“He rapes her in Minerva’s temple, and Minerva, incensed that her temple has been defiled, punishes the victim rather than the perpetrator (again, sound familiar?). Johnson wrote: “In Ovid’s story, the god Neptune sees Medusa, desires her, and decides that, because he is a god, he is entitled to her body (sound familiar?). In her piece, Johnson argued that Medusa’s story represented a rape narrative. In an article for the Atlantic from 2016, English professor Elizabeth Johnson described Medusa as the “original ‘Nasty Woman’”. In Metamorphoses, Ovid wrote that Medusa was originally a beautiful maiden, however, after she was raped by Neptune in Minerva’s temple, she was punished by Minerva by having her hair transformed into vicious snakes. In the original Latin text for Metamorphoses, by Roman poet Ovid, which tells Medusa’s story, Ovid used the verb “vitiasse”, which is translated as “violate” or “corrupt”. While her immortal sisters Stheno and Eurydale furiously went after Perseus for the murder of Medusa, he was able to escape using his winged sandles and helmet of invisibility. Medusa’s beheading resulted in the birth of her two children: a winged horse named Pegasos, and the giant Chrysaor, who both sprung forth from her neck. As Medusa was the only mortal, Perseus succeeded in his quest, beheading her with his sword. Perseus attacked whilst Medusa was sleeping, using the mirrored shield from Athena to avoid her gaze. Perseus set out on his quest with help from the gods, receiving a mirrored shield from Athena, sandals with gold wings from Hermes, a sword from Hephaestus and the helmet of invisibility from Hades.
The myth says that Perseus was sent by King Polydectes of Seiphus on an impossible mission – to fetch Medusa’s head. The story of Medusa that most will be familiar with is that of her beheading by Perseus. While descriptions of Medusa have varied, from beautiful to grotesque, fair to monstrous, she is best known for having living, venomous snakes on her head in place of hair, and the ability to turn those who looked into her eyes into stone. Medusa was the only mortal, her sisters instead immortal. Medusa is a figure from Greek mythology who was one of three Gorgon sisters alongside Stheno and Euryale. It can be easy to find yourself suddenly out of the loop, especially with the speed that conversations, trends and movements online tend to move at. If you’ve spent any time recently on TattooTok, which is the tattoo community on TikTok, you might have seen an increase in people talking about Medusa tattoos and the meaning behind them. While many know Medusa as the snake-haired figure from Greek mythology whose gaze could turn you to stone, you may not know the meaning behind a tattoo of her
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