Medusa

The Stone-Eyed

Medusa, the most famous of the three Gorgons in Greek myth, was a monster with living serpents for hair whose gaze turned any who looked upon her to stone. In one tradition she was once a beautiful maiden, transformed in punishment after being violated in Athena's temple. She dwelt at the edge of the world until the hero Perseus, watching her reflection in a polished shield, beheaded her; from her severed neck sprang the winged horse Pegasus.