Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Stheno (; ) and Euryale ( ; ) were two of the three sister

Gorgon The Gorgons ( ; ), in Greek mythology, are three monstrous sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, said to be the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. They lived near their sisters the Graeae, and were able to turn anyone who looked at them to sto ...

s, the third being

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; ), also called Gorgo () or the Gorgon, was one of the three Gorgons. Medusa is generally described as a woman with living snakes in place of hair; her appearance was so hideous that anyone who looked upon her wa ...

, who were able to turn anyone who looked at them to stone. When

Perseus In Greek mythology, Perseus (, ; Greek language, Greek: Περσεύς, Romanization of Greek, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus and Bellerophon, the greatest Greek hero and slayer of ...

beheaded Medusa, the two Gorgons pursued him but were unable to catch him.

Family

According to

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

, and

Apollodorus Apollodorus ( Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to: :''Note: A ...

, Stheno and Euryale, along with Medusa, were daughters of the primordial sea-god

Phorcys In Greek mythology, Phorcys or Phorcus (; ) is a primordial sea god, generally cited (first in Hesiod) as the son of Pontus and Gaia (Earth). Classical scholar Karl Kerenyi conflated Phorcys with the similar sea gods Nereus and Proteus. His w ...

and the sea-monster

Ceto Ceto (; ) is a primordial sea goddess in Greek mythology, the daughter of Pontus and his mother, Gaia. As a mythological figure, she is considered to be one of the most ancient deities, and bore a host of monstrous children fathered by Pho ...

, while, according to

Hyginus Hyginus may refer to: People *Hyginus, the author of the '' Fabulae'', an important ancient Latin source for Greek mythology. *Hyginus, the author of the ''Astronomia'', a popular ancient Latin guide on astronomy, probably the same as the author ...

, they were daughters of "the Gorgon", an offspring of

Typhon Typhon (; , ), also Typhoeus (; ), Typhaon () or Typhos (), was a monstrous serpentine giant and one of the deadliest creatures in Greek mythology. According to Hesiod, Typhon was the son of Gaia and Tartarus. However, one source has Typhon as t ...

and

Echidna Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the Family (biology), family Tachyglossidae , living in Australia and New Guinea. The four Extant taxon, extant species of echidnas ...

, and Ceto.

Mythology

The Gorgons Stheno and Euryale were immortal, whereas their Gorgon sister Medusa was mortal. The only story involving them is their pursuit of Perseus after he has beheaded Medusa. The Hesiodic ''

Shield of Heracles The ''Shield of Heracles'' (, ''Aspis Hērakleous'') is an archaic Greek epic poem that was attributed to Hesiod during antiquity. The subject of the poem is the expedition of Heracles and Iolaus against Cycnus, the son of Ares, who challenged ...

'' (c. late seventh–mid sixth century BC) describes the two Gorgons' pursuit of Perseus, as depicted on Heracles' shield: While the "great Fear" rioting upon the heads of the Gorgon, in the passage from the ''Shield'' quoted above, might possibly be a vague reference to hair made of snakes, the poet

Pindar Pindar (; ; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes, Greece, Thebes. Of the Western canon, canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...

makes such a physical feature explicit, describing the two Gorgons, just like their sister Medusa, as having "horrible snakey hair" (''ἀπλάτοις ὀφίων κεφαλαῖς''). According to Apollodorus' version of their story, all three Gorgons had the ability to turn to stone anyone who looked upon them. And when

managed to behead Medusa by looking at her reflection in his bronze shield, Stheno and Euryale chased after him, but were unable to see him because he was wearing Hades' cap, which made him invisible. Euryale's lamenting cry, while chasing Perseus, is noted in two sources. Pindar has Athena create the "many-voiced songs of flutes" to imitate the "shrill cry" of the "fast-moving jaws of Euryale". While

Nonnus Nonnus of Panopolis (, ''Nónnos ho Panopolítēs'', 5th century AD) was the most notable Greek epic poet of the Imperial Roman era. He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Thebaid and probably lived in the 5th century AD. He i ...

, in his ''

Dionysiaca The ''Dionysiaca'' (, ''Dionysiaká'') is an ancient Greek epic poem and the principal work of Nonnus. It is an epic in 48 books, the longest surviving poem from Greco-Roman antiquity at 20,426 lines, composed in Homeric dialect and dactylic hex ...

'', has the fleeing Perseus "listening for no trumpet but Euryale's bellowing".

Iconography

The typical archaic (c. 8th–5th century BC) depictions of Stheno and Euryale, show their head turned to face the viewer, sitting (seemingly without a neck) atop a running body in profile, with wings on its back and curl-topped boots. In later depictions the heads shrink in size with respect to their bodies, possess necks, and become less wild looking.Wilke
pp. 31–35
Krauskopf and Dahlinger
pp. 313–315, no. 312–334
For images see: ''LIMC'' IV-2
pp. 184–187 (Gorgo, Gorgones 312–331)

Notes

References

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

(?), ''

Prometheus Bound ''Prometheus Bound'' () is an ancient Greek tragedy traditionally attributed to Aeschylus and thought to have been composed sometime between 479 BC and the terminus ante quem of 424 BC. The tragedy is based on the myth of Prometheus, ...

'' in ''Aeschylus, with an English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. in two volumes.'' Vol 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

. 1926
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*

, ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes'', Cambridge, Massachusetts,

, London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. .
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Bane, Theresa, ''Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology'', McFarland, 2013. * Bremmer, Jan N., s.v. Gorgo/Medusa, publishe
online 22 December 2015
in the
Oxford Classical Dictionary
', edited by

Tim Whitmarsh Timothy John Guy Whitmarsh, (born 23 January 1970) is a British classicist and Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge. He is best known for his work on the Greek literary culture of the Roman Empire, especially the Second Sophi ...

, digital ed, New York, Oxford University Press. . * Daly, Kathleen N., Marion Rangel, ''Greek and Roman mythology, A to Z'', third edition, Chelsea House Publishers, New York, 2009. . *

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

, ''

Ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

'', translated by Robert Potter in ''The Complete Greek Drama'', edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill Jr. Volume 1. New York. Random House. 1938
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Gantz, Timothy, ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2). *

Gaius Julius Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Augustus, and reputed author of the '' Fabulae'' and the '' De astronomia'', although this is disputed. Life and works ...

, ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies
Online version at the Topos Text Project
* Grimal, Pierre, ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology'', Wiley-Blackwell, 1996.
Internet Archive
* Hard, Robin (2004), ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004,
Google Books
*

, ''Theogony'' from ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'' with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Krauskopf, Ingrid, Stefan-Christian Dahlinger ("literarische Quellen"), s.v. Gorgo, Gorgones in '' Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC)'' IV.1. Artemis Verlag, Zürich and Munich. 1988.
Internet Archive
* Mack, Rainer, "Facing Down Medusa (An aetiology of the gaze)", ''Art History'' vol. 25, 2002, pp. 571–604. * Mayor, Adrienne, ''The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World'', Princeton University Press, Feb 9, 2016. * Most, G.W. (2018b), ''Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments'',

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...

, No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts,

, 2007, 2018.
Online version at Harvard University Press
*

, ''

, Volume I: Books 1–15'', translated by W. H. D. Rouse,

No. 344, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1940 (revised 1984).
Online version at Harvard University PressInternet Archive (1940)
*

, ''

, Volume II: Books 16–35'', translated by W. H. D. Rouse,

No. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1940.
Online version at Harvard University PressInternet Archive (1940)
*

, ''

, Volume III: Books 36–48'', translated by W. H. D. Rouse,

No. 346, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940.
Online version at Harvard University PressInternet Archive (1940, reprinted 1942)
*

, ''Odes'', Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Tripp, Edward, ''Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology'', Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). . * Wilk, Stephen R., ''Medusa : Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon'', Oxford University Press, New York, 2000.
Internet ArchiveGoogle Books
{{Authority control Medusa Gorgons Monsters in Greek mythology Women in Greek mythology Mythological duos Sister duos

Family

Mythology

Iconography

See also

Notes

References