In Greek mythology, Medusa is the Gorgon with snakes for hair whose gaze could turn people to stone. She was the only mortal member of the three best-known Gorgons; her sisters Stheno and Euryale were generally described as immortal.
The hero Perseus was sent to obtain Medusa’s head. With divine help, including Athena’s polished shield, he avoided looking directly at her and struck while using her reflection. After Perseus beheaded her, the winged horse Pegasus and the warrior Chrysaor emerged from her body, because Medusa had been pregnant by Poseidon in the myth’s traditional account.
Medusa is often confused with the Gorgons collectively, since ancient sources sometimes describe all three as snake-haired and petrifying. Her severed head also remained dangerous and became a protective emblem called a gorgoneion. Later art and literature transformed her from a purely monstrous figure into a more complex symbol of danger, protection, victimhood, and power.