Medusa

Who was Medusa before the invading sea god supposedly defiled her? According to Marija Gimbutas, she dates at least as far back as 6000 BCE, based on a mask found at Sesklo. More recently, Medusa appears on the pediment of Artemis's Temple at Corfu, built around 580 BCE. On the pediment, Medusa is flanked by leopards. Large cats, like those associated with Artemis of Ephesus, the Great Mother Goddess of Anatolia, are sometimes considered to be guardians between worlds.

Medusa's snakes are a symbol of rebirth.

I've read that she may be a chthonic aspect of Artemis, much like Ereshkiga l was the underworld aspect of Inanna.

Medusa original painting available through Saatchi Art. Prints, stickers, and other merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America.

Pediment from Artemis's Temple at Corfu (source)

Or perhaps Medusa was a Moon Goddess. Robert Graves in The Greek Myths writes, "The Gorgons' names--Stheino ('strong'), Euryale ('wide roaming'), and Medusa ('cunning one')--are titles of the Moon-goddess; the Orphics called the moon's face 'the Gorgon's head'.

"Poseidon's fathering of Pegasus on Medusa recalls his fathering of the horse Arion on Demeter..; both myths describe how Poseidon's Hellenes forcibly married the Moon-priestesses, disregarding their Gorgon masks, and took over the rain-making rites of the sacred horse cult."

Medusa was clearly a powerful Goddess, remaining such a prominent mythological figure despite millennia of slander.

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Echoing Multiverse

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