Are you familiar with the theory that the Gorgon (here I mean what we would call the meme of the snake-haired head) originated as octopuses used as tribal totems? The give-away clue is that in Classical images, besides the snake-hair (tentacles), the tongue is always sticking out. Why? Well, it's actually the animals siphon.
Also, the much later "Gookie Face" (puffed out cheeks with tongue sticking out) evolved from the Gorgon.
Yeah, as I said, her being portrayed as a sea monster didn't happen until around Hesiod's time. She was written as the daughter of Ceto/Keto & Phorcys (sister & brother for some sea-god incest!).
The three old women who share one eye & one tooth between them (Perseus stole the eye and forced them to give him the location of the items needed to kill Medusa), the Graeae, are also daughters of Ceto & Phorcys & sisters to the Gorgons.
Her 2 Gorgon sisters did not appear until Hesiod's Theogony (700BC) retelling, 400+ years after Homer wrote The Iliad. Neither of her sisters had snakes for hair.
Only Medusa had snakes for hair & this did not happen until Ovid's Metamorphoses retelling, around 7AD. Over 1,100 years later than Homer.
She was the only one cursed by Athena (or Minerva, as Ovid was Roman).
The curse was her hair being turned from beautiful, flowing locks of blonde, to snakes. This was done as punishment for Poseidon fucking/raping Medusa in one of Athena's temples. Because her hair is what most attracted him.
Ovid's version is one of the first where Medusa was originally a beautiful woman, instead of a monster.
Other writers had begun describing her as beautiful (as well as monstrous!) from around 500BC. Pindar described her as "fair-cheeked".
Up to this point, they'd had boar tusks, wings, scaled skin and huge claws. They had also been depicted as lionesses & sphinx, as well as being sea monsters, as you rightly say.
Again, not her gaze, but looking at her turned people into stone. She could look all she wanted. That's why the shield worked, because it was a bad mirror. He could see a reflection, but not a sharp one.
Yup, precisely.
She didn't turn people to stone by looking at them.
If you looked into her eyes/met her gaze, then you would be turned.
Which is why the shield works, because Perseus never looked INTO her eyes.
He only looked AT a reflection of them.
So, tell me
whichone you prefer?
lol that's kinda why I posted the Ricky Gervais clip.
The question is not "which one do I prefer?", it's "which one can I fuck?".
I can see the argument for human bottom half, but who wants to look at a fish face while you're fucking mer-pussy?
There are other things you can do, if the top half is human...
"She's half fish! Don't get me wrong, of all the fishy things in the sea, she's the best. The breasts alone take her ahead of the turbot, the mackerel, but I'm not just gonna shag her for the halibut!"
I'll get my coat...
If you want to get it on with a Gorgon, then
Sorcerer is your game!
