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Perseus, the Maiden Medusa, and the Imagery of Abduction

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Perseus, the Maiden Medusa, and the Imagery of Abduction HESPERIA 76 (2007) PERSEUS, THE MAIDEN Pages 73-ios MEDUSA, AND THE IMAGERY OF ABDUCTION ABSTRACT on Classical the author that the of Focusing red-figure vases, argues appearance the beautiful Medusa, which has been explained previously as an evolutionary development from the monstrous Archaic type, is determined by discursive context rather than by chronology. Painters used the beautiful Gorgon to certain about Perseus's it is not clear convey messages victory, though always whether she ismeant to evoke humor or pathos. The author further shows that Medusa's death was figured as a perversion of the erotic abductions common s to many Greek myths, and points out the beautiful Gorgon affinities with as abducted maidens such Persephone, Thetis, and Helen. on Among the events depicted the Pseudo-Hesiodic shield of Herakles is scene the flight of Perseus from Medusas sisters.1 The poet renders the in unforgettably vivid terms: Tai ?? uet' ccutov Topyovec ccttatito? xe koci on (paxal eppcoovio ??peva? uocTc?eiv. etc! ?? %?copou ??auocvxo? on 1. For useful suggestions drafts ?awouaecov ??%eoK? gcxko? juey?Acoopuuay?q) of this article, I thank Hedreen, Guy Kai em ?? Laurialan Reitzammer, Albert Hen ?c^?a ?ay?co?/ ?covpoi ?pcxKovxe ?OIG) richs, and the two anonymous Hes ?7Ul?)p?UVT' ?7UK\)pTG)OVT? Kapnva. reviewers. I am also to xco peria grateful Atxjia?ov ?' apa y?* p?v?i ?' ?x?paaaov o?ovxa? and to Melissa Haynes audiences ?ypia ?Epicopivco. ?nl ?? ?Eivo?ai Kapf|voi? at and Harvard Rutgers University Topy??oi? ??ov??TO p?ya? Oo?oc. University for their advice and sug and to the of gestions, Department And after him rushed the Gorgons, unapproachable and unspeakable, at Classics Harvard University, which as longing to seize him: they trod upon the pale adamant, the shield covered the cost of the illustrations. a rang sharp and clear with loud clanging. Two serpents hung down at I am especially indebted to Gloria were numerous their with heads curved forward: their Ferrari Pinney, who read girdles tongues flickering, at and their teeth with and their And drafts and provided advice every gnashing fury, eyes glaring fiercely. was stage. upon the awful heads of the Gorgons great Fear quaking.2 2. Hes. [Si] 229-237, trans. H. G. This of the as creatures whose monstrousness is so Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Mass., description Gorgons 1914. seems a startling that the shield itself cries out under their feet fitting ? The American School of Classical Studies at Athens 74 KATH RYN TOPPER ^ .' ^ j"" ^^^^^HH|H^^^^^^^ H ^^K^Ta^^^IB Figure 1.Gorgoneion, painted at ^^M^BBB^^^W / ^^?T'j?i'-^^?B??? metope,Temple ofApollo ^^^^^^HIHI^^H^H^^HV 1 V ^^k/ivJ^^H?' Thermon, ca. 625-600 b.c.Athens, National Museum. '*\^^^^M?S^m^K^M^Kmm ^^^^^^^^AAj^^^HHp' ' Archaeological ^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^BF |H[H|ill^^^^HBi^ AntDenk2, pi.52, Berlin 1908, after water i color E. Gillieron. Fine Arts ^B^^B^^^^W|^^mB||WJ|[|^^-' ^MHI^^^^^^^^^^HV"- by Courtesy i^^^Sfc--- ^" . :r\-/Kf *^^^^~Z^ Library, Harvard College Library literary counterpart to the numerous images in Greek art of bearded, are fanged, and grimacing Gorgons whose heads covered with snakes as and whose penetrating frontal stare, Fran?oise Frontisi-Ducroux has seems to on observed, disrupt the very two-dimensionality of the surfaces are no which the images painted (Fig. I).3 It is wonder that these creatures a source remain of fascination for commentators, especially those interested in issues of representation?for the Gorgon, as Jean-Pierre Vernant has as perceptively remarked, presents herself "amonster whose horror thwarts at every attempt figuration."4 even a Yet, glance at the images reveals that Medusa and her sisters a sometimes assumed quite different face from the one that has held so as many scholars transfixed. Some images present the Gorgons distinctly or beautiful, virtually indistinguishable from goddesses human maidens.5 on a A good example appears red-figure pelike from the middle of the to a 5th century, which shows Perseus about behead Gorgon whose only a extrahuman feature is pair of wings (Fig. 2).6 Her face, presented in an even three-quarter view, is that of ordinary sleeping woman, and her more hair, which falls in tight curls around her face, is no snakelike than 3. National s.v. Athens, Archaeologi pp. 285-330, Gorgo, Gorgones burg, State Hermitage Museum cal Museum. Frontisi-Ducroux 1988; (I. Krauskopf and S.-C. Dahlinger). St. 1918. even 6. 1995, pp. 65-74. OccasionaUy, Medusa lacks the New York, Metropolitan Museum 4. Vernant see also or no. 1991b, p. 144; wings discreetly placed snakes that of Art 45.11.1; ARV2 1032, 55; Mack 2002. her from usually distinguish human Paralipomena 442; Beazley Addenda2 5. Partial of the women: catalogues images Berlin, Staatliche Museen 318. include Floren 1977; LIMC IV, 1988, F 3022; LCS 487, no. 335. St. Peters THE IMAGERY OF ABDUCTION 75 I mmmWKmmn??mmmmmammmmmmmmmm^?H that of her attacker. As Rainer Mack has recently suggested, the Gorgons' transformation "from terror to need not be taken as ... an evacuation beauty sense no of the original' of the image," since beauty, less than monstrosity, holds the power to fascinate.7 Nevertheless, the logic underlying the variety evident in the remains obscure?that we are at a loss representations is, to explain why creatures famous for their horrible appearance should also as a uncover appear bevy of beauties. It is this logic that I attempt to here, on come as focusing what has to be known the "beautiful" type. on Previous scholarship the Gorgons has framed their shifting ap terms. pearance in evolutionary Adolf Furtw?ngler's entry in the Ausf?hr on liches Lexikon der griechischen und r?mischen Mythologie, which relied a tripartite typology that showed monstrous Archaic Gorgons evolving 7. Mack 2002, 599, n. 4. p. into Hellenistic and Roman set the course for sub 8. gradually beauties, Furtw?ngler 1886-1890. Typo or which has this account almost without logical iconographical studies that sequent scholarship, accepted Closer examination of shows retain Furtw?ngler's system of classifi question.8 Furtw?ngler's typology, however, cation include Floren LIMC 1977; IV, it to be fraught with difficulties, not the least of which is the resistance of 1988, 285-330, s.v. pp. Gorgo, Gorgo the three types?Archaic ("archaische"), middle ("mittlere"), and beauti nes (I. and S.-C. Krauskopf Dahlinger). ful ("sch?ne")?to the neat he Belson 1980 modifications to chronological sequence imposed. Though suggests art as not rare, with human features appear in Greek Furtw?ngler's chronology but does Gorgons ordinary early as the 7th B.c. A from the of question the usefulness of his larger century fragmentary metope Temple Apollo at a system. Thermon shows Perseus carrying away head that ismostly concealed 76 KATHRYN TOPPER lege Library a by the kibisis (Fig. 3),9 but which forms stark contrast to the grimacing, on a masklike gorgoneion preserved nearby metope (Fig. 1). The latter shows the Gorgon with beard, fangs, and protruding tongue, and her are so creases eyes wide that they form in her face. What is visible of the Gorgon in the kibisis, by contrast, is strikingly human, and her tranquil, are half-closed eyes remarkable not only because they differentiate her from were her glaring counterpart, but also because the eyes the primary source of the Gorgon's potency.10 Although much of her face remains concealed treatment in Perseus's pouch, the of her eyes suggests that the early paint were not so as ers' conceptions of the Gorgons quite rigid Furtw?ngler's account would have us imagine. In the Classical period, Furtw?ngler's transitional phase, the situation even more now is complex, for Gorgons with various types of appearances our coexist in the images, sometimes defying easy classification. Turning to two we attention mid-5th-century beU kraters by the Villa Giulia Painter, can see vases the difficulty clearly (Figs. 4,5).11 Both show Medusa sleep as ing peacefully Perseus, flanked by Athena and Hermes and armed with a the harpe, cautiously approaches her. In both scenes, the Gorgon has wide nose and a and her hair is bound in two small protruding tongue, neatly 9. Athens, National Archaeological on on Museum 13401. buns the sides of her face. Only the London krater, however, has we 10. On the eyes, see espe the painter given her fangs (Fig. 4). Using Furtw?ngler's terminology, Gorgons' a cially Vernant 1991a, 1991b. might safely label this figure "middle" Gorgon, but it is less clear what 11. 4: London, British Museum we are to more on Fig. make of her counterpart the krater in no. human-looking E 493; ARV2 619, 18. Fig. 5: Madrid this not strike us as (Fig. 5:c). Although Gorgon may beautiful, Madrid, Museo Arqueol?gico Nacional no so 19. she is nevertheless very human in appearance; she has fangs, only 11010;^F2619,no. THE IMAGERY OF ABDUCTION JJ Museum^MHHHHH^^^^^l^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l^^^HlHHl^HHHHHHH?HHI^Hl to her wings suggest that she is something else. Applied examples like seem to the Villa Giulia Painter's Gorgons, Furtw?ngler's labels lose their even we were to to an descriptive power?and if refine his criteria such a we no extent that classifying the images became simple task, would be a as wiser about why particular Gorgon looks she does. does not accommodate the wide Furtw?ngler's system, moreover, easily same variations among images of Gorgons produced in the period. The not seem Villa Giulia Painter's Gorgons may beautiful, but they also lack we see on a contem the overtly masklike qualities in the Gorgon roughly now porary hydria in Richmond (Fig.
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