# Old stories (e.g., myths) about things being born from necks...? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-stories-e-g-myths-about-things-being-born-from-necks/729703 "2015-09-02T13:37:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KendriaPerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9fc348/32.png) [@KendriaPerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KendriaPerry)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-stories-e-g-myths-about-things-being-born-from-necks/729703/1 "2015-09-02T13:37:41Z")
This is a weird question, I know, but I was wondering about it: I haven’t read Greeks myths in years, but I’m pretty sure there was a recurring theme/trope involving creatures and/or people being born from “springing” out of necks, or heads, I don’t really remember. I think Paradise Lost had something like this, too. Thanks in advance, ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-stories-e-g-myths-about-things-being-born-from-necks/729703/2 "2015-09-02T13:41:39Z")
There’s the classic, [Athena.](http://www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/athena/stories/birth-of-athena/) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-stories-e-g-myths-about-things-being-born-from-necks/729703/3 "2015-09-02T14:00:13Z")
> [@KendriaPerry](#): > > This is a weird question, I know, but I was wondering about it: I haven’t read Greeks myths in years, but I’m pretty sure there was a recurring theme/trope involving creatures and/or people being born from “springing” out of necks, or heads, I don’t really remember. I think Paradise Lost had something like this, too. Thanks in advance, In the myth of Perseus, two creatures are born from the neck of Medusa after she has been decapitated – the flying horse Pegasus and the warrior Chrysaor. The event has even been depicted numerous times on gems and pottery, and it looks very weird [https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;\_ylt=A0LEVyqm\_uZVFZUAwgxXNyoA;\_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Birth+of+Pegasus&fr=yfp-t-412#id=79&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mlahanas.de%2FGreeks%2FMythology%2FImages%2FPegasusChrysaor.jpg&action=click](https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0LEVyqm_uZVFZUAwgxXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Birth+of+Pegasus&fr=yfp-t-412#id=79&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mlahanas.de%2FGreeks%2FMythology%2FImages%2FPegasusChrysaor.jpg&action=click) There are more pictures of this in my book. I honestly don’t know of any other examples of such neck-births. (Athena is said to have been born from Zeus’ “head” or “peak”. Vase painting show her spring from his forehead. I’ve never seen one of her coming from his neck, with or without Zeus’ head being attached). as for WHY these two are born from her neck, I have a theory. I suspect the idea that Chrysaor and Pegasus were born from the stump of her neck attached to her body is in error – they were really born from the stump of her neck attached to her _head_. In the sky, the star Algol represents the head of Medusa (not merely her eye, as the star charts often depict it). Look at this illustration, but assume that Algol is the entire head: [https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;\_ylt=AwrBT9Hv\_.ZV8VUAFlVXNyoA;\_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Constellations+Perseus+and+Pegasus&fr=yfp-t-412#id=0&iurl=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F\_z4ZYXyojONM%2FTMdAVR9mx2I%2FAAAAAAAAAzw%2FxpByYm-S120%2Fs1600%2Fconstellation\_Pegasus\_andromeda\_perseus.jpg&action=click](https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrBT9Hv_.ZV8VUAFlVXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Constellations+Perseus+and+Pegasus&fr=yfp-t-412#id=0&iurl=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F_z4ZYXyojONM%2FTMdAVR9mx2I%2FAAAAAAAAAzw%2FxpByYm-S120%2Fs1600%2Fconstellation_Pegasus_andromeda_perseus.jpg&action=click) To one side you have the constellation of Pegasus, the flying horse (and one reason the horse is flying is because it’s in te sky as a constellation). To the other side you have Perseus with his characteristic curved _Kerpe_ (sword). But to some, I suggest, this represented Chrysaor with his Golden Sword (which gave him his name). Thus Chrysaor and Pegasus spring from the neck of Medusa, in opposite directions. The people who made those gems and vases didn’t know that this astronomical relationship is what the myth-tellers had in mind; they only had the verbal or literary description to work from, and they interpreted it very literally. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-stories-e-g-myths-about-things-being-born-from-necks/729703/4 "2015-09-02T14:10:11Z")
Possible real-world connection: goiters and other swollen neck glands as the idea that something could be “born” from there? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-stories-e-g-myths-about-things-being-born-from-necks/729703/5 "2015-09-04T00:24:25Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Possible real-world connection: goiters and other swollen neck glands as the idea that something could be “born” from there? Goiters are mostly caused by iodine deficiency. Would that be a common ailment in Greeks, living next to the Mediterranean Sea, and presumably eating a lot of seafood? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-stories-e-g-myths-about-things-being-born-from-necks/729703/6 "2015-09-04T03:26:00Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Goiters are mostly caused by iodine deficiency. Would that be a common ailment in Greeks, living next to the Mediterranean Sea, and presumably eating a lot of seafood? Apparently goiters are depicted in [ancient Greek art](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4287773/), so they were at least known.