Welcome to The Reading Room
The night sky is the oldest library in the world. Most people have just aren’t sure how to read it. This is where we start.
The Betrayal of Medusa: Monster or Victim?
If mythology is famous for anything, it’s for its tales of betrayal, spiteful gods and tragedy. Most of us are familiar with the story of Orion, killed by the Earth goddess Gaia for boasting too loudly of his hunting skills, or poor Andromeda, chained to a rock by her own parents as a sacrifice to the sea monster Cetus. But perhaps the most tragic of them all is that of the gorgon Medusa. Throughout popular culture, Medusa was mostly portrayed as nothing more than a black-hearted monster, intent on destroying any living soul that entered her domain. Yet if we were to look at the why behind her terrible circumstances, we might see her as the greatest victim of all.