Medusa is a figure from Greek mythology, and one of the three Gorgons. She is generally described as a human female with living venomous snakes in place of hair, and those who gazed into her eyes would turn to stone. Most sources describe her as the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto, although some authors refer to her as the daughter of Gorgon and Ceto. Medusa was beheaded by the Greek hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head which retained its ability to turn onlookers to stone as a sort of weapon until he returned it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield.
In the original story, Medusa was a beautiful woman who held a very positive role. However, in the more popular version of the myth, she is depicted as a monster with hair of a thousand snakes, and is under a curse which causes everything she looks at to turn to stone. Medusa is best known for her death at the hands of Perseus, and her features became more feminine and human-like over time.
