Gorgon Sisters?

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I remember reading something about the classical Greek Medusa having two siblings, I believe they were sisters? Is this correct? And, if so, were they snake-haired women like her or did they have different forms?

 

[tarchon]

I remember reading something about the classical Greek Medusa having two siblings, I believe they were sisters? Is this correct? And, if so, were they snake-haired women like her or did they have different forms?

According to most sources, they were largely the same but immortal, unlike Medusa. Stheno and Euryale were their names.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

So Medusa was her name, correct? Not the type of creature she was?

 

[Mouseferatu]

So Medusa was her name, correct? Not the type of creature she was?

Correct. Medusa et al. were gorgons.

Why Gygax decided to name the creature "medusa," and make the "gorgon" a giant mechanical bull, I have no idea.

(Incidentally, the metal bull thing does have a basis in myth. It was called the "catoblepas"... :\ )

 

[tarchon]

Yeah, Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale were collectively known as the Gorgons, "the Terrors."

 

[BOZ]

see Tome of Horrors.

 

[Piratecat]

Correct. Medusa et al. were gorgons.

Why Gygax decided to name the creature "medusa," and make the "gorgon" a giant mechanical bull, I have no idea.

Because in some myths the gorgon WAS a huge bull-like creature. In Menotti's classical work for chorus and chamber ensemble The Unicorn, The Gorgon and the Manticore, the gorgon is clearly bull-like. Heck, maybe Gygax got it from this, but I'm betting on an earlier and common antecedent.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Let's put in my mythological .02

The Gorgons were, according to the most popular story, cursed with their ugliness by Athena, because Medusa laid with Possiedon in her temple. Medusa looses immortality by this, but the other two retain it.

They were considered the offspring of Ceto (a sea monster, daughter of Gaia [Earth] and Pontus [River]) and Phorcys (a sea deity, of the same parents).

So they're closely associated with the sea, just as Possiedon is. But more than that, they're associated with Libya, which is far accross the dangerous sea. They are destructive, death-dealing, horrific beings.

A deity popular in Northwester Libya: Gurzil, a bull-shaped creature.

Now, particular greek thought accomodates herd animals and the sea quite easily: remember, Possiedon was master of horses, and of earthquakes, and Europa had her tryst down on the beach, with a bull, and the sea was associated with the bull from Minoan influence.

So the muddling of bulls with sea creatures (particularly dangerous foreign ones) is certainly within a stretch of the Greek-educated imagination.

 

[Pseudonym]

D&D Geek Fact: Euryale is the name of the card in the Deck of Many Things which in Second Edition gave you a -3 to saves vs. petrification.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Because in some myths the gorgon WAS a huge bull-like creature. In Menotti's classical work for chorus and chamber ensemble The Unicorn, The Gorgon and the Manticore, the gorgon is clearly bull-like. Heck, maybe Gygax got it from this, but I'm betting on an earlier and common antecedent.

Hmm...

Nope. Don't buy it.

Not doubting what you say, mind. But even if a few obscure myths support the "gorgon as bull" idea, the majority of Greek myths, and the ones commonly culturally accepted and taught in various Classical Studies and Humanities classes, present the gorgons as the three snake-haired, petrifying sisters. It just doesn't make any sense to me to change that, even if other, more obscure sources do exist. IMO, if you're going to base D&D monsters on elements out of classical mythology, it makes the most sense to go with the most widely accepted variants of that mythology. Othewise, you're losing the value of making a reference, and why do so at all?

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a "game-killer" for me. It's just up there on my list of pet peeves, along with the use of the term "falchion" as meaning a two-handed scimitar, or crossbows having better range than longbows, or--fixed in 3E, but a problem in earlier editions--crossbows doing very little damage.