Medusa.
    One of the three Gorgons, children of the marine deity Phorcys and his sister Ceto and grandchildren of Pontus and Gaia (Ge), Medusa was the only Gorgon who was mortal. She and her sisters Stheno and Euryale had once been beautiful maidens but were transformed into hideous winged monsters with ugly faces, staring eyes, and snakes for hair; anyone who looked at them was turned into stone.
    Medusa’s transformation was the punishment of Athena (Minerva) for allowing Poseidon (Neptune) to violate her in the goddess’s temple. While Medusa was pregnant with Poseidon’s offspring, the hero Perseus, with Athena’s assistance, hunted her down and beheaded her. At the moment of her death, the winged horse Pegasus and the warrior Chrysaor were born from her gaping neck. According to another legend, one of her veins produced blood that Asclepius used to revive the dead, and another gave blood that was harmful to healthy mortals.
    After Perseus had used the severed head in other exploits, he returned it to Athena, who thereafter wore it on her breastplate as a warning to evildoers. The image of the Medusa head is popular in post-classical art and literature, evoking the Gorgon’s association with both Perseus and Athena.

    See also Perseus, and Medusa.