Medusa, << muh DOO suh, >> was one of the three Gorgons, and the only mortal Gorgon (see Gorgons). Medusa and her two sisters had writhing snakes for hair, staring eyes, hideous grins, and protruding fangs. They were so ugly that anyone who saw them turned to stone.
Unlike her sisters, Medusa had been beautiful in her youth, and was still proud of her hair. She boasted of her beauty to Athena, who became jealous and changed her into a hideous person.
Perseus killed Medusa by looking into his mirrorlike shield as he cut off her head (see Perseus). At that time, Medusa had been made pregnant by the sea god Poseidon. The winged horse Pegasus sprang from her beheaded body, and poisonous snakes arose from the blood that dripped from her head. Athena saved blood from Medusa’s body and gave it to Asclepius, the god of healing (see Asclepius). The blood from Medusa’s left side was a fatal poison, but that from her right side had the power to revive the dead.
