Chapter 1: The Early Gods
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♠ ApB 2.4.3 – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library)
Athena inserted the Gorgon’s head in the middle of her shield. But it is alleged by some that Medusa was beheaded for Athena’s sake; and they say that the Gorgon was fain to match herself with the goddess even in beauty. Greek Text
♠ Euripides, Ion 989-96
Creusa
There the earth brought forth the Gorgon, a dreadful monster.
Tutor
As an ally for her children and trouble for the gods?
Creusa
Yes; and Pallas, the daughter of Zeus, killed it.
Tutor
[What fierce shape did it have?
Creusa
A breastplate armed with coils of a viper.]
Tutor
Is this the story which I have heard before?
Creusa
That Athena wore the hide on her breast.
Tutor
And they call it the aegis, Pallas’ armor? Greek Text
♦ Paris, Louvre CA 795: relief pithos with Perseus and Medousa as Kentauros
Wikimedia photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen
Drawing from Daremberg and Saglio, Dicionnaire des antiquités grecques et romaines (1896 ff.), vol. 4.2, p. 403
♦ Eleusis, Archaeological Museum: Protoattic amphora with Gorgons and Perseus
Details of beheaded Medousa and her Gorgon sisters from pp. 324, 325, 326 and 327, Kalliopi Papaggeli, Eleusis: The Archaeological Site and the Museum (2002)
♦ Athens, National Museum 1002: Attic black-figure neck-amphora with Gorgons
Antike Denkmaeler vol. 1, 1891, pl. 57
Beazley Archive Pottery Database
♦ Paris, Louvre E874: Attic black-figure dinos with Gorgons and Perseus
Wikimedia photo of dinos and stand
Perseus Art & Archaeology Artifact Browser
Beazley Archive Pottery Database
Classical Art Research Centre: Greek vases 800-300 BC: key pieces
♦ Samos, Vathy Museum E 1: ivory relief with Perseus and Medousa
Illustration p. 155 from Konstantinos Tsakos and Maria Viglaki-Sofianou, Samos: The Archaeological Museums (2012)
♦ Olympia Museum: bronze shield-band B 1687, form XIVc, with Medousa, Pegasos and Chrysaor
E. Kunze, Archaische Schildbänder, Olympische Forschungen 2 (1950), pl. 39, XIVc
♦ Kerkyra/Corfu Museum: west pediment from temple of Artemis with Medusa, Pegasus and Chrysaor
Reconstruction of center of pediment, from Pinterest
Casts at Museum of Classical Archaeology, University of Cambridge
♦ Palermo, Museo Nazionale 3920B: metope from Temple C, Selinous with Perseus, Medusa and Pegasos
Cast at Museum of Classical Archaeology, University of Cambridge
♦ Syracuse, Museo Archeologico: terracotta relief that may have been an antepagmentum (a relief masking the end of the central roof beam at top of a pediment) from a building at Gela; Medousa and Pegasos
S. Benton, “The Gorgon Plaque at Syracuse,” Papers of the British School at Rome 22 (1954), 132-137
♦ London, British Museum B380: Attic black-figure cup by C Painter with birth of Pegasos from Medousa’s neck
Cecil Smith, “Four Archaic Vases from Rhodes,” Journal of Hellenic Studies 5 (1884), details from pl. 43 showing collapsing and beheaded Medousa with Pegasos being born from her neck.
Beazley Archive Pottery Database
♦ Berlin, Antikensammlung F1753: Attic black-figure cup by C Painter with birth of Pegasos from Medousa’s neck
E. Gerhard, Griechische und etruskische Trinkschalen des Königlichen Museums zu Berlin (1840) pls. 2-3, showing collapsing and beheaded Medousa with Pegasos being born from her neck.
Beazley Archive Pottery Database
♦ New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 06.1070: Attic black-figure, white-ground lekythos by Diosphos Painter with Pegasos emerging from severed neck of dying Medousa
Artistic sources edited by Frances Van Keuren, Prof. Emerita, Lamar Dodd School of Art, Univ. of Georgia, October 2017
Literary sources edited by Elena Bianchelli, Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, University of Georgia, July 2020
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