What Does It Mean To Have A Medusa Tattoo?

What Does It Mean To Have A Medusa Tattoo
Is the Medusa tattoo offensive? – The Medusa tattoo is not regarded as offensive as it has now been adopted as an emblem of power for sexual assault survivors. Medusa is recognized as a victim rather than a villain, which gives the inkings of her a poignant meaning.

  1. It has become a symbol for combatting the culture of victim-blaming, as Medusa was a woman made into a monster for her own rape;
  2. One TikTok user explained: “That’s why a lot of people have this tattoo, because if they were, they are victims, it is like empowering yourself, taking back your power type of thing;

” Medusa is also considered as a mythological figure who has the ability to deter evil forces. Tattoo artist helps people hide stretch marks and burns with unique no ink method – and goes viral on TikTok.

What does having a Medusa tattoo mean?

10 November 2021, 13:52 | Updated: 10 November 2021, 15:20 Why are people getting Medusa tattoos on TikTok? One powerful interpretation of the figure’s story is behind the meaningful tattoos. If you’ve ever ended up on TattooTok during one of your 3-hour TikTok scrolling sessions, then you may have come across a lot of videos of people getting Medusa tattoos.

We all know the familiar myths and stories of Medusa: the Greek figure with snakes in her hair that could turn men to stone with just one look. There are many variations, retellings and evolutions of Medusa’s story that have been shared over the years, and there are several reasons as to why people get the tattoo.

But one particularly powerful reason appears to be doing the rounds, and it’s very popular on TikTok. READ MORE: What is ’97 percent’ on TikTok? The viral trend explained What do Medusa tattoos mean? The TikTok videos explained. Picture: Thiago Prudêncio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images, Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images People have been getting Medusa tattoos as a symbol of taking back their power and inverting the narrative of a female being punished or blamed after surviving sexual assault.

Per some writings of Greek and Roman mythology, Medusa was raped by Poseidon, then punished and cursed by Athena because of it. According to The Met , the most common interpretation of Medusa in Greek art sees her as an “apotropaic symbol used to protect from and ward off the negative”.

Medusa represents a “dangerous threat meant to deter other dangerous threats, an image of evil to repel evil. ” Others have interpreted Medusa’s image as a sign of strength, empowerment, determination and safety for women. People are now sharing their Medusa tattoos and their own personal meaning behind them on TikTok.

What does the Medusa symbol mean?

Medusa Facts – 1- Who were Medusa’s parents? Medusa’s parents were Phorcys and Keto, but sometimes identified as Forcis and Gaia. 2- Who were Medusa’s siblings? Stheno and Euryale (the other two Gorgon sisters) 3- How many children did Medusa have? Medusa had two children called Pegasus and Chrysaor  4- Who was the father of Medusa’s children? Poseidon, the god of the seas.

  1. She became pregnant when he raped her in Athena’s temple;
  2. 5- Who killed Medusa? Perseus the eventual founder of Mycenae and the Perseid dynasty;
  3. 6- What does Medusa symbolize? Medusa’s symbolism is open to interpretation;

Some popular theories include Medusa as a symbol of the powerlessness of women, evil, strength and a fighting spirit. She is also seen as a protective symbol due to her ability to destroy those against her. 7- What are Medusa’s symbols? Medusa’s symbols are her head of snakes and her deathly stare.

  1. 8- Why has Medusa’s head been depicted on logos and coins? Medusa represent power and the ability to destroy one’s enemies;
  2. She’s often viewed as a strong figure;
  3. Her head is viewed as a protective symbol and was even used by the French Revolution as a symbol of French liberation and freedom;

9- Did Medusa have wings? Some depictions show Medusa as having wings. Others show her as being very beautiful. There is no consistent depiction of Medusa, and her portrayal varies. 10- Was Medusa a goddess? No, she was a Gorgon, one of three hideous sisters.

Is it OK to get a Medusa tattoo?

There should be nothing offensive about getting a Medusa tattoo. She is a female monster from Ancient Greek mythology but is also seen as a victim. It is believed that she was cursed by the goddess Athena and that anyone who met her gaze turned to stone.

Is Medusa a symbol of feminism?

Trigger warning: mentions of sexual assault Any kid born in the early 2000’s has likely heard of the Percy Jackson series. A modern take on ancient Greek mythology, it sent a whole generation into a mythology frenzy — inhaling books and pretending to be half-bloods, picking which gods they wanted as parents.

  1. True to most tellings, the series portrayed Medusa — an obstacle the main character had to battle — as a heartless wench collecting unlucky statues with incredible force;
  2. She was cold, calculated, and terrifying;
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Now, the same generation has turned her into a feminist icon with a story too many can relate to; instead of being a symbol of fear, Medusa has become the symbol of justice for sexual assault victims.

What does a phoenix tattoo mean?

A phoenix symbolizes birth, death, and rebirth, as well as eternity, strength, and renewal. The whole idea that this mythical bird is reborn from the ashes of the flames of death signifies a journey through fire or adversity. It’s a great way to express a transformation or survival of a challenge.

How does Medusa relate to today?

Medusa in Modern Culture  – In modern culture, Medusa is seen as a powerful symbol of female intelligence and wisdom, related to the goddess Metis, who was a wife of Zeus. The snake-like head is a symbol of her cunning, a perversion of the matrifocal ancient goddess who the Greeks must destroy.

What does the 3 butterfly tattoo mean?

Do Butterfly Tattoo Bring Good Luck? – Butterfly Tattoos are popular with both men and women. They symbolize transformation, rebirth, and freedom. The meaning behind the butterfly tattoo is that of good luck or fortune in some cultures while others believe it represents renewal after death.

Is Medusa a positive symbol?

Medusa is an instantly recognizable figure from ancient Greek art. Her face, whether fierce and grotesque or feminine and composed, appears in virtually all media in varying contexts. The most common interpretation of Medusa suggests she is an apotropaic symbol used to protect from and ward off the negative, much like the modern evil eye.

  • She represents a dangerous threat meant to deter other dangerous threats, an image of evil to repel evil;
  • A close look at her role in Greek mythology and art reveals a nuanced and complex character with multiple iterations and implications;

Medusa is best known for having hair made of snakes and for her ability to turn anyone she looked at to stone, literally to petrify. Multiple works by ancient sources, such as Homer, the eighth-century B. poet Hesiod, and the fifth-century B. lyric poet Pindar, provide a wide-ranging and diverse picture of the fabled creature.

  • According to Hesiod’s Theogony , she was one of three Gorgon sisters born to Keto and Phorkys, primordial sea gods; Medusa was mortal, while the others, Stheno and Euryale, were immortal;
  • The best known myth recounts her fateful encounter with the Greek hero Perseus;

A dishonorable king demanded that he bring him an impossible gift: the head of Medusa. Perseus set out with the aid of the gods, who provided him with divine tools. While the Gorgons slept, the hero attacked, using Athena’s polished shield to view the reflection of Medusa’s awful face and avoid her petrifying gaze while he beheaded her with a harpe , an adamantine sword.

  • Such a violent act resulted in the birth of Medusa’s children, the winged horse Pegasos and the giant Chrysaor, who sprung from her neck;
  • The two immortal sisters pursued Perseus with fury, but the hero escaped with his prize using Hermes’ winged boots and Hades’ helmet of invisibility;

Not even death, however, could quell Medusa’s power, and Perseus had to keep her decapitated head in a special sack strong enough to contain it, called a kybisis. On his travels, he used the head to turn his enemies to stone and rescue the princess Andromeda from a sea monster ( 20.

  1. 192;
  2. 16 ), before giving it to Athena for her aegis ( 34;
  3. 11;
  4. 7 );
  5. Pindar’s Twelfth Pythian Ode recounts how Stheno and Euryale’s angry pursuit of their sister’s killer resulted in another chapter of the Medusa myth;

After hearing their anguished and furious cries, Athena was inspired to invent the flute to mimic them. When the goddess played the flute, however, she discarded it after seeing her reflection; her face distended and became ugly as she played ( 24. 97. 28 ).

  • While she purposefully and successfully mimicked the wails of the Gorgons, she also unwittingly imitated their wide and dreadful features;
  • The snake-haired Medusa does not become widespread until the first century B;

The Roman author Ovid describes the mortal Medusa as a beautiful maiden seduced by Poseidon in a temple of Athena. Such a sacrilege attracted the goddess’ wrath, and she punished Medusa by turning her hair to snakes. While these stories sound fantastical today, to the ancient Greeks they were quasi-historical.

Myths, as well as the stories recorded by Homer and Hesiod, were considered part of a lost heroic past when men and women interacted with heroes, gods, and the supernatural. Tales from this period were repeated in every medium; the evidence from Greece presents a world saturated with heroes and monsters in poetry, prose, and art.

As such, Medusa was not just a fantastical beast, but part of a shared past and present in the minds of ancient viewers. She signified a historical menace—the story of Perseus vanquishing and harnessing her energy was not just a story, but a chapter in the shared allegorical and historical record of the Greeks.

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Just as Medusa exists in multiple types of stories in the mythological record, she is also portrayed in multiple ways in ancient art. Her appearance changes drastically through the centuries, but she is always recognizable due to her striking frontality.

It is rare in Greek art for a figure to face directly out, but in almost all representations of Medusa, despite style and medium, she stares ahead and uncompromisingly confronts the viewer. The term gorgoneion refers to the head and face of Medusa, which was used often as a decorative motif.

  • It is a prolific symbol of her particular power that appears in architecture , vase painting , and metalwork;
  • The gorgoneion was a pervasive image in temple decoration of the Archaic period (ca;
  • 700–480 B;

Perhaps the largest example comes from Temple C (built ca. 540 B. ) at Selinunte in southwestern Sicily—two monumental gorgoneia, one on the east and one on the west, dominated the pediments of the temple. Medusa’s visage was also used to decorate smaller architectural elements.

  • In Sicily, southern Italy, and mainland Greece, temples were decorated with numerous antefixes (ornamental terracotta roof tile covers) that bore gorgoneia ( 27;
  • 122;
  • 14 ), a phenomenon especially prevalent during the Archaic period;

During this time, Medusa is depicted as a monster; she has a round face, wide eyes, a beard, and a gaping mouth with an extended tongue and gnashing, sharp teeth ( 39. 11. 9 ). Medusa remains a popular image on later architectural components, but her form is more specifically human and female.

She loses the frightful teeth and beard, but is still recognizable ( 20. 215 ) in Classical and Hellenistic examples with her wild hair and confrontational look ( 98. 30 ). Greek vases, cups, and related terracotta objects sometimes included a decorative gorgoneion as well.

In some cases it was painted at the bottom of a drinking vessel ( 14. 136 ) and served to surprise the drinker as he emptied his cup. Pieces from the seventh and sixth centuries B. are decorated with monstrous gorgoneia that can take up the entire surface ( 31.

  • 11;
  • 4 ), similar to those on contemporary antefixes;
  • The circular shape of many of these ceramics offers a particularly appropriate space to depict the rotund face of the Archaic Gorgon; it is outrageous, with oversized features that combine the feminine (curled hair and earrings) with the masculine (beard);

The trend of using Medusa’s face to decorate ceramics continued into the Hellenistic period (ca. 323–31 B. She is present as the central decoration on many vases ( 06. 1021. 246a,b ), as well as a repetitive ornamental motif. Just as in architecture , these late fourth- and third-century B.

  • Gorgons evolve from the grotesque to the feminine but retain their specific frontal quality;
  • The fifth century B;
  • saw the emergence of a new artistic emphasis on the ideal form;
  • Perfection and beauty became the standards of this new Classical style, and Medusa, despite her role as a monster, was not exempt;

Medusa is truly ubiquitous—she is represented not only in architecture and pottery, but also in metalwork. Her head is a common ornament on the handles of bronze vessels ( 60. 11. 2a,b ). The circular shape and protective qualities of her countenance also lend themselves to jewelry; she appears on earrings, pendants, and rings ( 74.

  1. 51;
  2. 3397b );
  3. The Gorgon is also reproduced on armor;
  4. In the Iliad , her head appears on Zeus’ aegis;
  5. Hesiod’s Shield of Herakles describes an illustration of the myth of Perseus and the Gorgons on the hero’s shield;

More commonly, the gorgoneion is the central motif on the aegis of Athena. Depictions of the goddess in both vase painting ( 63. 11. 6 ; 34. 11. 7 ) and sculpture ( 24. 97. 15 ) include the head of Medusa on her chest. The most renowned sculpture of Athena, the gold and ivory Athena Parthenos that once stood in the Parthenon, included two gorgoneia: one on her aegis and one on her shield.

  1. The Gorgon’s face is not limited to divine armor, however, but also decorated the martial accoutrements of Greek soldiers , such as helmets, shields, and greaves ( 41;
  2. 162;
  3. 74 ; 1991;
  4. 171;
  5. 45 );
  6. The presence of Medusa on armor reinforces the idea that her presence held significant power to protect the wearer against enemies;

The gorgoneion is not the only artistic representation of Medusa; she is also shown in scenes illustrating the adventures of Perseus. In many cases, the hero flees with Medusa’s head as her body lies nearby, sometimes with Pegasos and Chrysaor at their mother’s side ( 06.

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1070 ). A monumental example of this type is the central decoration of the early sixth-century B. Temple of Artemis on Corfu, though interestingly this depiction leaves out Perseus and the beheading. Other scenes display the moment before the killing.

The iconographic formula consists of Perseus holding his sword to Medusa’s neck, looking away as he delivers the fatal cut to avoid her petrifying gaze. A metope from Temple C at Selinunte depicts such a tableau and includes Athena, who stands by the hero to guide him.

  1. In later illustrations from the fifth century B;
  2. , Medusa is asleep while the hero approaches to attack ( 45;
  3. 11;
  4. 1 );
  5. Here is a rare instance of a nonfrontal, nonstaring Medusa; in sleep, the threat of her power is canceled;

Indeed, she is portrayed as a peacefully sleeping human figure—only her wings suggest that she is a supernatural creature. Some scenes include the other Gorgons, Stheno and Euryale, pursuing Perseus after he has beheaded Medusa. One example, on an early seventh-century B.

  1. amphora from Eleusis, depicts the two running after the hero while their headless sister’s body lies behind them;
  2. The Gorgons are often represented in this running pose, known as knielauf , on pottery ( 01;

6 ), in architecture, and on relief sculpture ( 55. 11. 4 ). Even though Medusa’s appearance changes drastically through the Archaic , Classical , and Hellenistic periods , from a grotesque creature to a beautiful female, her “otherness” remains. The legends of the Gorgons cast them as foreign others living outside of the known Greek world and horrific beings to be feared and ultimately vanquished.

  • Archaic depictions are monstrous and inexplicable—the Gorgon seems to be both male and female, both human and animal;
  • The sixth-century B;
  • antefixes, bronze handles, and vase decorations all depict a creature that is as terrible as it is distinctive;

Classical and Hellenistic images of Medusa are more human, but she retains a sense of the unknown through specific supernatural details such as wings and snakes. These later images may have lost the gaping mouth, sharp teeth, and beard, but they preserve the most striking quality of the Gorgon: the piercing and unflinching outward gaze.

Alterity is at the foundation of Medusa’s force, which was alive and present in the minds and memories of ancient viewers. Her very presence is foreign, dangerous, and potent, as are her specific characteristics.

In the Odyssey , her head was kept in Hades to drive the living from the world of the dead. The Perseus myth provides us with the phenomenon that her face and gaze could turn men to stone. Pindar preserves the tale that the Gorgon’s cries were awesome and awful.

  1. Perseus and Athena were required to control such threatening forces and harness their power;
  2. This harness was taken up by ancient Greek artists, who represented the Gorgon across all periods and in all media;

Medusa is a deadly and cryptic other, but she is also ubiquitous, with an undeniable energy that inspired artists to repeat her semblance and story in diverse ways across literature, lore, and art through ancient Greece, Rome, and beyond.

What does the story of Medusa teach us?

The Moral of the Story – The story of Perseus and Medusa is told to teach various life lessons. Perseus is cast out into the sea in a wooden chest with his unfaithful mother, yet they survive the rough seas by praying to Poseidon for the seas to be calm.

Once landing on the island of Serifos, Perseus grew into a strong man with noble character and great intelligence. As King Polydectes ordered the near-impossible task that Perseus bring him the head of Medusa, Perseus dedicated himself to fulfilling the demand to save his mother.

As the son of Zeus, Perseus had help from the gods during his journey to find Medusa. Perseus used these gifts to locate Medusa and behead her, but it was also his strength, courage, and intelligence that helped him succeed. His courage, strength, and intelligence was also the reason that Perseus saved Andromeda from the Cetus and returned home with her, slaying both Phineus and Polydectes with the head of Medusa by turning them into stone.

The story of Perseus and Medusa is a story of perseverance, bravery, and dignity. Perseus personifies the length one would go to in order to save the ones you love. Perseus shows the authenticity of his character when he rescues the helpless Andromeda from the Cetus and the attachment to the rock.

The bravery and courage of Perseus are shown as he beheads Medusa, as well as his defeat of Phineus and Polydectes..