Selome Hailu SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium,” Episode 3 of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.” For fans of Rick Riordan‘s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” books, Medusa represents one of Percy’s first big victories: After being tricked into spending time with “Aunty Em,” he beheads the snake-haired woman, and her cursed, dead eyeballs are later used to turn another enemy into stone.
But for those with a deeper knowledge of Greek mythology, and for many women, Medusa is a symbol of something darker. In the original myth, Medusa is a human woman who takes a vow of celibacy out of devotion to Athena, the goddess of wisdom.
However, Medusa eventually enters a relationship with sea god Poseidon that becomes sexual one night. Many interpretations posit that the encounter, which took place in Athena’s temple, was nonconsensual, and that Poseidon raped Medusa.
Athena decides to punish Medusa, robbing her of her beauty by turning her into a gorgon that petrifies anyone she makes eye contact with.
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