Medusa wasn’t always a monster. Once, she was a beautiful maiden, a devoted priestess in Athena’s temple. She had vowed purity and served the goddess with unwavering faith. But her beauty caught the eye of Poseidon, the god of the sea.
One fateful day, Poseidon violated Medusa within the sacred walls of Athena’s temple. Broken and betrayed, Medusa sought protection and justice from her goddess. But Athena, enraged that her temple had been defiled, turned her wrath toward Medusa instead of Poseidon.
As punishment, Athena cursed Medusa — stripping away her beauty and turning her hair into writhing snakes. Her once gentle gaze was turned into a weapon; anyone who dared look into her eyes would be turned to stone. Cast out and feared, Medusa became a figure of terror — not because of her sins, but because of the gods’ cruelty.
Medusa became a symbol of injustice — a victim turned villain in the eyes of the world. But beneath the cursed gaze was a soul that longed for peace, a woman whose only crime was being too beautiful in the presence of gods.
She was never a monster. She was made into one.