Meduza, Apolon I Velika Majka

Medusa, Apollo, and the Great Mother
Author(s): A. L. Frothingham
Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1911), pp. 349-377
Published by: Archaeological Institute of America
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rc~atological
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MEDUSA, APOLLO, AND THIE GREAT MOTHER
IN venturing the following interpretation of the Gorgon

Medusa I am conscious of running counter to so strong a cur-
rent of established preconceptions, and of proposing a solution
in principle so distasteful to orthodox votaries of the Olympian
cult that in propitiation I can but put it in the sequence through
which the conclusion forced itself upon me. This conclusion
is that Medusa was not an evil demon or bogey, but primarily a
nature goddess and earth-spirit of prehistoric times identical
with or cognate to the Great Mother, to Rhea, Cybele, Demeter,
and the "Mother" Artemis. As a procreative and fertilizing
energy embracing the action of light, heat,.and water on the
earth, she became an embodiment of both the productive and
destructive forces of the sun and the atmosphere, an emblem
of the sun-disk.
After dominating in pre-Hellenic times, she was given in

later times a subordinate part in the Olympian system, entering
the service of Zeus and Athene, gods of atmosphere and light.
Above all she became the embodiment, after being the mother,
of Apollo-Helios without ceasing to be connected with the
nature goddesses. Crete, Asia Minor, Sparta, Delphi, Athens,
represent stages in the evolution of her plastic type with con-
tributions from Egypt and Western Asia.
Now, the current interpretations resolve themselves into two
main groups, - the Euhemeristic and the Physical. Professor
Ridgewayl believes that the Gorgon was some hideous beast
indigenous to the Libyan desert, and that the Gorgoneion on
1 J. .S. XX, p. xliv; of. J. E. Harrison, Proleg. St. Greek Religion, p. 192.
American Journal of Archaeology, Second Series. Journal of the 49
Archaeological Institute of America, Vol. XV (1911), No. 3.
350 A. L. FROTHINGHIAM
the aegis of Athene was the head of the beast whose skin
was worn by the goddess. According to this school the Gorgon
is merely a monstrous bogey used as a charm to frighten and
to avert evil, and she is primarily a mask for whom a body,
a slaying hero, and a myth were afterwards invented. The
Physical interpretation, most ably represented by Roscher and
Furtwitngler,1 regards the Gorgons as storm demons, atmos-
pheric forces manifesting themselves in the thunder and light-
ning, which dazzle and terrify. Even when they protect, they
do so by the fear they inspire, not by any active power for good.
Both schools, then, agree in regarding the Gorgon as an evil
demon and as primarily a frightful mask, not a complete figure.
Recently my attention was attracted to a number of monuments
which did not at all accord with the demonic interpretation, to
which I had always yielded unquestioning assent, and their study
has led me step by step to a most unexpected and far-reaching
conclusion. It must be remembered that while classic literature
has but little to say of the Gorgon myth, it was extremely pop
lar in art from the beginning, and that in the form of the Gorg
head it counts its monuments by many thousands over a perio
of nearly a thousand years. So, archaeologically, the questio
is important. It had been treated, but not solved; for one
cannot call a solution the declaration that a majority of t
representations of a theme are a bit of meaningless decoration
There are, practically, three forms to consider: (1) Th
full figure of the Gorgon Medusa and of her two sisters, eithe
alone or in the Perseus myth; (2) the head of Medusa, usuall
called Gorgoneion; (3) the aegis, with its decoration of ser
pents and Gorgoneion.
It was,
famous in fact,
bronze nearly three
candelabrum yearsa ago,
of Cortona, .while product
late archaic studying the
of Ionian Greek art, that it seemed difficult to explain, on the
evil demon hypothesis, the presence of a large Gorgon head in
the centre, surrounded by the familiar medley of fighting
animals, and then by a wider zone of eight sirens alternating
with eight satyrs playing on the double pipes, with a zone of
dolphins, one under each of the satyrs. Why was Medusa the
main figure on a monumental lamp, associated with these em-
1 Art. Gorgones, in Roscher's Lex. Gr. Borm. Myth.; cf. Roscher's Gorgonen.
MEDUSA, APOLLO, AND THE GREAT MOTHER 351
bodiments of earth, air, and water? It was a puzzle to be u

ravelled some day.'
Some months later, in examining the wonderful sardonyx c
at Naples, the "Tazza Farnese," I was struck, for the first tim
by a still stranger juxtaposition.2 The inner face of the cu
filled with a charming idealistic scene; the Fertility of Egypt
Euthenia reclines on a sphinx, while above her Triptolemu
lord of the ploughed field, holds the horn of plenty, as
looks to Father Nile enthroned, and is accompanied by the cro
producing Etesian Winds and the fertilizing Nymphs. On t
opposite or under side the entire surface is covered with a
Medusa head or Gorgoneion, corresponding in area to the scene
just described. What is she doing here? Is it possible that
in the Cortona lamp the Gorgon was connected with heat and
light and that there was a bond in the artist's mind between
her and- fertility in this Farnese tazza? In these two master-
pieces it will not do to say that Medusa was a mere bit of
meaningless decoration. It is, in any case, a good creed not to
believe in the aimlessness of antique art. So, I reserved the
"Tazza Farnese" for future explanation.
It was an article by Homolle3 which gave me the first sug-
gestion; not out of sympathy, but from opposition to his views.
In publishing long ago the base of the archaic statue of Apollo
by Iphicartides, the earliest signed statue, of ea. 600 B.c., he
called attention to the fact that of the three corners of this
triangular, tripod-like base, one was decorated with a ram's
head and the other two with Medusa heads.4 Homolle ex-
pressed surprise at the Gorgon heads, but recalled, what Six
had already shown, that in the early coinage of a number of
Greek cities, the connection of Medusa and Apollo was undenia-
ble, the two heads sometimes occupying the reverse and obverse
of the same coins, sometimes being used as substitutes on cor-
responding coins. The French savant could suggest no expla-
nation except that of contrast: the opposition of the principles
1 Mon dell' Inst. III, pls. 41, 42; cf. Weicker, Der Seelenvogel in d. a. Lit.
u Kunst, p. 100.
2 Furtwangler, Antike Gemmen, pls 54, 55.
SB.C.H. XII, 1888, pp. 463-479; cf. Six, De Gorgone.
" Other writers speak of one Gorgon and two rams. I cannot say which state-
ment is correct.
of good (Apollo) and evil (Medusa). This explan

quite contrary to Hellenic usage, which does not s
blem for a god on this principle. The question
connection between Apollo and the Gorgon, raised
by these archaic monuments, formed a third puzz
to solve which led, in 1910-11, to the present stud
At this point I recollected the generally known f
Gorgon head appears in the centre of the triqu
coinage of Sicily, beginning with Agathocles (
and that it was there associated with ears of corn. Now, as
Sicily was, ever since Homeric days, regarded as the sacred
island of the sun, and as the triquetrum here and in Lycia
was the emblem of the sun, there seemed no escaping the con-
clusion that the Gorgon in its centre represented the power of
the sun.1 If, then, there was a connection with Apollo, it was
likely to be in his solar aspect. This was confirmed, at a very
late date, by certain gems in which the Gorgoneion is placed in
the centre of the Zodiac, in place of Helios or Apollo.2
What early material was there for the Medusa-Apollo con-
nection apart from the archaic coins and the Iphicartides
statue ?
THE GORGON AT DELPHI. ---- One naturally looks for mate-
rial, first of all, at Delphi. On account of the destruction of
the temple, this source of reference is meagre. There is, how-
ever, an interesting suggestion in the well-known archaistic
relief in the Louvre, in which Apollo heads a procession, sing-
ing the paean. The scene is Delphi, and the temple is repre-
sented in the background. The pedimental decoration3 consists
of a Gorgon head flanked by two Tritons, a mere compendium,
of course, of the scene supposed to be represented. The relief
is certainly modelled after an original not later than 500 B.c.
The scene in the pediment which is here epitomized belonged
to the archaic temple and may be conjectured to be similar to
1 Numism. Chron. N.S. XIV, pl. VIII, 7, 8; Imhoof-Blumer, pl. B, 23; Hill,
Coins of Anc. Sicily, pls. XI, 10; XV, 4.
2 Reinach's Pierres gravdes: Gori, pl. 882; cf. Orleans Coll. pl. 127, 97,
whose antiquity has been questioned, though unnecessarily. Also Reinach,
pl. 100, 35, from Mariette; cf. Gaedechen's Gorgo, in Ersch u. Grtiber, p. 403.
8 One-half of the pediment is restored. Frohner, Cat., No. 12; Clarac, M1usge,
pl. 120, 39; cf. Friederichs, Bausteine, No. 72.
MEDUSAf, APOLLO, AND THE GREAT MOTHER 353
that recently found at the temple in Corfu, which I shall

describe later.
In the temple the two sacred objects were the omphalos

the tripod. In looking for any traces of the Gorgon, the G
goneion or the aegis in connection with them, I found qui
mass of curious data, both literary and archaeological. Th
is, first of all, the much-discussed passage in Euripides' Ion, i
which to the question, "Does the dwelling of Phoebus re
cover the central omphalos of the earth ?" Ion replies (v. 2
"Ay, decorated with garlands and with the Gorgons 'around i
or 'on both sides.'" The omphalos actually appears, from
one found in the excavations and from numerous reproductio
to have been covered with a sort of fillet or network, and th
were two eagles placed in some relation to it.1 This net is con
sidered by Miss Harrison to be the aegis referred to in th
expression a 9 auv ailaio9, and she considers the Gorgons
the Ion to be the Gorgoneia or goat heads left on the orig
skins with which the omphalos was covered. This connect
of goat-head Gorgoneia with the covering of the omphalos see
to me improbable. I do not believe that either the "garlan
or the "Gorgons" seen by the contemporaries of Euripid
around the omphalos were on it, but that they were part
decorative enclosure. The sacred garlands, made of fruits bou
to laurel twigs known to be sacred to Apollo, are carved
many monuments of Alexandrian and Roman art, and a Gorg
head was frequently placed in the centre of the curve of e
garland. In this way one might, perhaps, reconstruct th
decorative motif at Delphi.
In regard to the tripod, I will refer only in passing to
custom of late Alexandrian and Roman art to decorate with a
Medusa mask each of the three faces. Such a tripod, for ex-
ample, is one in the Louvre found at Ostia, marked as Apolline
by the affronted griffins and dolphins of the upper border and
the laurel.2 A Medusa mask forms the decoration of each face.
On archaic tripods it would seem that the Medusa myth ap-
peared, not in the form of the Gorgoneion, but in that of the
1 B. S.A. IX, 211, article by Wace, ' Apollo seated on the Omphalos.' J. E.
Harrison in B. C.H. XXIV, p. 264. Cf. art. Pythios, in Roscher's Lexikon.
2 Frohner, Cat., No. 90; Clarac, 121, 50.
354 A. L. FROTHINGIIAM
killing of the Gorgon by Perseus or of the runn

In the famous tripod-vase of early black-figured
Tanagra in the Berlin Museum, the entire Gorg
repeated on two of the legs and Perseus appears o
One of the archaic Greek bronze tripods illustrat
JOURNAL (1908, pl. XIII) has Perseus and the Go
middle register, and the Gorgons in several forms re
and other early tripods, such as those illustrated
1897 by Savignoni.2 Of course such ordinary non-ritual
tripods need not be regarded as determining the manner in
which the Gorgon was used on Apolline tripods.
There is, also, a curious passage in the Ion which inay seem
pertinent. Creusa, in seeking to persuade Ion that he is her
son, describes the swaddling clothes she made for him, which
were still kept by the priests: "A Gorgon is in the centre web
of the garment " -" and it is fringed with serpents like an
aegis "- " ancient virgin-labor of my shuttle." Is it a mere
coincidence that a Gorgoneion should be the only decoration
of the swaddling clothes made for the child of Apollo in the
cave of Gorgon-slaying Athene?
The identification of the aegis and its Gorgoneion with a
goatskin (and sometimes with a goat head), if correct, would
supply another curious link between Medusa and the Apollo of
Delphi. There is no doubt that the goat was sacred to him.
Pausanias tells3 of the bronze goat suckling two children of
Apollo which was sent to Delphi as an offering by the city of
Elyros in Crete; and of the other bronze goat sent by the city
of Cleonae because Apollo had rid it of a pestilence after it
had sacrificed a goat to the Rising Sun by order of the oracle.
The importance of the goat in the Delphic myth is shown by
the tradition that the name of the son of the dragon Pytho was
Ac' and that there were near Delphi a stream (Aiya9), a
mountain, and a plain (rrf7sov aiyaiov) "of the goat." In fact,
a tradition reported by Diodorus credits the discovery of the
mantic properties of the Delphic oracle to a flock of goats
1 A.Z. 1881, taf. 3, 4.
2 Mion. Ant. Lincei, VII, 1897, 'T Di un bronzetto . . . e di una classe
di tripodi greco-orientale,' especially p. 352.
SXg, 11,4 and 16,~.
who were overcome with frenzy from the fumes and were the
cause of the founding of the shrine.
In connection with the goat in the Apollo cult it must be
remembered that the relations of Delphi with Crete were of the
closest. Notwithstanding a recent attempt to prove that the
Cretan worship was derived from the Delphic,' it remains prob-
able that the prevalence there of the worship of the Pythian
Apollo was simply a case of a return wave in historic times
such as we notice, for instance, in the relations of Cyprus with
Greece. Primitive Apollo cult of the pre-Delphic age, which
centred in Cnossus, has left its clearest traces in the western
part of the island. On the coinage of Tylisos the cult statue
of Apollo is represented holding in its hand the head of a goat,
and the goat appears on coins of Priansus and Polyschenia.2
It is a question not yet solved by the excavations in Crete, just
how the change in the island from the Minoan to the Hellenic
culture affected the cults on the island, and how the Apolline
worship was grafted on that of the Minoan gods. We shall see
quite soon, however, how the Medusa cult fared in Crete under
these conditions.
THE GORGON AT MILETUS.- The most notable shrine of
Apollo in Asia Minor was the Didymaeum near Miletus. Wh
it was partially excavated by the French,3 it was found th
the only figured decoration of the frieze of the temple consis
of a Medusa head placed over the axis of each column. Th
execution of the frieze is attributed to the Roman complet
of the temple and not to the artists of the fourth centur
But that the Medusa motif was not decorative but signific
is shown by the further discovery in the vicinity, though no
on the site, of the most important early marble Medusa y
found. It is the corner block of the frieze of a large buildi
0.91 m. high, and from its proportions may easily have belong
to the earlier archaic temple of the sixth century destroyed
the Persians. Its style would indicate this. The full figure
Medusa is given, kneeling on one knee, with colossal head, wi
four wings, and two large snakes on the lop of her head,
not mingling with her hair. Her mouth is closed and her
1 Aly, Der Kretische Apollokult. Leipzig, 1908. 2 Aly, ibid.
" Didymnes, Fouilles de 1895 et 1896, par E. Pontremnoli et B. Haussoullier.
356 A. L. FROTHINGHAM
tongue does not protrude, nor has sh

flanked by two enormous lions, whos
with one mutilated head and breast.
the Great Mother and the so-called Persian Artemis. The im-
portance of this will shortly appear.'
THE GORGON AT CORCYRA.- A large archaic Doric temp
has recently been excavated in Corfu, at the ancient Corcy
It is reported to have been identified as a temple of Apollo, b
there seems as yet no proof of this.2 Its date is shortly befor
or after 600 B.C. The sculptures of the western pediment,
which the larger portion have been found, take a special pl
in this study. The central figure, of much larger size than th
rest, is Medusa, represented as resting on her right knee. H
enormous round face has wide-open mouth with protrudin
tongue and teeth exposed, and is encircled by snakes that fram
the face between the ears. Below each ear a large bearded
snake projects horizontally in front of a row of four lon
twisted curls that fall on the breast. She wears a short Do
chiton bound at the waist by a belt of two twisted snakes wh
rear their heads and curving necks heraldically, while behi
her waist-line appear the coils of two snakes which may belon
to the two snakes that project over her shoulders. She ha
four wings: a pair of upcurving wings with short feathers an
a pair of wide-spreading drooping wings with long feathe
Her heavily muscled legs are shod with winged shoes. Bo
arms are outstretched to embrace her two offspring, Pega
and Chrysaor. Pegasus, on her right, springs toward her, rest
ing his forepaws on her forearm, while her arm goes around
1 The thorough excavations now being carried on at the temple by the
Germans under Wiegand will probably furnish a clew to the Gorgon connection.
2 The modern name of the site is Garitsa. Excavations were begun there in
April by the Greek Archaeological Society, in charge of the Ephor Versakis.
They were later placed in charge of Professor Dirpfeld and completed at the
expense of the German emperor. Brief notices have appeared in the Tag (Ber-
lin), the London Times, and the 'A& vaL (Athens) in May, that in the Tag con-
taining a very inaccurate restoration of the pedimental sculptures. A note ap-
peared also in the New York Times for June 18. Dr. Dirpfeld has had the ex-
treme kindness to send me a photograph of a part of the pediment as restored
in situ, at Corfu, for my private use only, as publication is reserved for the Greek
Ephor. This and his very helpful remarks reached me after the manuscript of this
paper was completed. Later I may, perhaps, be allowed to quote from his letter.
[See also the item ' Corfu' in the department of 'Archaeological News.']
winged shoulders. Chrysaor, on her left, stands, a strongly

muscled man, front face and bust, but legs in profile. Both
these children of Medusa are small in proportion, not a quarter
of her bulk, and mere appendages. Beyond them, on either side,
is an enormous reclining lion, of the same proportions as the
Medusa. They are not, as has been suggested, ornamental, but
are evidently animals sacred to Medusa and brought into jux-
taposition with her and not with the intervening figures of
Pegasus and Chrysaor. Medusa is conceived here, therefore,
as the Great Mother, as both a serpent goddess and a mistress
of beasts. She is the mother of Pegasus and Chrysaor as a
living goddess and not as a beheaded mortal. Beyond the lions
on either side are very small figures representing the conflict of
the gods and giants. On the right, Zeus with thunderbolt is
overcoming a giant; on the left, a giant lies dead in the angle,
and there is in front of him an altar behind a seated female
figure. But these two ends are too fragmentary for satisfactory
explanation, except to recall the connection made in Greek
legend between Medusa and the fight between the gods and
giants. One fact is certain, Medusa occupies the centre as
a great goddess, as Athene does, for example, in the temple at
Aegina. The lions show that she was the equivalent of the
Cybele, Artemis or Great Mother, who is accompanied by or
holds lions or birds. The subject, as represented in the Didyma
Medusa, is thus filled out in detail so that there can be no
question that in both cases we have a Medusa. In my next
paper I shall have more to say of the offspring of Medusa, but
meanwhile I cannot avoid expressing the belief that the mys-
terious Chrysaor is none other than the Hellenic Apollo, as I
expect to prove. As to the deity to whom the temple was
dedicated, considering the equation Artemis = Medusa, this
may be a temple of Artemis and not of Apollo. Years ago it
was shown that Corcyra had an important temple of Artemis,
the Mother Goddess, by the discovery of a large deposit of
archaic terra-cotta figurines of the goddess, as the wingless
ld&rvta O7piov, the beast-subduing Mother Goddess.'
SB.'C.H. XV (1891), pp. 1-112. This is the most varied and artistic known
series of Artemis = Mother Goddess figurines; they date from the sixth to the
fifth centuries.
358 A. L. FROTIHINGHAM
MlEDUSA AND THE MISTRESS OF BIRDS AND

The above conclusions change the situation that ha
prevailed; for the Gorgon and the Artemis types
considered as quite distinct. There are coins, gems,
of the seventh, sixth, and fifth centuries, on which
whom for convenience we may call Medusa, is repres
one snake held in both hands, or with two snakes, one in each
hand, with two snakes at her belt, or, in the scene of her decapi-
tation, drinking her blood. On the other hand, there is a
numerous series during the same period of winged and wingless
female figures, holding in either hand an animal (especially a
lion) or a bird (especially a swan or goose). Most of these
figures have heads in profile; only a few, like the Cameirus
platter with the swans and the Warren gem with the lions,
show the front face of the Gorgon type. Even in these cases
it did not appear certain that we should recognize a Medusa
rather than some related Gorgon-like spirit, because in neither
case were there serpents either in her hair or at her waist.
Therefore no attempt had been made to connect the Medusa
with the Mistress of Wild Things, as Miss Harrison calls her.1
Even the Didyma Medusa with her lions does not appear to
have given the necessary clew. Now, however, the Corcyra
Medusa connects her definitively with the Great Mother, and
the important matter is to ascertain just what the relationship
is and means, and what bearing the Artemis connection has on
the Apollo connection.
MEDUSA IN CRETE, AND THE SNAKE GODDESS. - It is
recognized that Asia Minor and the islands received and con-
tinued to reflect the Minoan civilization for several centuries
after its destruction in Crete. The close and early connection
of Crete with Phrygia, Lydia, and the Hittites is also an
acquired fact. Here was the origin of the Apollo cult; here,
also, was the development, if not the origin, of the Artemis
cult. So, it is not surprising that further explanation should
come to us from the recent excavations in Crete, which have
1 For list and illustrations of the Goddess of the Beasts and Birds, see, for the
winged type, Radet, Cybibb; cf. Thompson, J.H. S. 1909, p. 286. J. EF. Harri-
son, Proleg. Greek Relig. p. 194, has a glimpse of the truth, much distorted, and
Radet seems to suspect it.
disclosed a continuous civilization beginning at the neolithic

age.
There seems to be no doubt that the splendid Minoan civili-
zation had the nature goddesses as supreme deities, and that
the supremacy of male gods was a revolution gradually effected
by the conquering Hellenes. Whether it was one goddess pre-
sented under different aspects, or several distinct goddesses,
is not yet absolutely certain; but the evidence seems to be in
favor of a single earth or nature goddess, the Great Mother.
~sh
fi w
4) db, c)
O o o~
4t"
'I C' r
r
F O~~ o'
8
Q
r~? 6"
FIGURE 1.
Mr. Evan
sephone
appears
goddess
1 Evans,
(1902-3),
(1903-4), p
In all three aspects she bears upon the Medusa question.

Among the most interesting and artistic objects discovered by
Mr. Evans at Cnossus are some porcelain or faience figurines
and other votive objects belonging evidently to the shrine of a
Mother-Snake-Goddess. They at once became famous as unique
both in theme and in artistic form. The goddess (Fig. 1) her-
self has a high tiara or polos, a richly embroidered, short-sleeved
jacket, and laced bodice that leaves the prominent bosom bare,
and a long hoopskirt, with a short, apron-like overskirt. Her
face, with wide-open eyes, is framed in the coils of two ser-
pents. One of these serpents is held in her two outstretched
hands; its tail resting in her left hand, it winds up her arm
I
FIGURE 2.- VOTARY OF THE CRETAN SNAKE GODDESS.
over her shoulder, descending behind to follow the outlin

back and hips, ascending again symmetrically, passin
shoulder and arm to have its head rest in the left hand. With
its tail coiled about the goddess's right ear, the second snak
descends, framing neck and bosom and waist, crossing the waist
coils down the front of the apron, and ascending, is knotted a
the waist, where its head is reared in the centre. A third snake,
with its tail entwined in the snake girdle, ascends symmetr
cally on the opposite side, twists about the left ear, mounts th
tiara, and rears its head on top of it like an Egyptian uraeu
The snakes are green spotted with purple brown, and the detai
of the goddess are purple brown, purple, or black. With th
figure were found parts of two others, apparently priestesses
the goddess (Fig. 2), with flounced instead of hoop skirts, a
without any snakes except the two small snakes which th
brandish, one in each raised and outstretched hand, in the per-
formance of a ritual dance. Their bosoms also are bare, with

low, V-shaped bodice; and their long hair is left to fall, loose,
to the hips. There were also a number of votive dresses of
similar type, which helped in the restoration of the figures.
Of course the snake-god-
dess is a personification
of the fertile earth in its
d +'
sub-soil aspect, which we
are apt to call chthonic.1 (~ J/
In her other form of *'1 'I
mountain and lion god-

dess, or goddess of the life
on the earth, the earth-
goddess is represented
frequently holding orFIGURE 3
accosted by lions. The
most comp
the goddes
mountain,-
while the two he-
1
raldic lions rise
from its base.2 In
the form not of an
image to be wor-
shipped but as a
goddess in action,
. .
she appears with
one lion in an atti-
(( \ tude so similar to
the Artemis on a
(a) (b) vase from Thera
FIGURE 4.-
that I give (a)
them
GODDESS.
side by side (Fig.
4) as showing how the islands continued Cretan tr
centuries after the fall of Minoan power.3
In the excavations at Palaikastro (Heleia), also in
group of rather crude ritual objects came to light, w
1 B.S.A. IX, pp. 74 ff. 2 B.S.A. VII, p. 29.
8 B.S.A. IX, p. 59, and Radet, Cybibb, p. 12, with references.
dently belonged to a shrine of the snake godd

supplement the more artistic Cnossian statuet
is the goddess with her votaries; and the thr
represented as performing a circular ritual dan
extended, so that they touch each other aroun
The goddess stretches her arms forward, holding
a striped snake.2 The figures have the typical
The most interesting feature of the find is th
figures there were several doves; three of wh
stood on votive pillars, and one on the head of
herself. These sacred doves, forming the most
ture of the shrine after the figures themselve
essential unity of the snake goddess with the dov
It remains now to see whether the connection between
Medusa and the Mother Goddess, suggested by the Corc
pediment, can really be dated back from the sixth or sev
centuries in Asia Minor to this Cretan prototype, so m
centuries earlier. The main two elements, the snakes and the
lions, certainly characterize both, but the artistic form of the
Gorgon is so absolutely different from the Cretan prototype
that it requires more than this analogy to give us the certitude
that, in the ancient mind, the two were identical or even closely
affiliated. Crete itself seems to furnish this necessary proof.
Many centuries later than the objects just described, after
Minoan culture had vanished, when the Eteocretans dominated
at Praesus, the Dorians at Heleia, and when male gods, espe-
cially Apollo and Zeus, had been set at the head of the Pantheon,
Palaikastro furnished an interesting example of the substitution
of the independent worship of Zeus Dictaeus for that of the
Earth Mother, also connecting with her the concept of the
Gorgon Medusa.3 The temple was first built in the sixth cen-
tury, and rebuilt or restored at various later dates. To the
early date belongs an antefix formed of a Gorgoneion with six
snakes, three on each side, quite unconnected with the hair.
It is of the type with open mouth, four tusks, and extended
1 The discovery of the Snake goddess on other sites, at Gournia and Prinias,
shows that she is a generic Cretan divinity.
2 B.S.A. X, p. 217.
' B.S.A. XI (1904-5), pp. 303-305; cf. X, p. 223.
tongue (Fig. 5 a). This antefix does not differ essent

from other archaic Gorgoneia with serpents, and, tak
itself, we should have no reason to regard it as proving
connection between Medusa and the Cretan goddess. Bu
when the temple was restored at a later date, another fo
of antefix appeared which is of the greatest value in this s
It furnishes quite a new type, that of the beautiful M
(Fig. 5 b). It gives her a body robed
in a Doric chiton, and so is not a
Gorgoneion. She is represented on
the antefix to below the waist, and
there are four snakes; two she holds
in her hands and two spring from
behind her shoulders. There are no
snakes connected with the hair, which (0)
,3
is carefully and rigidly arranged, not

at all in the way common at any time
in the usual Hellenic types. The
mouth is open and the tongue pro- / ',
trudes, but no teeth are indicated.
II .
This type was not a "freak," but
we may be allowed to believe it a ( )
normal one in Hellenic Crete of the

fifth or fourth century B.c., because
antefixes of exactly the same type
have been found at Praesus in a
FIGURE 5. - ANTEFIXES OF
temple also thought to be that of
PALAIKASTRO AND PRAESUS.
the Dictaean Zeus. It is interest-
ing that on early coins of Praesus the Gorgoneion occupies
the obverse.' Mr. Bosanquet thinks, especially in view of
the numerous votive lions found here, that the worship of
the Mother Goddess was preserved by the Dorians by the
side of that of her son; the relationship between the male
and female deities of the Minoan age being merely reversed.
What is important is this: that the figure and head recog-
nized as that of the Gorgon is identified by the Cretans with
the old snake goddess, and this carries the same consequence
for the archaic Gorgoneion, and if for it, then why not for
1 W. Wroth, Brit. MJus. Cat. of Greek Coins of Crete, etc., p. 70.
the entire Gorgon tribe in Greek

time it would seemi, therefore, as if
one, and were the same as the old m
Minoans. Not having been subject
oriental influences, the Medusa ty
and yet it has the contamination of
ARTEMIS-MEDUSA IN ASIA MINOR AND UNDER ORIENTAL
INFLUENCE. - Passing now from Crete to Asia Minor, w

we are led to believe that the ultimate type of the Medusa
created, we find that the next step is to investigate how, du
the centuries that elapsed between the making of the M
snake goddess, some time before ca. 1600 B.C. and the p
of the earliest Asia Minor or Laconian figures of Artem
Medusa in the seventh century, the addition of the wings
place as well as the various other changes, the sum of w
constituted the normal Gorgon types. We judge, mainly
gem cuttings, that down to its close, Mycenaean art ha
given wings to its figures of the Mistress of Wild Things,
earth mother. This would bring us to about 800 B.C.
In the first place, the Cretan type of snake goddess
known in Asia Minor. This is shown by the bronze stat
from the Troad now in Berlin I with similar costume, snake
belt, snakes on arms and on top of head, nude breasts, etc.
The art is Mycenaean, and there are no wings. Now the
Mother Goddess in her aspect of queen of the animal kingdom
appears to have been the dominant divinity of a large part
of Asia Minor. In Lydia, at Sardis, she was called Kybebe;
in Phrygia she was the better known Cybele; in Ionian
Ephesus she was Artemis. Works of the eighth to the sixth
century from these regions, and particularly from Smyrna,
Dorylaeum, Cameirus, Rhodes, Thera, etc., show her with two
(or sometimes four) wings of the oriental upturned type, usually
holding in each hand a lion by the tail, or else a waterfowl.2
Then comes a mass of such figures in vases, bronzes, jewellery,
and terra-cottas of the islands and the mainland, dating from
the seventh and sixth centuries, showing how universal was
1 Perrot and Chipiez, VI, Figs. 349, 350; Furtwiangler, Aegina, p. 371,
Fig. 296.
2 Radet, Cybkb ; Thompson, in J.H.S. 1909; and Studniczka, Kiyrene.
the spread of the cult and its representations. Among the

all there is one that stands out as a typical connecting li
between the entire group and the Cretan goddess; it is a de
rative group on the handle of a bronze vase found at Grae
wyl which favors Evans' hypothesis of 'the unity of the Cret
goddess (Fig. 6). In this bronze the lion-goddess, the snak
goddess, and the dove-goddess are all oniie person.' Sh
winged, showing the Hittite contamination, and her hair is
the Egyptian style. The prominence and nudity of her bos
is a thoroughly Cretan
trait. She wears a small
polos, on the summit of
which is perched a bird,
probably a dove. From r\
the back of her head, there

project, on either side, 5;T~ "rl~-~1Y ;cE~'~-'?d~
almost horizontally, two

enormous bearded snakes, \\
~
on whose backs rest two
young lions. The god-
dess holds by each handFIGURE 6. --FROM THE GRAECKWYL BRONZE
a hare, and two large lions VASE.
raise one paw to rest it

against each of the goddess's hips. She is th
of an animal tamer giving a performance.
extraordinarily interesting piece is though
century. There is not, however, a trace of
in the figure of the goddess, who varies from t
in her costume.
If this bronze is a perfect archaic survival of the Cretan god-
dess, there is a Hittite seal in the De Clercq collection 2 which
will show this type transformed under Asiatic influence into
the proto-Medusa form. In this elaborate scene the Gorgon-
Artemis has four wings and rests on the backs of two winged
fabulous animals that stand tail to tail. They have lions'
bodies, but curious horned and bearded leads, which seemed
1 Radet, Cybibg, p. 29, and Bertrand, Arch. Celt. et Gaul. 2d ed. Fig. 89.
2 Mnant, CGat. de la Coll. De Clercq, pl. XXXIII, No. 357. M~nant has not
recognized as such the heads of the bearded snakes.
to M~nant to resemble goat head

winged animals head down, with bod
and with human heads. From each
two bearded snakes spring almost
herself has the round, staring, Gorgo
be given on so small a scale. As we shall see, it is from
such Hittite concepts that several of the Gorgon traits are
derived.
These two examples will be for the present sufficient to con-

nect the Cretan goddess with different phases of early work in
Asia Minor. We may now examine the Anatolian products as
a whole.
There were three main sources from which, directly or in-
directly, by contamination with cognate mythological figures,
the Artemis and Medusa types could have been transformed
or evolved: Egyptian, Hittite, and Assyrian. Babylonian
art during the eighth and seventh centuries was moribund;
Persian art had not yet arisen. It is especially among the
seals, cylinders, and ivories that the material can be found.
The following points are important for the Medusa type:
(1) the added wings; (2) the round face; (3) the protruding
tongue; (4) the beard; (5) the standing attitude, with legs
in profile, one being advanced and often uncovered; (6) the
kneeling attitude, with one knee on the ground; (7) the run-
ning attitude, with knees slightly bent; (8) the attitude with
one or both arms raised above the head, assumed sometimes
both by the standing and the kneeling figures. In considering
these points it must be remembered that while we have found,
previous to 1500 B.c., the existence of a snake goddess and a
mistress of beasts, whose plastic forms were afterwards assumed
by Medusa, we have not yet discovered the existence before
ca. 700 B.c. of a separate plastic representation of Medusa as
distinct from these goddesses. It is the disentangling from
the goddess of her material forces which results in the creation
of the plastic Medusa type, after ca. 800 B.c.
In looking for the prototypes, the first question is as to the
source of the upcurving wings which became characteristic of
Artemis and Medusa. A glance at the plates of the De Clercq
collection of oriental cylinders-- a typical collection--shows,
as do also such Hittite rock reliefs as that of Eflatun Bunar,'

that this form of upcurving wing is peculiarly Hittite and not
Egyptian or Assyrian. The attitude with one exposed leg, so
characteristic of the earliest known Greek Medusa-Artemis,
on the Cameirus plate (seventh century), appears in Hittite
figures like the caryatids of the sun-disk (Fig. 7), at Eflatun
Bunar, where we see also the full, round face and the raised
arms. The Gorgon-like face of the Hittite I
Mother Goddess in the De Clercq seal has

already been noticed.
There is also an Assyrian seal cylinder
with Egyptian contamination, which is inter-
esting to notice because it has in the centre
the figure of Bes, the Egyptian counterpart / A
of the archaic Medusa. Its two raised hands

under the winged disk hold flowers and do
not actually support the disk, this being FIGURE
done 7.- HITTITE
ROCK- SCULPTURE,
by two caryatids of pure bearded Assyrian
EFLATUN BUNAR.
type.2 After even a cursory examination of
the HIittite-Assyrian material, one is driven to the
clusion that the figures of types cognate to Medusa-Ar
were connected almost exclusively with sun worship when
confined to that of the earth goddess. There is great v
in the Assyrian material. An ivory from Nimrud in the
ish Museum gives the type of a wingless mistress of b
holding the lions that may date before 800 B.c., but o
winged type there is no trace. On the other hand, the conf
of Marduk and Tiamat furnishes several winged types
as Marduk attacking the female monster with a sickle
that often given to Perseus; a hero or winged god kneeli
one knee and subduing one or two winged animals; a sim
figure standing and holding one or two animals or bir
the tail or leg. In almost every case there is on the
work a winged sun-disk alone or with adorers or supp
by one or more caryatid figures.3 The earliest of these
seem to date from the ninth century. Evidently the funct
1 A.J.A. 1886, pl. I. 2 Furtwingler, Antike Gemmen, pl. I, 12.
S See Ward, Oriental Seals and Cylinders, and the Cat. de la Coll. De C
passim. Consult Furtwingler, Antike Gemmen, esp. pl. I.
368 A. L. FROTIIINGHAM
assigned to male figures in oriental art were in this case

assigned by proto-Hellenic and Hellenic thought to female
personifications. This contamination of male and female types
may explain the curious male and bearded Gorgon which is so
frequent in the archaic period and evidently grew up outside
both of the nature-goddess sphere and of the Perseus saga.
In this connection an important r61e is played by Bes.' In
the transformation of the Medusa idea from earth-force to sun-
force it is probable that the Bes contamination was important.
This foreign god, introduced into Egypt at some unknown date,
furnishes the exact counterpart of the Cretan goddess, because
he was a sun-god, a snake-god and a beast-king, as well as a
chthonic deity. He was this, however, only as an embodiment
of the higher and more spiritual divine beings representing
these ideas. That is, he embodied the force of the sun-god
Horus, etc. He was a sun-carrier, a sun-caryatid, a sun-
embodiment. In this function he performs precisely the part
I have assigned in the Hellenic sphere to Medusa; and his late
appearance as a separate plastic figure in Egypt corresponds
exactly to the late appearance of the plastic type of Medusa long
after the Medusa idea had existed. The diffidence shown by
archaeologists in acknowledging the evident plastic connection
between Bes and Medusa will certainly vanish as soon as their
basal concept is seen to be absolutely identical. Only the sex
differs. Nothing could more delightfully express this correla-
tion than two scarabs apparently of Phoenician workmanship,2
in one of which Bes is holding the Gorgon head above his head,
while in the other the Gorgon is holding the head of Bes!
They were evidently considered interchangeable symbols! The
question will be discussed later whether the protruding tongue
also came to Medusa from Bes.
The earliest Gorgon leg attitude, as shown on the Cameirus
plate (Fig. 8) was the same as that of the Hittite sun-caryatids
as shown in the Eflatun Bunar relief; that is, with one leg ex-
1 An excellent summary is given in the article Bes, in Roscher's Lexikon.

The scepticism as to the dependence of certain features of the Gorgon type on
the Bes type, shown by Six, De Gorgone, is not based on valid reasoning and is
largely due to his misconception of the Gorgon.
2 Furtwhtngler, Antike Gemmen, pl. XV, 67 and 69; cf. 72.
tended and uncovered. It appealrs, with even closer dependence

on Hittite models, in such works as the Theban aryballus at
Oxford (Fig. 9). The other
part of the Hittite attitude -
the raised arms - appears in
other early Gorgons, e.g. the r~rY
Perugia bronze handle and

the so-called "Anubis" buc-
chero vase at Chiusi. But
very soon the wingless, mo-
tionless caryatid scheme was ~P~i?QT ?3
replaced by the winged type
both motionless and in mo-
tion, with knee bent, the
attitude made famous by the
so-called Nike of Archermos. FIGURE 8. - GORGON AS MOTHER-GOD-
The attempt to call this DESS, ON CAMEIRUS PLATE, BRITISH

MUSEUM.
kneeling attitude the normal
archaic mode of representing the act of flying is perhaps
questionable in its initial stages. But it would be perfectly
normal for tile running or flying caryatid; that is, for th
figure moving under a superimposed weight such as the su
disk. This is what Medusa seems to
have become: the moving sun-caryatid,
as she was also the mother-goddess
caryatid. The Assyrian and other
oriental seals and cylinders show that
;jr
this conception was a common one both
Y B in attitude and function. Even when

perfectly immovable, as an object of
-~-~----~adoration, in the way she appears on
FIGURE 9. - ARTEMIS ON
the Corcyra pediment, she preserves
ARYBALLUS AT OXFORD. this kneeling attitude.
There were, of course, several stages
in the process of assimilation of oriental and Egyptian t
under the influence of sun worship, by which the Gor
Medusa passed from being mainly a fecundity goddess,
alias of the Mother Goddess, with a solar connection added
to the central idea; to the second stage of being primarily
370 A. L. FROTHINGIHAM
a sun-spirit, associated with the Mother Goddess, as

ing the fecundating and destructive effects of the sun.
The Cameirus plate of the seventh century, already cited,
illustrates the first stage, in which Medusa holds the birds
of the Mother Goddess and shows little trace of sun worship.
The archaic bronze Perugia vase handle in Munich 1 represents
a slightly later stage, even though the figure is not winged,
with the crouching Bes-like Medusa holding two lions by the
neck, but not associated with snakes. A middle stage in which
the two elements are evenly balanced is illustrated by the
Corcyra pediments. In the Selinus metope the Mother God-
dess has disappeared and the solar element has triumphed,
though here Medusa and Pegasus are both wingless. This is
one of many proofs that both winged and wingless types existed
at the same time; as we shall find that the snake and the
snakeless types and the closed and open-mouth types coexisted.
A classification of the monuments in my next paper will suggest
how racial and local traditions more than age produced these
differences. The consideration of Medusa as sun-carrier has
brought us at last to the Gorgoneion.
THE GORGONEION AND ARTEMIS ORTHIA. -Of course the
most crucial question of all is: When and why did the idea of
beheading the Medusa arise,--of
transforming into a mere head this
composite Nature and Sun Spirit?
For contrary to many critics, I find
G,
it no longer possible to deny, with
the evidence just given, that the
whole figure preceded the head. In
order to answer this question, we
must first see what was the form, and
hence the meaning, of the head. All
FIGURE 10. - MEDUSA AS THE
SUN-DISK. ARCHAIC VASE
critics recognize that it was circular,
FROM CORNETO. but none appear to have concluded
that it was the sun disk itself. This,
however, is susceptible of proof. In a large archaic urn (Fig
10) from Corneto, belonging to the Blacas collection,2 there
1 Levezow, Ueber die Entwickelung des Gorgonen-Ideals, pl. I, 2.
2 Ibid. pl. II, 21.
a carefully drawn Medusa head inscribed in a circle, and this

circle is enclosed in a narrow yellow nimbus from which radiate
twenty-eight snakes. Now it must be noted that the snakes are
separated from the head around the entire circumference by
this golden nimbus, intended evidently to represent the edge of
the sun disk. The detachment of the head from the nimbus,
which is here only partial, is made complete in the head of an
archaic cylix in Philadelphia,' where the hair, as well as the
face, is disconnected. This arrangement of the snakes in a
complete circle around the Gorgon head is a common archaic
form; the snakes representing, of course, the sun's rays. The
sun-disk idea seems to have been continuous, appearing as late
as the age of the Antonines in the medallion that encloses the
Gorgoneion.
Now there is an insignificant little lead offering found
in the excavations of the Artemision at Sparta (Fig. 11), which
would appear to be a connecting link between CI ?ly?r
the Gorgoneion, as the sun-disk, and the

entire Gorgon, as the sun-carrier or caryatid.2 "
In this piece the face of the Gorgon is in- lo~
scribed in an absolute geometrical circle, with

heavy raised border, to which the primitive,
almost acrolithic body seems a mere append-
age. From the body snakes radiate. The
arms are raised high along the globular head
FIGURE 11. - LEAD
in the caryatid attitude, and from the head
FIGURINE FROM
springs the head and bust of some deity, SPARTA.
too minute for identification. On its right
a lance and on its left a snake (?) spring also from the Gorgo
head. Here, then, is the transitional stage. The little lead
figurine may date from the seventh century B.c., and probably
the find contained many like it. It is only one of many
indications that in this Laconian sanctuary of Artemis Orthia,
the Gorgon (and the Gorgoneion) was the principal emblem
of the goddess. It was probably, then, shortly before the
seventh century that the idea of the separate Gorgon head
occurred, and that the sun-carrier was transformed into the
1 In the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.
2 B.S.A. XIV, p. 24, Fig. 9.
material emblem of the sun-disk. Th

date at which the conception of th
head could have been used in Greek literature. The descrip-
tions of the aegis in the Iliad might then have been written
in the eighth, or possibly as early as the ninth, century, but
hardly before. The birth of Athena from the head of Zeus
was probably a male adaptation of a Mother-Goddess myth, as
here illustrated. Proof of this appears in such works as the
primitive marble idol in Carlsruhe, in which a tiny figure is
perched on the head of the mother, evidently the child.1
The little leaden Medusas were not by any means the only
Medusa material furnished by these excavations of the British
School in the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta, with its
wealth of votive objects of the eighth, seventh, and early sixth
centuries.2 In fact, they give for the Greek mainland the almost
exact Doric counterpart of the Cretan nature goddess, with the
changes and additions which the type underwent after being
subjected in Asia Minor to Egyptian, Hittite, and Oriental
contamination. Artemis Orthia has the uncovered breasts.
She has the lions. She appears sometimes wingless and s
times winged. She is associated with the horse, the wa
birds, the snake, the griffin, the dove, etc. She has appare
a male bearded counterpart, as was the case in Crete, and,
that case, it appears to be Zeus. Her worship also furn
the final proof of the connection between Artemis and Me
In one plaque she is accompanied by a large snake, and s
abound on the vase-paintings. Among the ritual objects
large number have the Gorgoneion. This is the case wit
plates, the drinking cups, and the vases, where the Gorgon
continually appears as the central motif, in such a way
have shown the excavators themselves that there was a ritual
connection. Finally, the Perseus myth was adopted and re
resented on an ivory fibula-plaque, ascribed to the early six
century. Artemis Orthia appears as one of the most primit
figures in Hellenic mythology up to the present illustrated by
numerous finds. She is distinctly a nature and fertility go
1 Perrot and Chipiez, VI, p. 740, Fig. 332.
2 See the B.S.A. beginning in Vol. XII; cf. M. S. Thompson, 'The Asiatic
or Winged Artemis,' in J.H.S. 1909, p. 286.
dess, and a phallic deity. When the closeness of the re

between Sparta and Crete are considered, the religious af
seems natural. It must have been established at a ver
date. The second most important relationship of Spart
with Delphi, would explain the solar element, in case that
not thought to have been an oriental contamination. It is
too much to say that the finds here prove that the Gorg
the principal embodiment of Artemis Orthia, who was the
terpart both of the Cretan and the Anatolian goddess
this harmonizes with all the previous indications. It is
tant to note that as these Spartan types appear to hav
formed as early as the eighth century, they antedate any
yet discovered in Asia Minor or the islands, except Crete.
MEDUSA, ARTEMIS, AND THE HORSE. --Before the cons
tion of the orthodox Medusa and Gorgoneion, there seem t
?,~ ~F~Z~
~id~C \~ it
,?
/4
~/I ~?
1~Sf~1'~~J~4\ 19
i
r, --- -- ---~-----~------- -,-~-I--- -
FIGURE 12.--PERSEUS AND MEDUSA
been other attempts at embody

nature goddess. I shall note m
cause it enters into the classi
the form of Pegasus. It is ha
fact that in ancient myth th
emblem and that the centaur
as personifications of the sola
and Hebe, etc.
One of the rare large early Boeotian amphorae w

published by De Ridder,1 has, as main decoration o
Perseus killing Medusa (Fig. 12). To a complete fe
the artist has attached all but the forequarters of
doing it awkwardly, as the Gorgon is in front vie
horse in profile. Medusa is nude to the waist. Sh
wings, no snakes, or tusks
~T~ Z or protruding tongue; in
fact, none of the facial
?~t;-~
peculiarities, except ro-
tundity of outline, that are
\\
connected with the regu-
ii" -? i?- i ; /I 1\' lar archaic type. Evi-

dently, this type represents
FIGURE 13. - THE MOUNTAIN MOTHER
GO>DESS.
quite another tradition,
perhaps, of Cretan origin.
The upcurving ends of Perseus' shoes suggest, however, Hittite
influence. The salamander over Medusa is a solar allusion.
A solar emblem is also the long-stemmed lotus or lily
second vase, also in the Louvre, had the same scene, but it
is fragmentary. A third vase of the same series, also found at
Thebes, has in the same place the scene of the adoration of the
Great Mother by her two votaries flanked by two lions, whose
fore paws rest on a hill, showing the goddess to be the mountain
goddess, lineal decendant of
the Cretan (Fig. 13). In
both cases, the body of the
vase is decorated with two a
zones of animals, hinds above

and stags below. The asso- FIGURE 14. - SCARABS WITH hIPPO-
GORGONS.
ciation of the goddess with
the Hippo-gorgon is evident. There are several sma
which show the Gorgon as a Hippo-gorgon at about t
i.e. seventh century. Of two scarabs (Fig. 14), adduced
by De Ridder in this connection, the one in which Medusa
is holding a lion shows the wings attached to the human
shoulders, whereas in the other, where she is holding a wild
boar, the wings are attached to the horse. In the first,
1 B.C.H. XXII, 1898, p. 439, pls. IV, V.
six snakes radiate from the head; in the second, there are no
snakes. There is nothing resembling the typical Gorgon mask
in either. The use of wings
shows that, in works contami- * A~f
nated by oriental art and pro-

duced either in Asia Minor or
the islands, the Hippo-gorgon
was current as well as in -
Boeotia, and, probably also,

Arcadia. There is also another
interesting instance, the Ca-
meirus electrum necklace 1 of
F
the same period (seventh cen- GORGON, ON CAMEIRUS NECKLACE.
tury). Here two subjects are
repeated alternately on the plaques: the "Persian Artemis" and
her embodiment the Hippo-gorgon (Fig. 15). Here Artemis is
holding the lions and Medusa a hind,
I
and the artist has come closer to
~Z~a~
47t\ nature than in the Boeotian vase.
\\ ct.
:,??' t'~7'~
I; i
Another mode of association ap-
?,)
pears in the votive offerings of Ar-
temis Orthia and cognate finds, where
FIGURE 16. - FRAGMENT FROM
the Gorgon head is made to rise from
SHRINE OF ARTEMIS ORTHIA. the crotch between two heraldically
disposed horses' heads (Fig. 16); and
this type is supplemented by figurines, between two horses
Artemis herself.2 The earliest stage would figure the Go
as all horse (Fig. 17).
This is illustrated in early F~1C~7
Boeotian ceramics; for
instance, in a terra-cotta
9
coffer from Thebes, where H C
the decoration is in the
form of two metopal FIGURE 17. - TERRA-COTTA COFFER FROM
THEBES, BERLIN MUSEUM.

scenes, evidently closely
related.3 In one, the Mother of Beasts holds two birds; in
1 Radet, Cybibb, Fig. 7; Salzmann, NMcrop. de Camiros, pl. I.
2 J.H.S. 1909, p. 286 ff.; article by M. S. Thompson.
8 Radet, Fig. 17 ; cf. examples In J.H.S. 1909, p. 286.
the other is a horse, bridled and sta

goddess. Of the numerous horses i
geometric styles,1 a number must b
point of view, but the earliest conn
worship of the Mother Goddess is, p
seal impression of Cnossus,2 which
memorate the importing of the ho
home of the Gorgon, and also, proba
people and civilization. The large-sized horse, bitted and
harnessed, stands proudly, a ritual figure, in front of a long
vessel, still manned by its rowers. From this germ, perhaps,
comes the Boeotian Centauress Medusa, and the scene on black
and on red figured vases, etc., in which the slain Medusa is capped
with a horse's head, forming a figure like the Demeter of
Phigaleia with the horse's head, another alias of Medusa as the
Chthonic Mother.
This phase of the myth was soon rejected, and is important

here not merely on account of the Popeidon and Pegasus con-
nection, but because it had no elements of a "horrible" Medusa
head, and furnished good evidence that the horrible or bogey
idea is mainly a figment of modern critics based on a few exag-
gerated or misunderstood expressions in ancient authors. The
exact place of the horse in the myth need not be considered
here. Its importance would naturally have been emphasized
in such naturalistic regions as Arcadia and Boeotia.
We have now come to the end of our preliminary pilgrimage,
returning to the Greek mainland with Artemis, after having
left it with Apollo. At this point we can take certain premises
for granted, and can then proceed in a systematic and historic
manner to reconstruct in subsequent papers the entire figure of
the Gorgon and the Gorgoneion.
These premises are:
(1) That there was an early connection with Apollo and the
sun.
(2) That there was an even earlier connection

in her aspect as Nature and Fertility Goddess, a
Nature goddesses.
1 E.g. in B. C.H. XXII, p. 274, a Boeotian specimen of D
2 B. S.A. XI, p. 13.
MEDUSAB, APOLLO, AND THE GREAT MOTHER 377
(3) That these two ideas were amalgamated and incor-

porated in the Gorgon at some time later than ca. 1000 B.C. and
before 600 B.c.
(4) That the Gorgon myth is an early, broad, and important

nature myth quite different from the usual conception of it, a
that its plastic expression included elements taken from Egyp
Crete, the Hittites, Assyria, and primitive Asia Minor.
A. L. FROTHINGHAM.
PRINCETON, N. J.,
July 5, 1911.

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Medusa, Apollo, and the Great Mother

Archaeological Institute of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and

MEDUSA, APOLLO, AND THIE GREAT MOTHER

IN venturing the following interpretation of the Gorgon

After dominating in pre-Hellenic times, she was given in

bodiments of earth, air, and water? It was a puzzle to be u

of good (Apollo) and evil (Medusa). This explan

that recently found at the temple in Corfu, which I shall

In the temple the two sacred objects were the omphalos

killing of the Gorgon by Perseus or of the runn

tongue does not protrude, nor has sh

winged shoulders. Chrysaor, on her left, stands, a strongly

MlEDUSA AND THE MISTRESS OF BIRDS AND

disclosed a continuous civilization beginning at the neolithic

In all three aspects she bears upon the Medusa question.

FIGURE 2.- VOTARY OF THE CRETAN SNAKE GODDESS.

over her shoulder, descending behind to follow the outlin

formance of a ritual dance. Their bosoms also are bare, with

In her other form of *'1 'I

mountain and lion god-

dently belonged to a shrine of the snake godd

tongue (Fig. 5 a). This antefix does not differ essent

is carefully and rigidly arranged, not

normal one in Hellenic Crete of the

the entire Gorgon tribe in Greek

INFLUENCE. - Passing now from Crete to Asia Minor, w

the spread of the cult and its representations. Among the

the back of her head, there

almost horizontally, two

raise one paw to rest it

to M~nant to resemble goat head

These two examples will be for the present sufficient to con-

as do also such Hittite rock reliefs as that of Eflatun Bunar,'

Mother Goddess in the De Clercq seal has

of the archaic Medusa. Its two raised hands

assigned to male figures in oriental art were in this case

1 An excellent summary is given in the article Bes, in Roscher's Lexikon.

tended and uncovered. It appealrs, with even closer dependence

Perugia bronze handle and

The attempt to call this DESS, ON CAMEIRUS PLATE, BRITISH

Y B in attitude and function. Even when

a sun-spirit, associated with the Mother Goddess, as

a carefully drawn Medusa head inscribed in a circle, and this

the Gorgoneion, as the sun-disk, and the

In this piece the face of the Gorgon is in- lo~

scribed in an absolute geometrical circle, with

material emblem of the sun-disk. Th

dess, and a phallic deity. When the closeness of the re

FIGURE 12.--PERSEUS AND MEDUSA

been other attempts at embody

One of the rare large early Boeotian amphorae w

ii" -? i?- i ; /I 1\' lar archaic type. Evi-

zones of animals, hinds above

nated by oriental art and pro-

Boeotia, and, probably also,

THEBES, BERLIN MUSEUM.

the other is a horse, bridled and sta

This phase of the myth was soon rejected, and is important

(2) That there was an even earlier connection