Monstrous Females & Female Monsters

Medusa, originally a beautiful young woman whose crowning glory was her magnificent long hair, was desired and courted by many suitors. Yet before she could be betrothed to a husband, Poseidon (Neptune) found her worshipping in the temple of Athena (Minerva) and ravished her. Athena was outraged at her sacred temple being violated, and punished Medusa by turning her beautiful tresses into snakes and giving her the destructive power to turn anyone who looked directly at her into stone.

In both Greek and Roman mythology, Perseus, attempting to rescue his mother Danae from the coercive King Polydectes, needed to embark on the dangerous venture of retrieving Medusa's head. With the help of Athena and Hermes - magic winged sandals, a cap, a pouch and a mirror-like shield, he fought her and beheaded her by viewing her image in the mirror of his shield rather than looking at her directly. From her decapitated head sprang the winged horse Pegasus and the giant Chrysaor, who became king of Iberia. Medusa's sisters, the Gorgons, chased after him, but were unable to catch him because his magic cap made him invisible.

Perseus was then able to use Medusa's head as a weapon during other battles (which included rescuing Andromeda), but he eventually returned it to Athena, who then placed it at the center of her Aegis as a symbol of her power, and her own capacity to turn her enemies into stone.

Historically, before ancient Greece, Medusa was worshipped by the Libyan Amazons as a Serpent -Goddess, and associated with the destroyer aspect Anath (also known as Athene) of the Triple Goddess in North Africa and Crete.

http://www.webwinds.com/thalassa/medusa.htm

The Amazons

Amazons were said to have lived in Pontus, which is part of modern day Turkey near the shore of the Black Sea. There they formed an independent kingdom under the government of a queen named Hippolyta. Herodotus called them Androktones ("killers of men).

In some versions of the myth, no men were permitted to have sexual encounters or reside in Amazon country; but once a year, in order to prevent their race from dying out, they visited the Gargareans, a neighbouring tribe. The male children who were the result of these visits were either killed, sent back to their fathers or exposed in the wilderness to fend for themselves; the females were kept and brought up by their mothers, and trained in agricultural pursuits, hunting, and the art of war. In other versions when the Amazons went to war they would not kill all the men. Some they would take as slaves, and once or twice a year they would have sex with their slaves.

In the Iliad, the Amazons were referred to as Antianeirai (those who fight like men")."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazons

SCYLLA

SCYLLA was a monstrous sea goddess who haunted the rocks of certain narrow strait opposite the whirlpool daemon Kharybdis. Ships who sailed too close to her rocks would lose six men to her ravenous, darting heads. Homer describes Scylla as a creature with twelve dangling feet, six long necks and grisly heads lined with a triple row of sharp teeth. Her voice was likened to the yelping of dogs. This description of Scylla is probably derived from the imagery of words associated with her name : namely, "hermit-crab" (Greek skyllaros), "dog" and "dog-shark" (skylax), and "to rend" (skyllô). In classical art she was depicted as a fish-tailed sea-goddess with a cluster of canine fore-parts surrounding her waist.

Late classical writers say that she was once a beautiful nymph who was loved by the sea-god Glaukos. She has a jealous rival in the witch Circe who used her magics to transform Scylla into a monster. The old poets, however, imagined Scylla as a creature who was born monstrous.

http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Skylla.html

Circe

Circe is the witch living in the island of Aeaea, who was visited by the crew of heroes called the Argonauts and the Trojan War hero Odysseus. Circe was a powerful witch who, with the help of herbs, muttering incantations, or praying to her gods, could turn men into animals or create unsubstantial images of beasts. She was able to darken the heavens by hiding the moon or the sun behind clouds, and destroy her enemies with poisonous juices, calling to her aid Nyx (Night), Chaos or Hecate, goddess of the crossroads. In her presence and because of her enchantments the woods could move, the ground rumble and the trees around her turn white.

But as witchcraft may make a victim also of him or her who practices it, the nights of Circe could be wasted in fear because of the uncontrolled visions which filled her house. And so, for example, the walls and chambers of her palace could seem to be bathing in blood, while fire could seem to devour her magic herbs. That is why it was a relief for her when daylight came and she could bathe and clean her garments forgetting the scaring nightly visions.

If these were visions, those who came to her abode could hallucinate as much as she did, and if not, her world was in fact transformed. For Circe is said to have been surrounded by all kinds of beasts which cannot be seen elsewhere, having an appearance which reminds of what earth produced out of primeval slime. And yet, when others came to the palace of Circe, they also saw many beasts, but of the regular kind, that is, such as lions, bears and wolves, which however, acted as domesticated animals showing their kindness by wagging their tails. Some say these were actually the drugged victims of Circe.

http://thanasis.com/circe.htm

The Furies

The Furies are perhaps the most terrifying spectres of the ancient world. They are three sisters whose purpose in the world is purely vengeance. They were called the Dirae, the Furies, by the Ancient Greeks. They were called the Erinyes. But they were also called the Eumenides which means "The Kindly Ones."

The picture is of Orestes. His mother killed his father, Agamemnon, famous for the Trojan war and immortalized in the Iliad. Orestes was honor bound to avenge the death of his father, and so struck down his own mother, Clytemnestra. The picture shows the body of his mother falling as Orestes flees with the goddesses pursuing him with their full wrath.

The Kindly Ones are not to be taken lightly. Once they have been summoned they can not be put back down. Fortunately, they will only avenge specific crimes. And even more fortunately, they only answer requests for vengeance which are performed according to the old traditions and which have validity. Of course the risk you take is this: if you call on them falsely, you might find them torturing you. The more honest you are in the act of sumoning them, the more kindly they treat you. It is important to remember they will not stop just because the summoner changes their mind. They only stop when THEY are satisfied that justice has been done.

"Not even the sun will transgress his orbit but the Erinyes, the ministers of justice, overtake him."

They are first and foremost the protector of women, and will ruthlessly avenge the crimes of rape and murder commited against women. However, they will avenge the same crimes committed against gay men, who in many instances suffer these crimes in the same way women do. They avenge all crimes committed against family. When a father molests his child, the Furies can be called to punish him. If a man rapes his wife, they will get him. If a mother kills her own children, they will be there.

Tisiphone is the "blood avenger," the punisher of murder and crimes against family. Alecto's name means "unceasing anger." Megaera is called the "jealous one," is especially peeved about adultery.

Once they have been summoned they will persecute their victim until they either commit suicide or go insane. They do not let up, and they do not go home. They are the ultimate court, and the ultimate punishers. People persecuted by the Furies often lost everything, and would be so tormented in their dreams that they would dread to go to sleep for fear of the pain and suffering that awaited them. They could bring sickness, madness, and even physical torture to their victims.

http://www.furies.net/

Monstrous Females & Female Monsters

Medusa - Bernini

The Amazons

The Amazons

Medea About to Murder her Children

Scylla

SCYLLA

Slavko Vorkapich "The Furies" 1934