Medusa "snake tail with top" Statue

In Greek mythology, Medusa (guardian, protectress) was a gorgon, a chthonic female monster, and a daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. Only Hyginus, interposes a generation and gives another chthonic pair as parents of Medusa gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone. She was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head as a weapon until he gave it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield. In classical antiquity the image of the head of Medusa appeared in the evil-averting device known as the Gorgoneion. She also has two gorgon sisters.