Another for “bovine”. My mental image comes from the Heroes of Might and Magic series, in particular the Gorgon creature shown here (down the page). I always wondered where this creature came from, and I guess D&D is the proximate source.
I have a fuzzy memory of Medusa being one of three Gorgons, but only at the level where I could get it right if given multiple choices but not where I could come up with that fact out of nowhere. I’ve never heard of Bulfinch and Hamilton.
Pasta, that’s likely based on the catoblepas, another mythological creature who turns people to stone.
:eek:
I blame the schools. And George Bush. And, ultimately, the filthy Etruscans and their spiritual descendants, the accursed Welsh. But rather than my usual rants against Cardiff I will offer the following:
There’s two links in each person’s name. The first name links to the person’s Wikipedia biography; the second to the Amazon.com Kindle bookstore.
I always thought the traditional (i.e. very old) pictures of Medusa with the large eyes and huge grin were supposed to represent a corpse’s face. I’m not sure where I heard that from though, maybe one of those Discovery channel programs?
Not in MY continuity. In MY continuity, his first name was Commissioner.
And I get my idea of gorgons from reading Edith Hamilton. Hot in the looks department, with the only drawback being snake-haired Medusa and the whole turning-to-stone thing.
ETA: I don’t know from Boris Vallejo.
So were his parents precognitive or abusive, in YOUR continuity?
A wise man.
Happy Christmas.
In my continuity, he had no parents, but sprang fully-formed from the heads of Greenway Productions.
Have a look up at my earliest post. Some bestiaries (anmd Edward Topsell() identifioed the Catoblepas with the Gorgon, actually labelling the picture of the catoblepas the gorgon. To make things worse, the identification lead the illustrator to use elements of Apollodorus’ descrioption of the gorgon in reconstructing the creature, further muddying the waters.
That does nothing to explain his presence in Tarzan & His Mate (otherwise known as “the Johnny Weismueller Tarzan movie with naked Margaret O’Hara! Or is it Margaret O’Sullivan? Or just Sullivan! Oh, I can ever keep it straight. Frankly I should just use the official title, it’s shorter”) by those in the know.
I have been, too. In The Circus of Dr. Lao, Finney calls his gorgons “medusas”, so it’s not a receny development, or that rare.
:: checks wikipedia ::
At least the unicorn on the cover doesn’t have wings.
There are lotsa different editions. Here’s the cover of the first one I bought:
No wings on that unicorn, either.
Maureen. Maureen O’Sullivan.
ETA: Rawrr.
Fascinating. Thanks for pointing out the up-thread post.
:: glares ::
Why the glares? kaylasdad just made it easier for you to do a Google Image Search.
Without having read or searched the thread… Friggin’ In The Riggin’.
The Captain’s name was Morgan
By Christ, he was a gorgon
Ten times a day
Sweet tunes he’d play
On his reproductive organ
The first time I ever encountered the word was in some book about Perseus I read as a kid, so I’ve basically only ever had the classical image in my mind.
Say, don’t we have an expert on Medusa on the board? Somebody that was featured in a History Channel show?
I voted 1-4. Gorgons should always turn men into stone by merely making eye contact, should always have snakes for hair, and should be both hideous and hot (how else to turn men into stone?).
I’m thinking like a circa-1993 Fran Drescher, or Courtney Love. With slightly more snakes.
Damn you, Hayes Code.