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GORGON, GORGONS (Gr. Popyc'o, Fopyove...

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 257 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GORGON, GORGONS (Gr. Popyc'o, Fopyoves, the "terrible," or, according to some, the " loud-roaring ") , a figure or figures in See also:Greek See also:mythology. See also:Homer speaks of only one Gorgon, whose See also:head is represented in the Iliad (v. 741) as fixed in the centre of the See also:aegis of See also:Zeus. In the Odyssey (xi. 633) she is a See also:monster of the under-See also:world. See also:Hesiod increases the number of Gorgons to three—Stheno (the mighty), Euryale (the far-See also:springer) and See also:Medusa (the See also:queen), and makes them the daughters of the See also:sea-See also:god Phorcys and of Keto. Their See also:home is on the farthest See also:side of the western ocean; according to later authorities, in See also:Libya (Hesiod, Theog. 294; See also:Herodotus ii. 91; See also:Pausanias ii. 21). The See also:Attic tradition, reproduced in See also:Euripides (See also:Ion 1002), regarded the Gorgon as a monster, produced by Gaea to aid her sons the giants against the gods and slain by See also:Athena (the passage is a See also:locus classicus on the aegis of Athena).

The Gorgons are represented as winged creatures, having the See also:

form of See also:young See also:women; their See also:hair consists of See also:snakes; they are See also:round-faced, See also:flat-nosed, with See also:tongues lolling out and large projecting See also:teeth. Sometimes they have wings of See also:gold, brazen claws and the tusks of boars. Medusa was the only one of the three who was mortal; hence See also:Perseus was able to kill her by cutting off her head. From the See also:blood that spurted from her See also:neck sprang Chrysaor and See also:Pegasus, her two sons by See also:Poseidon. The' head, which had the See also:power of turning into See also:stone all who looked upon it, was given to Athena, who placed it in her See also:shield; according to another See also:account, Perseus buried it in the See also:market-See also:place of See also:Argos. The hideously See also:grotesque See also:original type of the Gorgoneion, as the Gorgon's head was called, was placed on the walls of cities, and on See also:shields and breastplates to terrify an enemy (cf. the hideous faces on See also:Chinese soldiers' shields), and used xII. qGORILLA 257 generally as an See also:amulet, a See also:protection against the evil See also:eye. Heracles is said to have obtained a See also:lock of Medusa's hair (which possessed the same See also:powers as the head) from Athena and given it to Sterope, the daughter of See also:Cepheus, as a protection for the See also:town of See also:Tegea against attack (See also:Apollodorus ii. 7. 3). According to See also:Roscher, it was supposed, when exposed to view, to bring on a See also:storm, which put the enemy to See also:flight. Frazer (See also:Golden Bough, i. 378) gives examples of the superstition that cut hair caused storms.

According to the later See also:

idea of Medusa as a beautiful See also:maiden, whose hair had been changed into snakes by Athena, the head was represented in See also:works of See also:art with a wonderfully handsome See also:face, wrapped in the See also:calm repose of See also:death. The Rondanini Medusa at See also:Munich is a famous specimen of this conception. Various accounts of the Gorgons were given by later See also:ancient writers. According to Diod. Sic. (iii. 54. 55) they were See also:female warriors living near See also:Lake Tritonis in Libya, whose queen was Medusa; according to See also:Alexander of Myndus, quoted in See also:Athenaeus (v. p. 221), they were terrible See also:wild animals whose See also:mere look turned men to stone. See also:Pliny (Nat. Hist. vi. 36 131]) describes them as See also:savage women, whose persons were covered with hair, which gave rise to the See also:story of their snaky hair and See also:girdle.

See also:

Modern authorities have explained them as the personification of the waves of the sea or of the barren, unproductive See also:coast of Libya; or as the awful darkness of the storm-See also:cloud, which comes from the See also:west and is scattered by the See also:sun-god Perseus. More See also:recent is the explanation of anthropologists that Medusa, whose virtue is really in her head, is derived from the See also:ritual See also:mask See also:common to See also:primitive cults. See Jane E. See also:Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek See also:Religion (19o3); W. H. Roscher, See also:Die Gorgonen and Verwandtes (1879) ; J. Six, De Gorgone (1885), on the types of the Gorgon's head; articles by Roscher and See also:Furtwangler in Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie, by G. Glotz in Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire See also:des antiquitis, and by R. Gadechens in See also:Ersch and See also:Gruber's Allgemeine Encyclopadie; N. G. Polites (`O wept r(.Uv Popybvwv p.59os See also:rap& See also:rep 'N XXnvtKw aaw", 1878) gives an account of the Gorgons, and of the various superstitions connected with them, from the modern Greek point of view, which regards them as malevolent See also:spirits of the sea.

End of Article: GORGON, GORGONS (Gr. Popyc'o, Fopyoves, the "terrible," or, according to some, the " loud-roaring ")

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