Rape of Medusa

This is my most controversial piece to date. The title alone steps quite far out of my (and other people’s) comfort zones. But it’s meant to make you uncomfortable. The myth of Medusa I first read presented her as a villain. No, actually she was a stepping stone in Perseus’s story. Perseus had to defeat Medusa the Gorgon to prove himself a hero. Medusa’s head is then used as a weapon, to slay a sea monster, an incestuous suitor, and a king. Perseus gives her head as an offering to Athena after his adventures are finished.

Medusa was once a human woman, the only one of the three gorgons to be human. Depending on the version of the myth Medusa was either an ordinary human woman or a beautiful monster daughter of Echidna, mother of monsters. The myths all agree she was beautiful. She was serving as a priestess in the temple of Athena (or Minerva) when she caught Poseidon’s eye. Here is where the versions of the myth diverge again. The first version I read, said simply Medusa angered her patron goddess by consorting with Poseidon in Athena’s temple (it was written for children). The version I read in high school said Medusa had seduced Poseidon on Athena’s altar. I took my inspiration from a third version, in Ovid’s Metamorphosis Poseidon (Neptune) rapes Medusa in Athena (Minerva)’s temple. Here is a link to the relevant passage. Even Ovid blames Medusa’s beauty for her tragic transformation, declaring it to be a punishment. I wanted to show the tragedy and betrayal of Medusa. She was a priestess and felt herself safe in the temple, but was betrayed by her goddess.

That’s why she’s reaching out. She’s pleading, not for Poseidon’s mercy, but Athena’s.