Who was cursed by Athena and transformed into a snake-headed gorgon monster?

• A. Athena
• B. Perseus
• C. Medusa
• D. Gorgon

Answer: (C)

Medusa is the figure described as cursed by Athena and transformed into a snake-haired Gorgon. In most myths, Medusa was a beautiful mortal and a priestess of Athena. After a troubling incident with Poseidon in Athena’s temple, Athena punished Medusa by turning her hair into living snakes and giving her a gaze that could turn people to stone. That transformation creates the snake-headed monster we know as Medusa, one of the Gorgon sisters. The term Gorgon can refer to the group as a whole, but Medusa is the specific individual who underwent the curse. Perseus later defeats her using a reflective shield to avoid looking directly at her and then beheads her, with her severed head continuing to have power in later stories.