“ To control a woman “

My name is Medusa, and I was one of many

who served the Goddess Athena at her Temple.

In the foot hills surrounding the city of Athens.

It was there days after a ceremony honoring Athena

that I was brutally assaulted and raped by Poseidon.

Athena was being honored for her gift to the people

of Athens of the first Olive Tree.

Athena was enraged by the act of raped and the

desecration of her Temple.

She cursed me by turning me into a hideous Gorgon

replacing my once beautiful hair with dozens

of serpents.

My once beautiful body was transformed into that

of a winged serpent.

And every man who dared to look upon me and gaze

into my once beautiful green eyes was turned to stone.

For I was punished not for a crime that I had committed

but the victim of the of two Gods who in their petty

arrogance sought to punish a woman for being raped.

And in the arrogance of men and the often cruelty

of women to this day we are still being punished

for being the victim of a man’s lust and his need

to control a woman than to respect her as an equal…

Artist is unknown or unclear!