Just back from Florence, following in your footsteps. I did loved the painting by artemisia Gentileschi in the same room as Medusa at the uffizi. She is a legend.
Such a wonderful and fun article to read, thank you! Also, pleaseeee write a Medusa & feminism post. It is constantly used in mainstream media but I'm sure many people, including me sadly, don't have much knowledge on that topic other than some basic things.
Ovid's version of everything was politically warped. I don't understand using any of it beyond socio-political history, and his version of Medusa is a prime example.
I know you know this, so I have to ask why you would use it? To me, it's like using the Disney version of Cinderella to interpret what the original was supposed to convey. They're just not the same story at all.
i actually didn't know this - very interesting. i'm just here to retell the myths in a fun way to make them potentially more accessible to people. my whole brand is that i dropped out of a classics MA because I couldn't hack it, so i'm not trying to know the socio-political agenda of Ovid's version of Medusa. thanks for the context though !
Aaaahhh, this makes much more sense. I'm by no means an expert, so you might find it interesting to go down that rabbit hole and learn more than what I can relate.
There's probably more than one theory on why he twisted the ancient myths, but the one that I'm familiar with is that Ovid was, rightly or wrongly, disenthralled with leadership, so he rewrote the ancient myths to portray the gods as incredibly (insert negative attributes).
Hence the rape of Medusa.
Followed by Athena, *the goddess of wisdom*, subsequently cursing her!?
Absolutely the worst thing the virgin goddess of Wisdom could possibly do.
If you want ppl to question the wisdom of authority figures, not much of a better story than that!
Would love the Medusa as a icon / muse for sexual assault survivors!
I don't roll on the floor often after spitting the coffee all over my Babylonian rug, but this post was the exception.
oh, i hope your rug is okay😭🤣thanks for reading !!
Thank you! 🎩🤗
Delightful read!
Just back from Florence, following in your footsteps. I did loved the painting by artemisia Gentileschi in the same room as Medusa at the uffizi. She is a legend.
Excellent essay!
thank you !!
Loved this article and the Alice Barney painting is amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Such a wonderful and fun article to read, thank you! Also, pleaseeee write a Medusa & feminism post. It is constantly used in mainstream media but I'm sure many people, including me sadly, don't have much knowledge on that topic other than some basic things.
oo yes this is something i’d definitely be up for doing !! 💗
I vote for another Medusa post! I like your analogy of Michael Scott to Perseus.
haha thank you, it seemed so spot on🤣
Love her. There is so much more to the "monsters" from ancient myth than meets the eye. ❤️🔥
Please keep writing about her! I want to know all the things
this is wonderful
Love this! Medusa is fascinating.
Ovid's version of everything was politically warped. I don't understand using any of it beyond socio-political history, and his version of Medusa is a prime example.
I know you know this, so I have to ask why you would use it? To me, it's like using the Disney version of Cinderella to interpret what the original was supposed to convey. They're just not the same story at all.
i actually didn't know this - very interesting. i'm just here to retell the myths in a fun way to make them potentially more accessible to people. my whole brand is that i dropped out of a classics MA because I couldn't hack it, so i'm not trying to know the socio-political agenda of Ovid's version of Medusa. thanks for the context though !
Aaaahhh, this makes much more sense. I'm by no means an expert, so you might find it interesting to go down that rabbit hole and learn more than what I can relate.
There's probably more than one theory on why he twisted the ancient myths, but the one that I'm familiar with is that Ovid was, rightly or wrongly, disenthralled with leadership, so he rewrote the ancient myths to portray the gods as incredibly (insert negative attributes).
Hence the rape of Medusa.
Followed by Athena, *the goddess of wisdom*, subsequently cursing her!?
Absolutely the worst thing the virgin goddess of Wisdom could possibly do.
If you want ppl to question the wisdom of authority figures, not much of a better story than that!
If I'm not mistaken, Hesiod doesn't even have a real "Medusa story" as such.
She's a Gorgon, and like many, was born as a monster.
She had sex with Poseidon, but I don't think she was raped. Memory is foggy there...
Anywho, like I said, might be interesting to go down that rabbit hole.
Although it's hard to find good source literature on the interwebs. Mostly just commentary or commentary on commentary...
‘commentary on commentary on commentary’ is a great description of myths in general ! i love unpicking it all