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In ancient Greece, one of the most universally popular symbols
was the gorgoneion, a symbolized head of a repulsive female
figure with snakes for hair. Gorgoneion medallions and ornaments
have been discovered from as far back as the 8th century BC (and
some archaeologists even assert that the design dates back to 15
century Minoan Crete). The earliest Greek gorgoneions seem to
have been apotropaic in nature—grotesque faces meant to ward off
evil and malign influence. Homer makes several references to the
gorgon’s head (in fact he only writes about the severed
head—never about the whole gorgon). My favorite lines concerning
the gruesome visage appear in the Odyssey, when Odysseus becomes
overwhelmed by the horrors of the underworld and flees back to
the world of life: And I should have seen still other of them
that are gone before, whom I would fain have seen- Theseus and
Pirithous glorious children of the gods, but so many thousands
of ghosts ca