Somewhere in Greece, a cursed creature remained hidden, among all the monsters that inhabited the nightmares of the Hellenic, this creature was surely one of the most feared. Many brave heroes dared to hunt this creature, but none was ever able to return. It was said and believed that this creature was so hideous that no-one could face it, and this hideous creature's name was called Medusa, However Medusa wasn't always like that, she had once been one of the most beautiful women to walk the face of the earth. She was born from the union of 2 primordial sea deities known as Phorcys and Ceto (s:i:t:o), and Medusa came into the world as a normal child.
Medusa had 2 sisters called Stheno and Euryale and they were gorgons-creatures with the combination of female and serpentine traits. From her childhood, Medusa was devoted to the goddess Athena and so whenever she would play with her sisters, she always pretended to be the goddess Athena while her sisters loved playing as the villains and so together with the girls, Medusa also played with a boy called Iphicles who was Medusa's best friend and the 2 of them were inseparable. As Medusa grew, she became even more beautiful every day and so Medusa's charms made the young Iphicles an easy target for Eros-the god of love, and because he was in love, Iphicles declared his love for Medusa, and although the young lady deeply loved the boy, she had the dream of becoming a priestess of Athena and so she would not allow herself cave into the temptation of love.
When Medusa had reached the appropriate age, the young woman then started her preparation to become a priestess of Athena, and as an apprentice at the temple one needed to have pristine conduct and discipline as all their acts could be reflected in the goddess's reputation. One of the major requirements for becoming a priestess of Athena, was absolute purity as they were to mirror themselves to be just like the goddess Athena, therefore the young women were required to remain virgins just like the goddess who never surrendered to the influence of Eros (Cupid) and Aphrodite.
Medusa became a perfect priestess and maybe even a little bit too perfect and so the rituals that were conducted by Medusa kept on attracting more followers as the people were delighted with the way that beautiful young woman conducted each of her activities. Medusa had beautiful fluttering hair and with her movements, those who stared at her were mesmerized. An ignorant man dared to say that Medusa's hair was more beautiful than Athena's and so the goddess all the way from the top of Mount Olympus noticed a commotion in one of her temples and then she realized that many of the people who were there were not there to worship her, but rather to see the charming priestess.
Athena resisted the temptation to do anything against those who shifted their attention from her to Medusa for the goddess knew that although this was wrong, the young priestess was not to blame Afterall she was only doing her work as a priestess in the best way she could. Meanwhile, at Mount Olympus, Poseidon noticed the goddess's restlessness, the sea god and Athena had a major rivalry for they had disputed the right to be the city's patron god which was the capital of the Attica region and the goddess was the winner of this dispute, as all the women had voted for her and all the men for Poseidon but alas there were more women than there were men and so in honor of their new protecting goddess, the city changed its name to Athens, but Poseidon did not accept defeat well and so he was waiting for the right moment to strike and take revenge on the goddess.
Poseidon noticed that Athena was focused on her most beautiful and gracious priestess and so he devised and decided that this beautiful young woman could be an instrument of his revenge. Poseidon plotted to tarnish Athena's reputation by striking her most unblemished follower and in the meantime, medusa kept carrying on her normal life unaware of the fact that she was being watched by the Olympic gods. Medusa walked by the sea, and lurking in the waters, concealed by the waves was the god of the seas who was following her. She heard someone say her name and the call came from the ocean and then Poseidon emerged from the waters in all his astonishing glory and then the god used his charm to seduce Athena's priestess but Medusa although she was stunned by all his godly splendor, did not succumb as she remembered her vows as a priestess of Athena and so she rejected Poseidon's advance, but Poseidon did not accept the rejection and forcefully grabbed Medusa's arm.
Medusa unconscious and unexpectedly reacted and hit the god of the seas Poseidon, violently in the face and this managed to get rid of the god and then Medusa ran to Athena's temple, the only place where she felt safe, but Poseidon consumed by Lust went after the young woman. Poseidon was almost reaching her when the brave Iphicles stood between the god and Medusa but despite his bravery, Iphicles represented no obstacle to the god who with one blow blasted the young man away and he lost consciousness, but due to this short diversion, Medusa was able to make it to the temple of Athena, she stepped inside and knelt down before the statue of her goddess and she asked for protection when she heard the heavy footsteps of the god of the seas approaching.
The god approached the cornered young woman who cried out for help, Poseidon had his way with her on the goddess's alter by force and then the god happily left the temple as his revenge had gone better than planned, not only had he corrupted the best priestess of Athena, but he also degraded her beloved temple which the goddess deeply treasured for its purity. Medusa felt ashamed and filthy when the goddess Athena took the form of her statue and furiously blamed the priestess.
Athena accused her saying that if it had not been for her flamboyant presence which diverted men from the path of virtue and purity and for her vanity which made her irresistible, none of that would have happened and her temple would have remained immaculate and her honor as a goddess would not have been diminished and so Athena decided to punish the priestess who was now impure and guilty for the dishonoring of the temple in which she was to care for. Nighttime arrived and Iphicles had regained consciousness after the strong blow he had received earlier, he then began to search for Medusa, he could hear her cry in the temple of Athena.
Upon arriving at the temple, he could see the silhouette of Medusa sitting on the ground crying in pitch black darkness. Medusa asked him not to come near because she did not want to be seen like that, but the concerned Iphicles nevertheless approached Medusa offering words of comfort but when he touched the young woman's shoulder, a serpent bit his hand, Medusa frightenly turned towards him and the 2 of them locked eyes and the young Iphicles instantly became a stone statue.
In despair Medusa wept, embracing the statue of her best friend and so as not to hurt anyone else, she ran away but during her escape she was sighted by some residents of the city and those who looked into her eyes became petrified (turned to stone) and so the news spread as people told each other about that horrible snake haired creature and a group was assembled to hunt the creature but these men were found later, completely petrified and with terrified looks on their faces. Medusa had no intention of hurting anyone, she simply wanted to defend herself from the unfair aggression from those who came after her.
Medusa decided to hide in a region that had been abandoned by its inhabitants for centuries and there she found an ancient temple which was in ruins and so she turned it into her hiding spot. Many warriors attempted to capture the gorgon in order to attain glory, but none ever returned.
Isolated and alone Medusa kept losing her humanity and her reputation as a terrible monster became legendary. Medusa survived by hunting small animals and rodents and one of her preys led to an unexpected reunion, Medusa encountered an ancient bust (a sculpture of a person's head, shoulders, and chest.) which represented the goddess Athena and she realized that those ruins in which she now inhabited had once being one of the first temples to give shelter to the goddess and this discovery revived her old habits and Medusa started to care for the temple and she continued to exalt the glory of the goddess; the dilettante daughter of Zeus-the supreme god of Olympus, and although she lived a miserable existence, the young woman still showed her nobility and loyalty to the goddess.
In her heavenly residence in Olympus, the goddess did not fail to notice the honorable acts of her former priestess and so she realized that Medusa's actions were not done out of vanity since no-one could witness the acts she did in the ruined temple and so she felt sorry for having enforced such a cruel and irreversible punishment on the young girl. While Medusa was conducting one of her many rituals, Medusa heard the steps of another invader and Medusa's bestiality re-emerged as she prepared to face another opponent.
The daring warrior walked cautiously in the creature's abode, while Medusa prepared the ambush, sneaking close to the warrior, she was stunned when noticing that he was carrying Athena's shield, The sacred Aegis (the name of the shield) that had once belonged to Zeus. Athena's shield was so polished that it reflected like a mirror and due to this reflection, the warrior realized that the monster was behind him and with a sharp clean blow the warrior severed medusa's head from her body.
Medusa was dead and her blood kept dripping to the ground, the warrior who had been anonymous at that point would later go down in history under the name of Perseus. After completing his labors (like the 12 labors of Hercules), Perseus returned Athena's Aegis back to her and also gave her Medusa's head. What few knew was that Medusa carried Poseidon's divine seed and so from her blood Chrysaor (the warrior of the golden sword, a giant) was born and not only him but another beautiful creature; a winged horse also emerged. The majestic Pegasus was the purest of all creatures, embodying all the original purity that had been stolen from his mother.
Many people believe that the help provided to Perseus by Athena when she gave him her precious shield was another act of retaliation against Medusa but in actuality, she only wished to free the young girl from that dreadful existence which had been unjustly imposed upon her and so Athena glorified Medusa by adding the gorgon's head to her shield and so the image of the loyal priestess was now eternalized beside the goddess that she loved so much.