# When you read the word "gorgon," what image comes to mind?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 19, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343 "2011-08-19T18:04:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/41 "2011-08-19T22:37:01Z")

</div>

> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> A woman with a serpentine lower body sounds more like a lamia to me.

I tend to think of lamia as serpent women who eat humans rather than turn them to stone.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/42 "2011-08-19T22:40:02Z")

</div>

> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> I tend to think of lamia as serpent women who eat humans rather than turn them to stone.

My point was that, before the web, I never saw an image purported to be that of a gorgon which featured a lower body.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/43 "2011-08-19T22:48:46Z")

</div>

You know what I think of when I hear “Gorgon”?

The old commercial for the Atari 2600 game _Atlantis_:

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-O6GRGdo-no/hqdefault.jpg "Atlantis for Atari") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O6GRGdo-no)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/44 "2011-08-19T22:57:03Z")

</div>

The second thing I think of is the image of Medusa from the board game By Jove. According to **Cal Meacham** this image is very close to ancient depictions of the gorgons.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/45 "2011-08-19T23:07:59Z")

</div>

> [@Oakminster](#):
>
> I’d expect a large, bull-like creature, possibly metallic, with a petrification special attack, either by gaze or breath. Dunno where my _Monster Manual_ is, but it is definitely not at the office, so I can’t check quicky.
> 
> Also think it can only be hit by magic weapons. If you kill one in its lair, it might have pretty good loot from previous victims…

What he said.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/46 "2011-08-19T23:09:25Z")

</div>

> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> My point was that, before the web, I never saw an image purported to be that of a gorgon which featured a lower body.

_Clash of the Titans_ was from 1981, and that’s where I got the image.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/47 "2011-08-19T23:16:12Z")

</div>

[The D&D gorgon.](http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG137.jpg) Also what I think of when I hear the word.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/48 "2011-08-19T23:29:53Z")

</div>

> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> _Clash of the Titans_ was from 1981, and that’s where I got the image.

Never saw it. I don’t watch movies with Harry Hamlin in them. This rule has served me for many moons and I see no reason to change it. 😉

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/49 "2011-08-19T23:32:12Z")

</div>

> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> Never saw it. I don’t watch movies with Harry Hamlin in them. This rule has served me for many moons and I see no reason to change it. 😉

You’re really missing out on this one. Harryhausen is a genius! Dynamation!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/50 "2011-08-19T23:36:07Z")

</div>

> [@bump](#):
>
> The stop-motion animated Gorgon from the old-school “Clash of the Titans” movie.

This also, for me has been the standard for Gorgons. Also the similar Medusa from “The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao”. Tony Randall made an … interesting … looking woman.

I have seen a movie with Harry Hamlin in it and lived to tell the tale. Not been turned to stone, though I am a bit achey from time to time.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/51 "2011-08-19T23:47:11Z")

</div>

> [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#):
>
> I think of Ernest saying "Never met such a Gorgon… I don’t really know what a Gorgon is like, but I am quite sure that Lady Bracknell is one. In any case, she is a monster, without being a myth, which is rather unfair… "

Not really Ernest of course, it was Jack Worthing (since he was in town when he said it). But this was the first thing that came to my mind, too. Wilde lives!

Anyway, to the point of some earlier posts, Medusa was a Gorgon, but not the only one. Although apparently they all looked pretty much the same:

[QUOTE=Wikipedia]  
…the term commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair of living, venomous snakes, and a horrifying visage that turned those who beheld it to stone,  
[/QUOTE]

Nothing in there about scaly skin, and I think that would be confusing the snaky hair with a snaky body.  
Roddy

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/52 "2011-08-19T23:52:44Z")

</div>

My ex-girlfriend.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/53 "2011-08-20T00:05:06Z")

</div>

> [@Roderick\_Femm](#):
>
> Not really Ernest of course, it was Jack Worthing (since he was in town when he said it). But this was the first thing that came to my mind, too. Wilde lives!

You’ve got it backwards: Jack in the country and, Ernest in town. That, my dear boy, is the whole truth plain and simple.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/54 "2011-08-20T00:10:47Z")

</div>

> [@Roderick\_Femm](#):
>
> Anyway, to the point of some earlier posts, Medusa was a Gorgon, but not the only one. Although apparently they all looked pretty much the same:

I believe I have read arguments that in the earliest versions of the myth, Medusa actually _was_ the only one, and Stheno and Euryale were added due to a general tendency toward making female mythological figures into trines. They certainly seem to be afterthoughts to the story, from being transformed because they stood by Medusa when she was punished to unsuccessfully pursuing Perseus. Maybe **CalMeacham** can shed some light on the matter if he pops in.

Stheno hasn’t gone entirely without attention, though–in _City of Heroes_, the leader and mother-goddess of a faction of semi-anthropomorphic snake people is an ancient Incarnate named Stheno. She is implied to be the original.

As an aside, I would have thought the Gorgons would be kind of a touchy subject for **Skald** …

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/55 "2011-08-20T00:54:34Z")

</div>

> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> No I didn’t. I IGNORED that episode. I’m sure we can all agree
> 
> :: pulls out battle axe, starts casually honing its edge ::
> 
> that it was a mistake from start to finish and should never be spoken of again.
> 
> :: chops head off captive bonobo ::
> 
> Right?

Well, please yourself, it’s still the first thing I thought of, but you shouldn’t skew your data set if you want results that you can use.  
Oh, and BTW, Bonobo’s don’t intimidate me.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/56 "2011-08-20T01:02:22Z")

</div>

First… Harryhausen’s Clash of the Titans Medusa. Second, [Gorgonic Greek Coins](http://www.google.com/search?q=gorgon%20coin&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1024&bih=578)… saw some of them in a museum once.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [August 20, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/57 "2011-08-20T01:07:47Z")

</div>

Well, I’m prejudiced, you know, ince I have a Dog in this fight. Or a Gorgon in this fight.

Some thoughts:

1.) The Classical (i.e, _really old_) image of the Gorgon does NOT have snakes for hair. Sometimes it’ll have snakes _in_ its hair, but usually not.

2.) its defining characteristics are oversized staring eyes, a very round face, a broad, painful-looking grin, and, very often, a _beard_. Like on the cover of my book (taken from a red-figure dish in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City):

> **[Amazon.com: Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon: 9780195341317: Wilk,...](https://www.amazon.com/Medusa-Solving-Mystery-Stephen-Wilk/dp/0195341317)**
>
> Amazon.com: Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon: 9780195341317: Wilk, Stephen R: Books

3.) All of which suggests that that iconic face might not really be the Gorgon of Perseus fame, but might be some other face. I suggest possible alternatives in the book, two of which are Deimos and Phobos, Hades’ minions, which we don’t really have pictures of, but which probably didn’t look like this:

[http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;\_ylt=A0PDoS15Ak9OwUoAi8KJzbkF;\_ylu=X3oDMTA3cnMybzJvBHNsawNpbWc-?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3DDisney%2BPanic%2BFear%2BPictures%26n%3D30%26ei%3Dutf-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-701%26b%3D1%26tab%3Dorganic&w=349&h=260&imgurl=images.wikia.com%2Ffanfiction%2Fimages%2F9%2F9a%2FPain\_%2526\_Panic.PNG&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffanfiction.wikia.com%2Fwiki%2FPain\_and\_Panic&size=104.2+KB&name=Pain+and+Panic+-+Fan+Fiction+Wiki+-+You+can+write+and+show+your+own+...&p=Disney+Panic+Fear+Pictures&oid=1f78caff1fd78eb916d7eefaa581bb9f&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-701&tt=Pain+and+Panic+-+Fan+Fiction+Wiki+-+You+can+write+and+show+your+own+...&b=0&ni=30&no=1&tab=organic&sigr=11facr5ed&sigb=13keatldt&sigi=11qjfco2n&.crumb=.cVAJm9jvbC](http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0PDoS15Ak9OwUoAi8KJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3cnMybzJvBHNsawNpbWc-?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3DDisney%2BPanic%2BFear%2BPictures%26n%3D30%26ei%3Dutf-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-701%26b%3D1%26tab%3Dorganic&w=349&h=260&imgurl=images.wikia.com%2Ffanfiction%2Fimages%2F9%2F9a%2FPain_%2526_Panic.PNG&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffanfiction.wikia.com%2Fwiki%2FPain_and_Panic&size=104.2+KB&name=Pain+and+Panic+-+Fan+Fiction+Wiki+-+You+can+write+and+show+your+own+...&p=Disney+Panic+Fear+Pictures&oid=1f78caff1fd78eb916d7eefaa581bb9f&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-701&tt=Pain+and+Panic+-+Fan+Fiction+Wiki+-+You+can+write+and+show+your+own+...&b=0&ni=30&no=1&tab=organic&sigr=11facr5ed&sigb=13keatldt&sigi=11qjfco2n&.crumb=.cVAJm9jvbC)  
As I say, there are a lot of other candidates for what those jheads might mean to represent, including the Erinyes/Eumenides.Furies, the Fates, the Graiae, the Praxidikae, and Hecate. See Chapter 4 in my book.

1. Although Apollodorus tells us that there were three Gorgons, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, and that Perseus slew one, other sources suggest that Zeus slew a gorgon, or that Athena slew one. In one vase painting of the Birth of Athena, Ares is carrying a shield with a Gorgon’s head on it, suggesting that neither Perseus nor Athena slew a Gorgon.

2. All of which says that there’s no complete consistency among all the myths. I think of Apollodoris as a comic=-book Geek who tries to set and maintain a consistency among all the myths, but it’s impossible to be completely consistent. Greek mythology really needed a Crisis on Earth Greek, even before Apollodorus.

5.) Apollodorus, who got the information from a fragment called _The Shield of Herakles_ (supposed by many to be by Hesiod, but almost certainly not), described them as having wings, boar’s tusks, and bristly hair. But gorgon images are a grab-bag. Besides the riound-faces-with-big-eyes-and gritted teeth I describe above, there are gorgons with the bodies of horses, like centaurs, and gorgons with the bodies of birds. Later on in Greek art (and especially in Hellenistic art), Gorgons of the “Beautiful” type were popular, with plump but good-looking female faces, no broad grin, and a pathetic look in their eyes. Sometimes they had, in their hair, _wings_ instead of snakes. Versace uses this kind of gorgon in their logo:

> **[LogoMentor.com is for sale | HugeDomains](https://www.hugedomains.com/domain_profile.cfm?d=logomentor.com)**
>
> Get a new domain name for your startup. Quick and professional service. Seamless domain transfers.

6.) The scaly-faced gorgon and the gorgon with the snake for a body seem to originate with Ray Harryhausen’s original _Clash of the Titans_. He’d already done an exotic dancer with a snake body in _The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad_, so this wasn’t much of a stretch.

10.) Although you find examples of gorgons with snakes _in place of hair_ in Classical literature and art, they’re rare. (Hercukles had a vial with Gorgon Hair in it, and it wasn’t snakes) Even in the early Renaissance, Gorgons tended to have snakes \*in [i/] their hair. Gorgons invariable pictured with heads of snakes-only is really relatively recent. (And it hasn’t been good for the film industry – their pre-CGI gorgons looked pretty unconvincing, except for Harryhausen’s. Look at the gorgon’s in hammer’s _The Gorgon_, or in _The Seven Faces of Doctor Lao_.

11.) Then there are the really weird gorgons, that don’t fall into any category. By a historical accident, bestiaries talked about a northg African creature called the Catoblepas, which supposed to be the same as the Gorgon. The icture of it in Edward Topsell’s _The History of Four-Footed Beasts_ looks appropriately weird:

[http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;\_ylt=A0PDoX3NBk9OnVcAF4CJzbkF;\_ylu=X3oDMTA3cnMybzJvBHNsawNpbWc-?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3F\_adv\_prop%3Dimage%26va%3Dcatoblepas%26fr%3Dyfp-t-701%26b%3D1%26tab%3Dorganic&w=397&h=285&imgurl=www.eaudrey.com%2Fmyth%2Fimages%2Fcatoblepas.gif&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eaudrey.com%2Fmyth%2Fcatoblepas.htm&size=20.8+KB&name=Catoblepas&p=catoblepas&oid=4918734a28b086a8b09a781927f46e42&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-701&tt=Catoblepas&b=0&ni=30&no=14&tab=organic&sigr=11a2mgb2k&sigb=1372j7e3c&sigi=11a4r64p8&.crumb=.cVAJm9jvbC](http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0PDoX3NBk9OnVcAF4CJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3cnMybzJvBHNsawNpbWc-?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3F_adv_prop%3Dimage%26va%3Dcatoblepas%26fr%3Dyfp-t-701%26b%3D1%26tab%3Dorganic&w=397&h=285&imgurl=www.eaudrey.com%2Fmyth%2Fimages%2Fcatoblepas.gif&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eaudrey.com%2Fmyth%2Fcatoblepas.htm&size=20.8+KB&name=Catoblepas&p=catoblepas&oid=4918734a28b086a8b09a781927f46e42&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-701&tt=Catoblepas&b=0&ni=30&no=14&tab=organic&sigr=11a2mgb2k&sigb=1372j7e3c&sigi=11a4r64p8&.crumb=.cVAJm9jvbC)

Then there’s the Gorgon as imagined by Carlo Rambaldi for the Italian film _Perseus Against the Gorgon_ (Released in the US as _Son of Hercules Vs. the Gorgon_, which is seriously messed up, since Hercules was Perseus’ fifth-generation grandchild). Rambaldi is the guy who did the King Kong hands for the 1976 version of King Kong, and the head for the original 1979 _Alien_, the alien at the end of _Close Encounters_, and _E.T._ huimself, among other things – a genius with hydraulic technology. His Gorgon looks like an evil tree with a single big eye. If you look close, the “branches” seem to bifurcate into mouths, like snakes. In the close-up shot where Perseus puts out its eye (instead of beheading it – it _has_ no head) you can see a slit pupil:

[http://galeon.com/traditionalfx/makeup-monsters/Perseo-Medusa.html](http://galeon.com/traditionalfx/makeup-monsters/Perseo-Medusa.html)  
The bottom line is that, although there’s a sort of “baseline” gorgon myth and appearance from Apollodorus and standard Greek Pottery art, even in ythe ancient world there was a lot of variation (I haven’t been at all exhaustive), and since the Renaissance, peope have felt free to re-interpreet the image in all sorts of ways. I’ve seen Gorgons with Tentacles for hair, or with penises, or with many different kinds of snakes. Beautiful Gorgons and ugly gorgons, Gorgons with smooth skin and with scaly skin.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/58 "2011-08-20T01:10:13Z")

</div>

I think specifically of the Tony Randall Medusa also. Though a close second would be the Inhuman whose introductory appearance in _Fantastic Four_ #44 was also the debut of Joe Sinnott as inker, whose tintinnabulatin’ talents ushered in a whole new era of that magnificent Marvel magic…! [If this be annoyance, make the most of it.]

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/59 "2011-08-20T01:25:50Z")

</div>

In his time, the great 19th century French novelist Émile Zola was so famous, and so celebrated for his sharp wit, that many people became petrified with nerves upon being introduced him. He was the Big Cheese of French literature.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343/60 "2011-08-20T01:36:13Z")

</div>

So, **Cal** … what’s the coinage, the money connection? Is there some antipodean reasoning here, that isn’t so obvious to our current mythology? I know we generally put historical leaders and signs of deities of fortune or good fortune on our modern coins… Some other mythological figures and symbols like lady liberty. Is the Gorgon a signifier of some sort of fortuitousness or deity (Apollonian/Nike) myth on greek money. Is it a good or bad omen?

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343.md?page=2)

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-read-the-word-gorgon-what-image-comes-to-mind/593343.md?page=4)
