medusa libyan goddess
He also received the winged sandals of Hermes, a sword made by Hephaestus, and the invisibility helm of Hades. Her image was used in Byzantine Greece to protect pregnant women and newborns. [98] August Enna wrote an opera called Lamia.[36]. This article is about a creature from Greek mythology. As I see it, Medusa could just as easily become Maasai as she could become Berber. [16], Lamia was the daughter born between King Belus of Egypt and Lybie, according to one source. ", Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. The TImeoroi were perhaps Naiad-nymphs of the fresh-water springs of the region. For the descriptions and nature of the Lamia, Keats drew from Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy. Herodotus, Histories 4. Some historians also believe that the existence of three Gorgons is further evidence to support this theory. Depending on the version of the story, she either reciprocated, and (with a little help from her sisters) let Poseidon into Athena's temple and slept with him on the altar, or was simply raped by the god. Perseus had foolishly promised that he would provide the Gorgons head as a gift, and Polydectes, king of Seriphos, held him to his word. Of the three sisters only Medousa was mortal. When he describes a festival of Osiris at Siwa, for example, he calls the god Dionysus, because of some minor parallels with Greek Dionysiac festivals (2.4749). WebTHE TIMEOROI LIBYES were three goddess-nymph guardians of the wilds about Lake Tritonis in Libya (in North Africa). Myth evolves. This prompted Henderson (1998) to "humorlessly infer" that the Lamia must have been a. Keats's reworking makes this Lamia have serpent form for certain, which she wants to lose. "a Lamia's groin" (Benjamin Bickley Rogers, 1874), "a foul Lamia's testicles" (Athenian Society, 1912), "sweaty Crotch of a Lamia" (Paul Roche, 2005). While the goddess she represented is unknown, the snakes that surround her face could be clues to her lost identity. Uncover new sources by reviewing other students' references and bibliographies, Inspire new perspectives and arguments (or counterarguments) to address in your own essay. Iconographically, two very different depictions coalesce in the classical Medusa: the Neolithic God-dess of birth, death, and regeneration, who is represented as bird, snake, or bird/snake hybrid; and the Near Eastern demon Humbaba whose severed head is, like Medusas, used in an apo-tropaic manner. [1.1] ATHENE (by Poseidon) (Herodotus 4.180, Pausanias 1.14.6) The names are the clearest indication that the story has Greek origins. [9] Diodorus, Duris of Samos and other sources which comprise the sources for building an "archetypal" picture of Lamia do not designate her as a dragoness, or give her explicit serpentine descriptions.[82]. Medusa may manifest as the beautiful goddess she was prior to her transformation or in her classic monster form with contorted face and snake locks. Medusa, to me, is the monstrous version of a heroic mortal. Athenas participation in the destruction of Medusa may be interpreted as the goddess destroying her own past. Lamia's possible kindred kind appear in Classical works, but may be known by other names except for isolated instance which calls it a lamia. She transformed Medusa into a terrifying creature with snakes for hair and a face that literally turned those who gazed at her to stone. [11], Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics (vii.5) refers to the lore of some beastly lifeform in the shape of a woman, which tears the bellies of pregnant mothers and devours their fetuses. [i][47][48] The same joke was used in theatrical Greek comedy,[49] and generally. As one of the Gorgons, a trio of winged women with venomous snakes for hair, Medusa ranked among the most feared, powerful monsters to dominate early Greek mythology. [j][51], In Apuleius's The Golden Ass[k] there appear the Thessalian "witches"[l] Meroe and her sister Panthia, who are called lamiae in one instance. Medusa is a powerful symbol today, as powerful as ever whether you imagine her as the monstrous demon of early Greek art, the beautiful woman of Hellenistic-era literature, or the cursed rape victim in Ovids epic poetry. WebThe Libyan Berber Goddess Tannit (Neith) Tannit or Neith is originally a Berber Libyan Goddess venerated by the Berbers of North Africa from immemorial times. She was usually represented as a winged female creature having a head of hair [40], A longstanding joke makes a word play between Lamia the monster and Lamia of Athens, the notorious hetaira courtesan who captivated Demetrius Poliorcetes (d. 283 BC). Beheading her was a metaphor for destroying the masks that were central to her cult. Tritonis appears to be closely related to the Timeoroi Libyes (Guardian Spirits of Libya) who, according to some, were nurses of the young Athena. Other legends suggest that Medusa is a Libyan snake goddess. [63] According to a scholiast to Ovid, it had a serpent's body carrying a human face. The female are the classic medusa, pretty much the same as in the previous edition except that she can now un-petrify her victims by applying a drop of her own blood. Some of the Gorgons' depictions make them Snake People. : She is not a goddess, however her frightening visage was often used as a symbol of Athena's apotropaic abilities. Modern images of mermaids, some with snakey hair, are also sometimes labelled Medusa, but these are usually modern Gorgon mermaids. Yes, Medusae. With help from other Olympian Gods and Goddesses he was successful, but Medusas death was not the end of her. Medusa's main characteristics are snakes for hair and that people turn to stone just by seeing her face. Thank you for the reference in the "further reading" section!You probably didn't notice this, but I actually address nearly the exact same claims that you address here about Medusa having supposedly originally been an African goddess with dreadlocks in an answer I wrote over a year ago on Quoraon the exact same day that I posted the article on my blog that you've linked here, as it happens.In the answer, though, I don't go into anywhere near as much depth as you've gone into here. [45][92], A foul odor has been pointed out as a possible common motif or attribute of the lamiai. No. Medusa was clearly described as having long golden hair when she was still a priestess in Athenas temple. But its not unlikely that the myth The ancient Greeks defined rape as having sex with a woman against the wishes of her patron either her husband, her father or, in this case, Athena. You know how looking at a math problem similar to the one you're stuck on can help you get unstuck? Her symbols were a shield that frequently appeared above her head in The Greek word "gorgon" means "horror". My last sentence 'But thats a long, long way from making her Maasai' was ill-advised. French Polynesia, Guadeloupe, Libya, Martinique, New Caledonia, Reunion, Russian Federation, Singapore, Ukraine, She went against her vow and married him. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. The most popular is that of a hideous monster; in fact, the petrification originally was caused by Medusa's ugliness itself, before other myths retconned it into being a power based in her eyes. For this Athena punished her hideously. The poets stated that she Nowadays Siwa is mostly Berber. | FAQs | ^Mods | Magic ^Words. We cant be confident how old any of these elements are which ones were understood as part of a standard canonical story, and which ones were invented by individual writers. One development stage of jellyfish is named after Medusa, and jellyfishes are called Medusa in several languages. This, of course, indicates that, in the time period when the myth of Medusa is first attested, her having snakes for hair was not seen as integral to her character. I mostly just say that, although Herodotos does say that Medusa lived in North Africa, there's nothing to indicate that she was originally an African goddess and the story of Medusa was most likely made up by Greeks.The main thing that my answer adds to what you've said here is that I actually address the claim about the dreadlocks by pointing out that the earliest surviving depictions of Medusa, including the famous Kykladic pithos from the early seventh century BCE that depicts her with the lower body of a four-legged horse, don't seem to depict her with snakes for hair. One day they'll use my head, but cleave and leave the rest of me behind, which seemsunkind.". Sometimes, however, she is portrayed as a living woman. There are some ancient Greek writers who do associate Medusa with Africa. Notably, the Greek historian Herodotos of Halikarnassos (lived c. 484 c Lib () was the ancient Greek name for the entirety of the Maghreb, that is, northern Africa all the way from the Strait of Gibraltar to what is now western Egypt. WebSome believed that Medusa was the Libyan Goddess, Neith, who was the Goddess of Hunting and War. They are not strictly speaking "witches", but they are referred to as such by convention. These did not all immediately help him kill Medusa, but it did allow him to escape her sisters. The 1982 novel Lamia by Tristan Travis sees the mythological monster relocated to 1970s Chicago, where she takes bloody vengeance on sex offenders while the cops try to figure out the mystery. Hamilton, H.C.; Falconer, W. She is depicted as the daughter of Hecate and as having glowing green eyes with serpentine slits, shriveled-up hands with lizard-like claws on them, and crocodile-like teeth. Her head never lost its power to turn those who looked at it to stone, and was placed on Athenas shield to ward off evil. The Gorgons may have originally represented a similar triple goddess cult. They were the maiden, mother and crone. Her petrification powers then may be still present, totally absent, voluntary or, eh, body part specific. What Were the Hamadryads in Greek Mythology? "So I'm a plaything of the gods, one of the broads caught in their game, ain't that a shame. ", "Raised by Wolves: Mother's Real Name Has TERRIFYING Implications", "10 Lamia, Slain by Eurybatus and Others", "The Sweepings of Lamia: Transformations of the Myths of Lilith and Lamia", "Magic and Vampirism in Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana and Bram Stoker's Dracula", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lamia&oldid=1138177380, Articles with Latin-language sources (la), Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2007, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 8 February 2023, at 12:19. A glance at a map, and a review of the other ancient sources on Medusa, makes the situation totally clear. Why, though, were so many gods invested in seeing Medusa destroyed when other monsters received much less attention? 14. [citation needed]. In ancient Greece and modern times throughout the world, Medusas portrait is recreated on shields, temples, coins, pottery, and pendants as a symbol of protection to ward off evil.. Feminist writers of the 20th century began to see reflections of themselves and other women in the fate of Medusa. [4], In the myth, the Lamia was originally a beautiful woman beloved of Zeus, but Zeus's jealous wife Hera robbed her of her children, either by kidnapping and hiding them away, killing them, or causing Lamia herself to kill her own offspring. And sometimes she has also become an afrocentrist symbol. Because of her cruel acts, her physical appearance changed to become ugly and monstrous. [50] The word play is also seen as being employed in Horace's Odes, to banter Lucius Aelius Lamia the praetor. Labelled Medusa, makes the situation totally clear labelled Medusa, but Medusas death was not the of! When she was still a priestess in athenas temple last sentence 'But thats a long long! 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