Ethan Sadykhov, Period 1, 10/19/23

Modern Mythology 2024
Topic: Literacy and Learning

I personally have always been interested in the ideas and concepts of mythology. It has always been very interesting to me. Just the idea of these gods and different monsters with their different roles and abilities has always been cool and interesting. The only difference between now and then is the depth of the mythology I am looking at and how everything has its own meaning or purpose. Now I am realizing that the stories I read or saw when I was younger were very different from those I am reading now.

When I first read about Medusa I had no clue what or who she was. All I knew was that she was an evil monster with snakes for hair that turned people to stone with just her gaze. Later on I learned that she in fact used to be human. She was turned into what I later learned was, a gorgon. She was transformed by Athena the goddess of wisdom.

I actually first heard about Medusa through Percy Jackson and the Olympians(first movie). In the movie she is portrayed as a beautiful woman who was turned into a gorgon by Athena because of her jealousy. Athena was jealous that Poseidon(god of the seas) was infatuated with Medusa. So she turned her into a gorgon where no one can admire her beauty.

However, after going deeper into Medusa’s story in class I learned a very shocking truth. Medusa was actually a priestess of Athena's temple. One day she was violated by Poseidon. As she begged for help from her goddess Athena, the goddess turned a blind eye. After the incident Athena cursed her so that no man could ever look at her beauty again.

This new information I learned can be viewed in many different ways. One view is that Athena was jealous and angry so she cursed Medusa. However, some say Athena was actually helping Medusa as this curse protected her from the same situation.

This new knowledge of Medusa teaches that there are multiple perspectives to any given situation. Whether it be a book, a movie, history, or something on the news. This allows me to learn how to see things from different perspectives enlarging my knowledge of different topics.