Medusa was another mortal who had suffered at Athena's hands. She had once been a beautiful female who had compared herself with Athena and suffered a hideous metamorphoses in consequence. Another version of the story is that Medusa had defiled the temple of Athena by having sexual relations with Poseidon. For whichever reason, the goddess Athena was displeased with Medusa and turned her into a monster who could turn people to stone if they chanced to look upon her eyes or face. Not content with this deformation, Athena helped Perseus decapitate Medusa. Since Perseus couldn't directly cut off Medusa's head without risking being turned to stone, Athena held a mirrored shield for Perseus to look into while he worked. Perseus gave the head to Athena as a reward for her help.
When Iodama glanced at the head of Medusa, the snaky locks turned her to stone.
[9.34.2] The following tale, too, is told. Iodama, who served the goddess as priestess, entered the precinct by night, where there appeared to her Athena, upon whose tunic was worked the head of Medusa the Gorgon. When Iodama saw it, she was turned to stone. [Pausanias]
Other Women Athena Harmed
- Alcinoe
- Daughters of Cecrops
Denigration of the Value of Women
At the matricide trial of Orestes, Athena cast the deciding vote. Because she had little regard for the feminine, she sided with Orestes, who had killed his mother, Clytemnestra. Athena even called the mother nothing more than a nurse to the unborn. Proof that a mother is unimportant, Athena found in her own experience. She had been born, not of a woman, but from the head of her father, Zeus. This made it clear that mothers are non-essentials.The one who mounts is the parent, whereas she, as a stranger for a stranger, [660] preserves the young plant, if the god does not harm it. And I will show you proof of what I say: a father might exist without a mother. A witness is here at hand, the child of Olympian Zeus, who was not nursed in the darkness of a womb, [665] and she is such a child as no goddess could give birth to.
Aeschylus Eumenides
From Deborah Lyons: Gender and Immortality
Another similar story is told about Pallas, the daughter of Triton, whose death Athena caused indirectly while they were practicing martial arts. In Apollodorus' account Pallas is also a sort of stepsister of Athena, who is being raised by Pallas' father Tritonos.103 These sibling relations between goddess and mortals are extraordinary, not least for the genealogical and theological difficulties they would create if taken seriously. Nothing similar is found between gods and heroes, nor for any other goddess.
