Gorgons in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Gorgons

23 passages from 9 ancient authors that tell of Gorgons, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. The Gorgons were three monsters in Greek mythology, daughters of Echidna and Typhon, the mother and father of all monsters respectively. Their names w... For the story in one place, read our article on Gorgons.

Hesiod (2)

Hesiod, Shield of Heracles 150–239The shield of Heracles: war, Lapiths and Centaurs, the harbour, Perseus (150-239)The shield's decoration continues with Pursuit, Flight, Tumult and Panic, deadly Fate dragging a dead man, twelve snake heads, and boars and lions glaring at one another. Other scenes show the Lapiths fighting the Centaurs, Ares in his golden chariot with Athena, the gods on Olympus where Apollo plays the lyre and the Muses sing, and a harbour with dolphins and a fisherman. Perseus, wearing the cap of Hades and carrying the Gorgon's head, flies above the shield while the Gorgons pursue him, and beyond him men fight for and against a town.
Hesiod, Theogony 265–304Iris, the Harpies, the Graiai, Gorgons and Echidna (265-304)Thaumas and Electra have Iris and the Harpies, and Phorcys and Ceto have the Graiai and the Gorgons. Poseidon lies with Medusa, and when Perseus cuts off her head Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus spring forth; Chrysaor has the three-headed Geryon, whom Heracles kills. The section ends with Echidna, the monstrous child of Ceto and Phorcys, half nymph and half huge snake, who lives in a cave in Arima.

Apollodorus (1)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 2.4.1–5Perseus: Danae, Medusa and AndromedaAn oracle tells Acrisius that his daughter's son will kill him, so he shuts Danae in a brazen chamber, but she bears Perseus to Zeus and is cast into the sea with him in a chest. On Seriphus, Polydectes sends Perseus to fetch the Gorgon's head; with help from Hermes and Athena he gets the nymphs' gear from the Phorcides and beheads Medusa, from whom Pegasus and Chrysaor spring. He rescues Andromeda from a sea monster, turns Polydectes to stone, and accidentally kills Acrisius with a discus at Larissa, so fulfilling the oracle. The section ends with Perseus's descendants and the birth of Eurystheus.

Pindar (2)

Pindar, Pythian Odes 10.1–72Pythian 10: for Hippocleas — Perseus and the HyperboreansPindar praises Thessaly and the Aleuadae and Hippocleas, victor in the boys' double foot-race, and prays that his house may prosper. He tells how Perseus, favoured by Athena, feasted among the Hyperboreans, killed the Gorgon Medusa and turned the islanders of Seriphus to stone. He ends by praising Thorax of Larissa and by saying that men cannot climb to heaven but may reach the furthest limit allowed them.
Pindar, Pythian Odes 12.1–32Pythian 12: for Midas — Perseus, Medusa and the flutePindar praises Acragas and Midas, flute-player and Pythian victor, and tells how Perseus cut off the head of Medusa and blinded the brood of Phorcus, freeing his mother from Polydectes. He says that Athena made the many-voiced music of the flute to echo the lament of the Gorgons, and gave it to mortals for their contests. The ode ends with the reflection that without toil there is no success, and that fortune is unforeseen.

Aeschylus (3)

Aeschylus, Libation Bearers 1021–1076Exodos (2): Orestes sees the FuriesOrestes says that he is not sure how it will end, and declares that he will go to the shrine of Loxias and the bright fire said to be imperishable, as a suppliant. He suddenly sees women like Gorgons, dressed in black and with snakes in their hair, whom only he can see, and runs out in madness. The Chorus ask where the storm of the house will end.
Aeschylus, Eumenides 1–93Prologue: the Priestess at Delphi and Apollo's promiseThe Priestess of Apollo at Delphi prays to the gods who held the oracle before Apollo and then goes in to the shrine. She comes out terrified, having seen a man at the altar with bloody hands and sword, surrounded by sleeping women with snakes in their hair. Apollo tells Orestes that he will not abandon him, tells him that the Furies are asleep, and sends him to the city of Athena with Hermes as his escort.
Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 786–876Second episode (cont.): the wanderings of Io (2) and her descendantsPrometheus goes on to tell Io of the rest of her way: across to Asia, to the Gorgons and the daughters of Phorcys, and then to the Nile, where Zeus will restore her to her senses and she will bear Epaphus. He foretells that the fifty daughters of one of her descendants will come back to Argos and that all but one will kill their husbands. From the one who spares her husband will come a bold archer who will free Prometheus.

Euripides (3)

Euripides, Ion 987–1047Third episode: Creusa plans to poison Ion with Gorgon's bloodCreusa tells of the war of the earth-born, of how Athena slew the Gorgon and wears its skin on her aegis, and of how Athena gave Erichthonius two drops of the monster's blood, one that kills and one that heals. She says that she wears the poisonous drop in a golden bracelet, and that it is to be put in the cup of the boy at the feast, in Delphi rather than Athens. She gives the bracelet to the Old Servant, who goes to do the deed.
Euripides, Ion 1395–1438Exodos: Creusa and Ion recognize each otherCreusa sees the ark in which she exposed the child, and leaves the altar even though death awaits her. Ion tells his men to seize her as mad, but she says that she knows the ark and its contents, and names the tokens before he opens it. She describes the robe that she wove with a Gorgon in its centre, the golden serpents and the olive-wreath from Athena's tree, and Ion embraces her as his mother.
Euripides, Orestes 1503–1548Eighth episode: Orestes questions the Phrygian and spares himOrestes comes out with a sword in his hand and asks the Phrygian whether Helen died justly, and the slave is terrified. Orestes spares him and tells him to go in, and says that he will wait for Menelaus, who will see two corpses, his daughter's as well as his wife's. The Chorus sees smoke over the palace.

Aristophanes (2)

Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 1001–1135Episode: Andromeda and EchoBound to the plank, Mnesilochus plays the chained Andromeda and sings a lament, and Euripides answers from hiding in the part of Echo, repeating his words until the Scythian archer is baffled. Euripides then enters as Perseus to rescue the captive, but the Scythian refuses to let him loosen the prisoner and threatens him with a sword, and Euripides leaves.
Aristophanes, Frogs 464–502Episode: Aeacus takes Dionysus for Heracles; the change of clothesAeacus takes Dionysus in his lion's skin for Heracles, who stole Cerberus, and threatens him with the hell-hounds, the Asp, the Lamprey and the Gorgons. Dionysus faints and asks for a sponge for his heart, and then proposes that they change clothes so that Xanthias takes the club and lion's skin. A maid then welcomes the supposed Heracles.

Ovid (2)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.663–801Perseus and AndromedaPerseus sees Andromeda, chained to a rock to be devoured by a sea-monster because her mother Cassiope boasted of her beauty. He strikes the monster from the air with his sword, kills it, and wins Andromeda, and her parents agree to the marriage. He lays the Gorgon's head on a bed of seaweed, which turns to coral, and sets up altars to Athena (Minerva), Hermes (Mercury) and Zeus (Jupiter). At the wedding feast he tells how Medusa won her serpent hair.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.149–249Phineus turned to stonePerseus, outnumbered, calls to his friends to avert their eyes, and shows the Gorgon's head to one after another of his enemies, and each is turned to stone in whatever attitude he was in. Phineus, seeing his friends become statues, begs for mercy and turns away, but is changed to stone himself. Perseus then goes to Seriphos and turns King Polydectes, who had mocked him, to stone.

Pausanias (3)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.21.1–10Argos: the market-place, the death of Pyrrhus and the head of MedusaIn and around the Argive market-place Pausanias notes the tomb of Cerdo, a temple of Asclepius, the tomb of Hypermnestra, the sanctuary of Trumpet Athena and the grave of Epimenides. He describes the marble building where Pyrrhus was cremated, the mound said to hold the Gorgon’s head with two rationalising accounts of Medusa, and the grave of Gorgophone. He ends with the stone trophy over the tyrant Laphaes and the sanctuary of Latona with the story of Chloris.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.21.1–7Athens: poets’ statues in the theatre, Niobe and the sanctuary of AsclepiusIn the theatre are statues of tragic and comic poets, with stories of Sophocles’ honours and Aeschylus’ vocation from Dionysus. Above it are the Gorgon’s head on the Acropolis wall and a cave with a tripod showing Niobe’s children being shot, which Pausanias compares with the rock Niobe on Mount Sipylus. He mentions the grave of Calos, the sanctuary of Asclepius, and a Sarmatian horse-hoof corselet, which leads to a digression on Sarmatian arms and linen corselets.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.18.1–8Olympia: the Chest of Cypselus, second and third fieldsPausanias describes the second field of the chest, with Night nursing Death and Sleep, Justice and Injustice, Idas and Marpessa, Alcmena, Menelaus and Helen, Medea, the Muses, Atlas and Hercules, and Perseus pursued by the Gorgons. The third field shows armies meeting, which he reads as the migration of Melas to Corinth.

Nonnus of Panopolis (5)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 25.0–79Book 25: The poet's invocation; Dionysos set beside PerseusThe poet invokes the Muse and Thebes, announcing that he will sing only the last year of the war, and says he will measure the valour of Dionysos against that of the sons of Zeus. He begins with Perseus, who beheaded the Gorgon and then fled, and contrasts him with Dionysos, who defeated whole armies and fought the river.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 47.496–593Book 47: An Argive taunts Dionysos; Hera arms PerseusAn Argive mocks Dionysos, setting Perseus the Gorgon-slayer against him and urging him to go back to Thebes. Hera, taking the shape of the seer Melampus, urges Perseus to defend Argos, and Argos's heroes muster. Dionysos arms his Bacchants and Satyrs and protects himself with a gem against the Gorgon's gaze.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 25.80–193Book 25: The feats of Perseus and Minos set against those of DionysosThe poet continues the comparison with Perseus, setting his sea-monster, Polydectes and Andromeda against Dionysos' defeat of the Giants. He contrasts Minos' conquest of Megara, won through Scylla's love, with a victory won by hard fighting, and turns to Heracles, whose Nemean lion was matched by the boy Dionysos with his team of lions.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 44.253–318Book 44: The Furies and Dionysos drive the Theban women to the mountainPersephone sends a Fury who sprinkles water of Styx and Cocytos over Agaue's rooms and buries the knife of Procne under a fir tree on Cithaeron, smearing it with Gorgon's blood. Dionysos, wearing a bull's head, enters the palace and drives the women mad. He calls to Autonoe with a false tale that her son Actaeon lives and is the lover of Artemis, urging her to run to the mountains.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 47.594–741Book 47: Dionysos fights Perseus; Hermes ends the war; Argos honours the godPerseus and Dionysos trade boasts and fight, and Hera fights unrecognised. Dionysos grows to touch the sky, but Perseus turns Ariadne to stone with the Gorgon's head. As Dionysos is about to sack Argos, Hermes restrains him, promises that Ariadne will be placed among the stars and reconciles the two sons of Zeus. Hera returns to Olympos and Melampus persuades the Argives to honour Dionysos with a festival.