Perseus and Medusa
Neptune raping Medusa in Minerva's Temple
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"They say that Neptune, lord of the seas, violated her in the temple of Minerva. Jupiter’s daughter turned away, and hid her chaste eyes behind her aegis. So that it might not go unpunished, she changed the Gorgon’s hair to foul snakes. And now, to terrify her enemies, numbing them with fear, the goddess wears the snakes, that she created, as a breastplate.’"
My goodness there is so much raping of the poor unwilling human virgins or any female, and then angry jealous goddesses punishing the rape victims for being a victim to add insult to injury. It would appear that it is detrimental to be born beautiful. You are not even safe from the Gods and Goddesses, in fact it puts a bulls eye on your back. Medusa got a rough deal. Just like Callisto. Just like a lot of women who were punished for being victims. In so many ways I see the parallels with modern times. The more that times change, the more they stay the same. I wonder if we just keep being stuck in the old archetype roles and retelling the same old story, just with an updated look or language. At least for the sake of mythology and folklore I think this is the case.
Ovid is telling the story of Perseus and Medusa in a strange point of view. Perseus is the archetype hero and he of course is known for his heroic deeds and so Andromeda's family is asking about the Medusa head that he drags around everywhere turning things into stone,like Atlas into Mount Atlas.
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