Medusa's Head

Gorgon in a terracota relief (625-600 BC)
Museum of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy

In Greek mythology Medusa was a Gorgon, namely a chthonic and horrible female monster, and if anyone gazed directly upon her face he would turn to stone immediately. She was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head as a weapon for turning to stone his enemies, until he gave it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield.

In classical antiquity the image of the head of Medusa appeared in the evil-averting device known as the Gorgoneion. Many ancient reliefs, poteries and jewellries depict fullsize Gorgones or Medusa's heads and some Renaissance and after painters have painted quite creepy and horrifying Medusa's heads.

Michelangelo Caravaggio (1592-1600)

Peter Paul Rubens (1617-1618)

Anonymous Flemmish painter (1600)

Arnold Böcklin (1878)

Franz von Stuck (1892)

Jacek Malczewski (1900)