The
story behind the stats and photos...
The most
Beautiful women always have others who hate them.
Medusa was
such a woman. Way back when, the time eludes me, women were #1.
Actually they were behind Gods and Goddesses but above mortal men.
Athena was
it..! She was a Goddess and Medusa was just a regular women (sources
differ little about this).
One day
that all changed. The most beautiful woman appeared. Her name was
Medusa, Ruler of North Africa or maybe Northeast Africa, somewhere around
there. Her skin was radiant and the sun shone down upon her while the wind
advertised her beautiful reddish-brown hair.
Athena,
always number one on the marquee, suddenly became second fiddle. Men
wanted Medusa, a mere mortal over a Goddess! Jealousy soon followed.
All the
while, Poseidon, a friend of Medusa, was trying to seduce Medusa to no
avail. One day Poseidon, King of the Seas, decided that he had had
enough. He thought he had invested enough time into the relationship and
he figured he could have her. Medusa was only a friend and would have none
of that, but Poseidon raped her anyway.
Not only
was the deed horrendous, it took place in the Temple of Athena.
Athena
finally had her revenge and turned Medusa's hair, her best attribute, into a
wreath of snakes. She wanted everyone to hate Medusa and placed the curse
"To all men who look upon you, turn to stone".
This curse
was going well, Athena thought. Medusa could never have another man.
But to Medusa this was bliss. Remember she was raped by Poseidon, so
this curse was a blessing to Medusa. She wanted to hate men and hate
men she did.
Anyway,
men started to disappear. The rumor was that Medusa was so beautiful
that men would never leave her side. Actually, men were turning to
stone. This fact never came back so men continued to lust after Medusa
even only just to glance upon her beauty. Hundreds of men became
statuettes outside her home, a cave.
Athena's
plan wasn't working, she was losing men, so she decided to have her
killed. She hired a man named Perseus to cut off her head to prove to
everyone that she was a mortal. This jealous deed soon would move women
back into 2nd place behind men. So that is the story.
The hero
Perseus, with the help of the deities Hermes and Athena, sought Medusa and found
her home. He also saw all the stone figures of men outside her cave.
He had taken a shield to do battle with Medusa. He had heard a rumor that
whoever gazed upon Medusa would turn to stone so he decided to use the shield as
a mirror since he witnessed all the stone figures. One night he
crept up on her while she slept and cut off her head using the reflection in the
shield to aim the sword.
The story
continues, but that is for another time.
One other
thing, the winged horse Pegasus sprang from her dead body. Son of
Poseidon, you know, the one who robbed Medusa of her virginity by raping
her. Who knows, maybe the next coaster project will be called Pegasus.
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