The Gorgon, a single monster for Homer, but 3 daughters of the sea god Phorcys and his sister Ceto, were shown with wings and goofy-looking or grotesque grinning faces with tongues sticking out. Of the three, Stheno (the Mighty), Euryale (the Far Springer), and Medusa (the Queen), only Medusa was mortal. In this Gorgon, the hair is wild, and possibly serpentine. Sometimes snakes are wrapped around her waist.
Medusa turned men who looked at her to stone. Thus, when Perseus set out to decapitate her, he could only do it if he didn't have to look at her. Perseus was given divine gifts that helped him. Athena, Hermes, and nymphs lent him with winged sandals, Hades' cap of invisibility, a bag for the head, and a sickle or curved sword, which Perseus used to decapitate the sleeping monster, while looking into the mirrored surface of Athena's bronze shield. Perseus gave the head of Medusa to Athena for her shield. He needed the cap of invisibility to escape from Medusa's two pursuing sisters.
