Medusa first appears in the writings of Hesiod, specifically Theogony, which tells the tale of three sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, who were the children of Phorcys and Ceto and said to live “beyond famed Oceanus at the world’s edge hard by Night.”

Oddly, however, while Hesiod does write about the origins of Medusa and her death at the hands of Perseus, he gives no other details, leaving us to turn to Ovid’s Metamorphoses for additional information, Ancient Origins notes.

According to Ovid, at one time Medusa was a beautiful maiden. She was so beautiful that the god Poseidon lured her to Athena’s shrine, where he ravaged her.

But Athena wasn’t happy with that, and as a punishment, Athena turned Medusa’s hair into snakes, so that any other man that looked at her would turn into stone.

Actually, I heard in another version of Medusa’s “punishment”, In the other version, Athena knows that Poseidon ravaged her, so she gave Medusa snake hair so that she would punish all the men that looked at her.

Eventually, Medusa is destroyed by Perseus. Then again, Perseus had certain advantages over those who had gone before him in an attempt to confront the serpent-headed woman: He also happened to be the son of Zeus and was assisted in his efforts by the gods.

Hades gave Perseus a Cap of Invisibility, which always comes in handy when you’re trying to sneak up on a gorgon. From Hermes, he got winged sandals, which are a great deal better than those without wings. He was also given a sword by Hephaestus.

But perhaps most importantly, Perseus had a shield directly from Athena, which made him virtually invincible.

With these gifts, Perseus crept into Medusa’s lair as she slept and chopped off her head.

And Now, the Rest of the Story

Our studies of mythology in school gave us the general outline of who Medusa was and how she was ultimately destroyed, but there are some details you may not have been aware of that make the snake lady even more terrifying. For example:

• When blood dripped from Medusa’s head onto the plains of Libya, every drop became a venomous serpent.
• During an encounter with Atlas the Titan, Perseus used the severed head of Medusa to turn Atlas into a mountain.

I didn’t find any research on this myth connecting to sustainability/globalization, so if anyone has any ideas please comment, thanks.

1