Ovid described Medusa’s severed head as still able to petrify living beings in Metamorphoses. The head remains dangerous even after Perseus kills Medusa and removes it from her body.
In Ovid’s account, Perseus uses the head against enemies and threats during his travels. Its power is not limited to Medusa’s living gaze: the severed head continues to transform those who look upon it into stone. Perseus eventually gives the head to Minerva, the Roman counterpart of Athena, who places it on her shield or breastplate.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses also supplies the famous story that Medusa’s hair was changed into snakes after an encounter involving Minerva. Because Ovid’s version became highly influential in European literature and art, many modern readers treat its details as universal Greek mythology, even though earlier sources differ.