Medusa was a beautiful priestess of Athena. Dressed in green with her hair braided back, Medusa went about her duties in the temple of her patron deity. It was then that another god, and a rival to Athena, took notice of her.
Poseidon rose from the sea adjacent to Athens and made his way, disguised as a handsome mortal, to Athena’s temple. He found Medusa in her worship and took her by the hand. Surprised, she questioned his purpose. With eyes like the current that tears you violently under the waves, Poseidon made his request. “No,” she said, “Not here especially but nowhere else either.”
The prideful god paid no mind to her answer. He took what he wanted.
Athena, seeing this disgraceful act being performed in her temple, waited for Poseidon to leave Medusa there, crumpled on the floor and begging Athena’s mercy. The war goddess, with the expectant eyes of Olympus on her and without the option of punishing the real culprit, placed a curse upon Medusa to ensure that no man would harm her again.
Medusa's beautiful hair shifted and twisted into snakes, her skin twisted and boiled so it was permanently marred beyond recognition and her features rearranged themselves into an indescribably monstrous formation. Medusa, now a hideous creature, gave her final silent prayer to Athena. She went unseen from the temple to the hills.
Years later, in a time when Athena donned the shield Aegis adorned with Medusa’s monstrous face and when the sons of Zeus were seeking quests across the known world, one of those sons was granted a quest into the hills nearby Athens.
With gifts from the gods, Perseus, son of Zeus sent out to harm Medusa. Peacefully, in her cave, the monster slept. With an eye on his reflective shield, Perseus removed her head.
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I love your story! Its great. There are many different versions of this story. I heard this story before and it makes me sad that Poseidon would do that to an innocent girl, It makes me even for sad that Athena didn't show mercy. It wasn't Medusa fault, Poseidon Took advantage after she specifically said no. Athena may have put a curse on Medusa to save her but she cursed her so no man could love her. When she should have made it so Gods and men couldnt take advantage of her after she said no. But this is a great version of the story i love every thing about it, i love how its short in telling us what is going on and i love that you used the correct names in retelling it too. Keep up the good work
Thx for the amazing story
JoeTamez
its cool ive actually learned a but about the goddess Athena, and its fun to read something, that is like something about her in it, like its not like she was a side character. she was the reason medusa was the way she was. im a bit confused on poseidon, what did he do exactly to make Athena so mad? i assumed it was something with marrige. but i feel like if it was that, then medusa could have clearly explain. other then that it is really good¡
Ouch. That's not nice. >.<
Great job on the story by the way! It's great! I've read many other legends of Medusa, and this was like one that I read a while ago. Keep up the great work! 
Spoiler
Thanks!
Your welcome!
Okay!
I have read many retellings of the legend of Medusa, and I have always felt that Athena had wrongly cursed Medusa. Although in the original it is said that Medusa was prideful and arrogant, I always felt that there is a hidden story.
Anyways, I like that in this story Athena recognized what had happened, and placed the curse on Medusa to save her, not curse her.
A joy to read!
-Gnomish
Thanks! This is my favorite interpretation of this myth, so I'm glad you liked it!
First off, I myself actually love this myth and have always empathized with Medusa first and foremost, so it's really interesting to see a different version of it. I liked how you referenced the fact that in ancient Greece, you couldn't really..... get at any of the other gods, unless indirectly by using mortals, so Poseidon didn't have to care.
The end seemed.... odd? It wasn't quite clear whether or not any of the other gods had just despised Athena or were unhappy with her decision, so it wasn't as obvious as it was in the original myth as to why exactly Perseus was being sent to kill Medusa. Unless of course he was like "Ow man she's ugly let's kill her now" and it was his own decision, in which case it would have been nice to have had that affirmed in some way. It was enjoyable to read, though you didn't adopt any specific style of writing, it would've been nice to possibly use more antiquated word use to make it feel as if this was a tale told by someone in that time period, but that's more of an optional suggestion, wouldn't really have improved this piece hugely.
Not to say that it's not a good piece, no, it's well written and other than a few minor plot issues (Such as possibly making Athena's motivation even clearer so that readers don't ask "Hey why didn't she just turn Medusa into a tree or something isn't a monster a bit overzealous and asking for someone to come kill it" and possibly making Perseus's motivation clearer), but they're pretty fixable. I really liked the phrase "When the sons of Zeus were seeking quests across the known world", and I think the piece could use more of that sort of thing. Also if you REALLY want to call all the gods out, Zeus literally raped every pretty girl he came across. I mean, geez, at least HADES actually seemed to take his wife's opinion into account and had a sort of equal relationship, barring him kidnapping her.
ALSO, YES, I'M SAYING I LIKE THIS 'VERSION' OF THS STORY BECAUSE well, you must remember that there are many, many, manymanymanymany different versions of the same myth, as most of the myths were passed down orally through bards and whatnot, so this would actually be just another version. There is, unfortunately, no true original text that we can find, so technically every version of this story ever, is simply that, a version. I never knew this was actually one of the first versions, could you possibly tell me where you heard this version? I like this piece, very well written.
(Although Perseus is one of my favourite heroes.... possibly because of the lovely name, I'm now conflicted. Oh well, the truth is the truth.)
Thanks for the review! I know what you mean by "version" because, yeah, there are WAY too many version, this one just makes a lot of sense to me because of how Medusa's face is used to symbolize women's safe houses and such. I don't know, I just like it. Anyway, thanks, I'll take all of this into account in the future.
First off, I myself actually love this myth and have always empathized with Medusa first and foremost, so it's really interesting to see a different version of it. I liked how you referenced the fact that in ancient Greece, you couldn't really..... get at any of the other gods, unless indirectly by using mortals, so Poseidon didn't have to care.
The end seemed.... odd? It wasn't quite clear whether or not any of the other gods had just despised Athena or were unhappy with her decision, so it wasn't as obvious as it was in the original myth as to why exactly Perseus was being sent to kill Medusa. Unless of course he was like "Ow man she's ugly let's kill her now" and it was his own decision, in which case it would have been nice to have had that affirmed in some way. It was enjoyable to read, though you didn't adopt any specific style of writing, it would've been nice to possibly use more antiquated word use to make it feel as if this was a tale told by someone in that time period, but that's more of an optional suggestion, wouldn't really have improved this piece hugely.
Not to say that it's not a good piece, no, it's well written and other than a few minor plot issues (Such as possibly making Athena's motivation even clearer so that readers don't ask "Hey why didn't she just turn Medusa into a tree or something isn't a monster a bit overzealous and asking for someone to come kill it" and possibly making Perseus's motivation clearer), but they're pretty fixable. I really liked the phrase "When the sons of Zeus were seeking quests across the known world", and I think the piece could use more of that sort of thing. Also if you REALLY want to call all the gods out, Zeus literally raped every pretty girl he came across. I mean, geez, at least HADES actually seemed to take his wife's opinion into account and had a sort of equal relationship, barring him kidnapping her.
ALSO, YES, I'M SAYING I LIKE THIS 'VERSION' OF THS STORY BECAUSE well, you must remember that there are many, many, manymanymanymany different versions of the same myth, as most of the myths were passed down orally through bards and whatnot, so this would actually be just another version. There is, unfortunately, no true original text that we can find, so technically every version of this story ever, is simply that, a version. I never knew this was actually one of the first versions, could you possibly tell me where you heard this version? I like this piece, very well written.
(Although Perseus is one of my favourite heroes.... possibly because of the lovely name, I'm now conflicted. Oh well, the truth is the truth.)
AGH I;m sorry, I posted this twice accidentally.
It happens more than you think.
Hi, I liked this spin off. I'm a fan of spin offs of almost any kind. It's great creating the other side of the story and you did a great job. I felt so bad for Medusa.
I have a couple questions. 1) Was Medusa happy about the curse? 2) Did she feel lonely later, being all alone in the mountains? 3) Was Athena meaning to help the poor girl - or punish her?
If Athena truly did this just to punish Medusa, then I feel for the girl's pain, hate Poseidon, and hate Perseus. You did a great job in making me feel the girl's pain. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the compliments, but this is not a spin-off, not even a little. Medusa's face is considered a symbol of women's safety and shelter to this day in some cases. This is just the original story, right from the text, written in my style with the "hero" being called out for what he actually did, which is murder a woman who was 'cursed' for being raped in a temple.
Sorry if I sound condescending, it's just I'm really mad that no one knows that this is the actual story.
Wow - I did not know that. Thanks for clarifying. The Greeks were truly awful on how they viewed women!
Do not get me started hon...
Okay
Hi there!
I like this. Not only because I am a Greek mythology freak, but because you but in good description. I also like how it is more of an essay form than a story. You formatted it really well too. I especially love the third paragraph.
Looking forward to more from you!
Thanks!