Keto was synonymous with sea monsters that her name was later used for the great serpents Poseidon conjured from the deep. Their other siblings included the monsters Echidna, Scylla, and Ladon. Phorcys and Keto were also the parents of three other monstrous sisters – the Graeae. Medusa and her sisters, the Gorgons, were the children of the primordial gods Phorcys and Keto. There was a lot more to the Gorgon than just the snakes in her hair! Medusa was Once Beautiful
Lost in the telling are Medusa’s tragic origins and the unbelievable fate of her famous head. With monstrous features and snakes in place of her hair, she was a frightful creature that the Greeks believed could scare off even the most potent evil.īut there is much more to the legend of Medusa than just her beheading, and her legacy is far more complicated than that of any other ancient monster. Medusa is remembered, more than anything else, for a face that was so hideous that one look at it would literally turn men to stone. The image of the brave hero slaying the hideous beast endures in art, poetry, and song. The story of the monster Medusa’s death at the hands of the great hero Perseus is one of the most widely told myths from the Greek world.
