10. MEDUSA - Here's Looking at You, Kid

*** SUPPORT SEASON 2 OF PODYSSEY ON ⁠KO-FI.COM/PODYSSEY⁠ *** The myths, tales, and concepts of ancient Greece echo and reach into every aspect of modern life. Often misunderstood, frequently romanticised, and sometimes deliberately twisted - to understand their origins and truth is to get a real glimpse into the universal themes that connect us to the past and each other. Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new!  …  Before Medusa was monstrous, she was beautiful. And before she was beautiful, she was powerful. Everything I thought I knew was wrong. She is a riddle that defies solution, because she comes from a time before the shape of things was settled. She laughs. TW - rape, sexual assault, male violence *** SUPPORT SEASON 2 OF PODYSSEY ON ⁠⁠KO-FI.COM/PODYSSEY⁠⁠ *** Written and presented by Alex Andreou Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell Music by Marianna Sangita Artwork by Simona Kanellou For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global NOTES MUSIC Podyssey Theme: “⁠To Margoudi ki o Alexandris⁠”, Marianna Sangita, 2018 (with permission) Sergei Rachmaninov: “The Isle of The Dead, Op.29”, Dimitri Mitropoulos, 1949 Béla Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta, Harold Byrns, 1949 Dinah Washington: “You go to my head”, live 1954  Betty Hutton: “Why do you wanna make those eyes at me for?”, 1945 Giacomo Puccini: Tosca, Act II Finale, Adriana Guerrini & Paolo Silveri, 1952  Frances Faye: “Dummy Song”, 1953 The Mort Lindsey Trio: “Jeepers Creepers”, 1953  The Toppers: “Don’t be angry”, 1955  WA Mozart: Don Giovanni, Vengeance Duet, Maria Curtis Verna & Cesare Valletti, 1956  Gaetano Donizetti, Anna Bolena “Coppia iniqua”, Maria Callas, 1959  Leslie Hutchinson, “Close your eyes”, 1932   FILM  Clash of The Titans (1981) Marnie (1964) I Spit on Your Grave (1978) Revenge (2017) Serial Mom (1984) Carrie (1976) Gilda (1946) Gone Girl (2014) Les Diaboliques (1955) The First Wives Club (1996) Ex Machina (2014)  The Omen (1976)  Hereditary (2018) Midsommar (2019) Raiders of The Lost Ark (1981) Mars Attacks (1996) Alien (1979) The Thing (1982) ART  Prehistoric figures believed to be early “gorgoneia”, Thessaly, c.6000 BCE “Danaë” by Antonio de Correggio, c.1531  “Danaë” by Gustav Klimt, 1907  Gigantomachy pediment, Old Athena Temple, Acropolis, Athens 525-520 BCE Gilgamesh and Enkidu slaying Humbaba at the Cedar Forest, Sumerian, 19-17C BCE  Perseus beheading the sleeping Medusa, red figure terracotta pelike, by Polygnotos (attr.) c.450–440 BCE  Medusa Victorious, Archaic marble sculpture, Paros, mid-6C BCE   Archaic Gorgon, temple of Artemis, Corfu, c.580 BCE  Medusa and Centaurs, early black figure vase, by Nessos, c.620 BCE  Examples of "Gorgoneion" masks and ornaments, from 6th Century BCE  “Medusa”, painted shield by Caravaggio, 1597  “Perseus with the Head of Medusa”, Benvenuto Cellini, c.1550 “Dreadlocks”, Times cartoon, 2015  “Trump & Triumph” after Cellini, meme and merchandise, 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices