, which takes place on 17 November at Little Angel Studios, will be a family-friendly crafting and storytelling event.
Medusa snake free#
For this year’s Being Human festival, the Institute of Classical Studies (ICS) is putting on a free event in London in partnership with Islington’s Little Angel Theatre and puppeteer-storyteller Tinka Slav icek.
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