Sister, Survivor, Saviour, the Gorgon Medusa

Season 4 // Episode 220

This episode originally aired on January 5, 2021. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbaby

Medusa is never just one thing: her history, variations on her story, interpretations... There's a whole wide world of Medusa and this episode attempts to touch upon just a fraction of ancient sources and versions. Monster? Beautiful woman? Survivor? Mother? One of three mortal queens? Medusa is everything. Find the thread of relevant Medusa tweets and responses to them here. Liv has also discussed Medusa on the The Partial Historians podcast, listen here, and Next Door Villain, listen here.

CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.

Sources: Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Allen Mandelbaum, Theoi.com, The Medusa Reader edited by Marjorie Garber and Nancy J. Vickers.

Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.