Ho couserer s (Odysseus had remained far from his own people, immortal, “hidden” Ose peopl i by To the feminine figure who incamates that which is beyond death, inher dow be dimension of erotic seduction and temptation to immortality, the Creeks Prefered the simple human life—under the light of the sua, the bittersweet. ness ofthe mortal condition, Chapter 6 DEATH IN THE EYES: GORGO, FIGURE OF THE OTHER ‘wiry stupy Gorgo? The reason is that fora istvian, and a historian of rei tion in particular, the problem of alteity or “otherness” in ancient Greece annot be limited to the representation the Greeks made of others, of all those ‘whom, forthe purposes of refection, they ranked under diferent headings in the category of differece, and whose representations always appear deformed ‘because these igures—barbarian, slave, stranger youth, and woman—are al ways copstrcted with reference tothe same made-theault male citizen, We ‘must also investigate What could be called extreme alterity and ask about the ways in which the ancients attempred to give a form in their religious universe to this experience ofan absolute other. The issue is no longer one of human being who is different from a Greek, but what, by comparison fo a human being. is reveuled as radical difference: instead ofan other person, the other fof the person. Such, we think, were the sense and function ofthis strange sacred Power thst operates through the mask, that has no other form than the mask, snd that 's presented emtrely us a mask: Gorgo. In certain qualities she is close to Artemis." Inthe sanctuary of Artemis Ontiain Sparta, among the votive masks dedicated to the goddess (the young had to wea likenesses ofthese inthe course of the agdgé in order to execute their mimetic dances), here are many that reproduce the monstrous an teri- fying face of Gorgo, But the othamess that the young of both sexes explore under the patronage of Artemis seem to he situated entirely on a kind of horizontal plane where ncieme Pais 983) ants tlt poblahe ee wth he kn erision Hah Int egal he sujet of Grp wa receded a al 0f hols mn Fartion of th her pose Ares ae lat nthe eset volume. ered praca ¥ eat the ‘Seopa can te ori sie fr dh st abot Gono, swing he ena) ‘ane, aw alld "The Fie nd Fncions a Aen in Myth an Cal" ead oe Sie exay each af ich Wel cf iets of Artemis tse a Afton of he tesa compe by roma Zethe question is one of time or space. This is the kindof altertythat marks the fist moments of human life, which is punctuated by various tages and pas: sages until the time when a man and a woman become fully themselves, This same alteity rues over the frontiers of civic teitry, uncultivated lands. fe from the city and civilized life, on the margins of the wild. The wildness Ar- temis seems to share with Gorgo, bowever, is manifested by her ina different ‘way in that Artemis emphasizes the wild and gives it place only in order better fo relegate it tothe periphery In determining that the young, in their differences from the group. may experience differen forms of alterty onthe boundaries, Artemis sees tt that they embark correctly on their learning ofthe model 10 which, one day, they will have to conform. From the margins where she rues, she prepares the retum tothe center. The nurture ofthe young she practices in a zone of the [wild aims a thei satisfactory integration into the heat of civic space ‘The alterty Gorgo incamates is of a very different type. Like that of Dio- rnysos, it operates according oa vertical axis, This altri no Tonger concerns the early par of lie nor those regions fur removed from the civilized horizon, Rather, i isone that, at any momeat and in any place, wrenches humans away from their Hives and themselves, whether with Gorgo, to cast them down into the confusion and horror of chaos, oF with Dionysos and his worshippers, to raise them up high, in fusion with the divine and the beattude of golden age refound.! ‘THE Mask oF Gorco. Plastic representations of Gorgo—both the gorgoncion (the mask alone) and the full feminine fgure with a gorgon face—appear not only on a series of ‘vases, but from the archaic period on, they can be seen on the facades of temples or as acroteria and antefixes. We find them as emblems on shields decorating household utensils, hanging in anisans’ workshops, attached 10 kins, set up in private residences, and also, finally, stamped on coins. This representation fist appears early inthe seventh century 8.5, nd by the end of the second quarter of the same century, the canonical types of the model are already codified in their essential features. Leaving aside the variants in CConnthian, Attic, and Laconian imagery, we can, on a fist analysis, identify ‘so fundamental characteristics in the portrayal of Gorgo. Firs, frontality. In contrast to the figurative conventions determining Greek pictorisl space inthe archaic period, the Gorgon is always, without exception, represented in full face. Whether mask or full igure, the Gorgon’s face i at all simes tured fromally toward the spectator who gazes back at her. Cr Frmgie Frat Darou and JP. Vora, Fgh maton Ge acne Second, monstrousness: whatever kinds of distortion are involved, the fig lure systematically plays onthe confusion of human and bestial elements, jus 'sposed and mingled in a varity of ways. The enlarged rounded head recalls the face ofa lion. The eyes ae staring; the gaze i fixed and picreing. The hair ‘esemblesan animal's mane or bristles with sakes, The ears are overly large deformed, at times like those of a cow. Homs sometimes grow from the sll ‘The gaping, erining mouth extends so far tat it cuts across the breadth of the face, revealing rows of tecth, fangs, or wild-boar tusks. The tongue thrsts forward and protrudes outside the mouth. The chin is hairy of bearded, ant the skin is sometimes furrowed with deep wrinkles. The visage looks more like a grimace than a face. tn disrupting the ‘eatures that make up a human face. it produces an effect of disconcerting stangeness that expresses 4 fon ‘of the monstrous that oscillates between two extremes: the horror ofthe ter fying and the hilarity ofthe grotesque, Despite the evident contrasts between the horror of Gorgo and those Satyrs ana Silene, who, on scale of monstene ity, tend more toward the grotesque, there are sill significant collusions bo ‘meen them. These two types also have noticeable affinities withthe stark and = rude representation of the sexual organs—buth masculine and feminine "epresentation that, just like the monstrous face whose equivalent it isin cor {it respects, ako hes the power to provoke toh scred fear and liberating lughver. ‘To clarify the play between the face of Gorgo and the image of the female sexual organ—as between the phallos and the Figures of Sars and Silenoi, ‘whose humorous monstosty is also disturbing-—a word should be sid about the strange igure of Baubo, a personage with two aspects: a octumal specer, kind of ogress, related, like Gorgo, Mormo, o° Enipusa, 0 infemal Hekate, but also like an old woman whose cheerful jokes and vulgar gestures provoke Demeter's laughter and thus induce the goddess mourning for her daughter to ‘mcak her stubborn fast. The correlation betwesn the relevant texts and the Stauettes of Prine, which representa female rluced t a face tht is also 2 lower belly. gives an unequivocal meaning to Baubo's gesture of lifting her «ess to exhibit her intimate parts. What Baubo actualy displays to Demeter “On Fr. $8 Re: Oph 9. 2863.9 (A). ves of hsp fhe ea ssp ihrer ae omen deren hr en Paleo Lee ae {che Ale. Paap. 221 = Oh Fn. 3K: AMD. Ad ma 5.25,» 196, 4 ett = Om 5 Rem, “oct ss see) Rar Prone: Pais i riechsbe Sa et, ‘Sis ees 84: nthe ene cleo efecto oh eee Engh mon in ahded frm Br Seton Te Consractony ioe Peseete in Ancien Gree or Davi Halper hte) Wa. Pua SoBe 19%), 9-11, Se alo evens of Fama Zein it "Ce eeels cotaPren s is er genitals made up fae fae the form of genitals: one might tren nf the pn mae ne ask By i grace this pal fe ceva burt of lange: oresponding othe godess au js the too ofthe on wb ods at Garg’ face cotesponds ve ina of howe hat ue sts The phalloy,on of whose nunes sb ee phases he atop wih Baubo and acu mmmeil freon a the epost pol ofthe onto. Normal he pals as oe humor tnd stems he poesgue quali of hose amarng monsters re the Sar, bain none podices an effect of aed en, of tied fa ination, which is expressed by the gestures of certain feminine individuals, ‘ho slik avey fom ts unveling ‘ereoter tee are wo myte veo of Dent's age during the tie ee serching forte Gaver, and in ach, te potagos, In oder to pode a bering stock mt atid (gel fevons 0 ndceaney ifn nays. According he is! ten, lmbe, got Tomb he a lumber Apallders ys (1.3.1) moss Dem ad ines be Inuring with the obscene jokes he asolgia, ed te Thesopbra Gra th ephrismor othe Elin poesin lamb ea be coe eed tee feminine oflnbos, te amb, his mia elemcat of sae song ints poy of invete and drion. The berating eto an unbried {Sua clot ote monstoos by sive of is uo chaser opt A ah rough language suing tics, obscene insula, and sexo jokers oven the Gress uncon a he expresso soph or ar Spun pla Inte second verson, Babe replces abe an pus the tue roel on the visual eve: she abuts spectacle for wot, she isp the oft ater han amg When she ce exis he em ik wha Kind of eben we Bubo make i eye of young, fos pep cu, tha of tech nei, ww ame evokes the myst yo ‘the initiates (iachd, éaché) but who also is related to the choiros, the piglet (hte 396d and ews, of coun he emiie peas? ent and nso hese arte to fetus of Gros nog phy tat oan qussne aol ees. Antscedars ave bea Sug the Neat Ente the Crt enc. an the Sumr-Accaian wor Sooners have sugested parts withthe gue of he Egypan Bs rte te Gal who se he ster he Gorgon. * Nhat open of vlgar and shame! snge On be gerhurismas, ef. Hesysh. 9 Die cf H.W. Pak, Fess of he oan Lane, 197) 86-87 CE input. Arsiph ch, T6487 " Bematé Goma, "The Ase ARSE of the Grek Gorgon” Bert 14 (196) 1-2; SpytoMarinn,"Gngooes tn wrgones” Arch Ep (192728) 7s and Eres Wl, La DEATIN THE EYES us and especially with that ofthe demon Humbaba ashe is represented in Assyr- jan at." Despite their value, these studies miss what I consider the essential fact: the specific form ofa figure that, whatever borzowings or transpositions ‘may have taken place, still stands out as a new creation thats very different | from the antecedents invoked to explain i. The erginality ofthis image can not be grasped without considering how itis elated in Greek archaic life 10 ‘iaal practices and mythic themes, and above all, toa supernatural Power. \which emerges and asserts itself ust shen the symbolic model that represent itis constacted and fixed inthe particular form ofthe Gorgon’s mask For this reason, Jane Hartion’s efforts at interpretation seem fully unsuc- cessful. Relying ot several figurative analogies among Haves, Esinyes, and Gorgons, she tried to connect them al othe same ““pimitive™ religious base and mike them different ‘ypes of "Keres"—evil spirits, phantoms, pot tions.'* Bur itis not methodolvgically recommended to combine five diferent figures in the same vague category without concem fo the clear and distinct differences that give each its approprise significance and particular place in the system of divine Powers, The Erinyes have neither wings nor masks: the Harpies have wings but no masks. The Gorgon: may be winged, but they are the only ones represented with te face of a mask (ef. Aesch., Ew. 48-51). ‘The allies between Gorgo and the Mistress ofthe Animals, the Potnia as Theodora Karagiorga srongly emphasizes,” are mote promising. There ace shared contacts between the two types, and thee iconographicdl representar tions reveal resemblances or, atleast, parallels with each other. These should be taken into account. In eerain of her aspects, Gorgo appears as the dark face, the sinister reverse of the Great Goddess whose legacy Artemis, in pa ‘icular, williater inherit. But even here, the fact that there ae also differences and discrepancies between the two models ought to warn us against a pure and simple assimilation, It still remains crucial to understand shy and how the Greeks developed a symbole figure that, in its combination of frontlity and ‘monstrosity in single form, ean be clearly distinguished from all the others so a to be instantly perceived for what it isthe face of Gorgo, Let us take an example to illustrate these rather abstract ideas. On the Fran ois vase (ca. 570 8.C.£., all the gods are represented in stock form. All are shown in profile wth the exception of thre figures: the Gorgon, represented ‘onthe internal sie of the two handles; Dionysos, carrying an aniphora om his shoulders; and Calliope, one of the Muses. In the cases of Gorgo and Diony- sos, whose faces are treated like masks, fontality is not surprising: in a way, itis self-evident. For Calliope, this same frontality would be a problem were "Clark Hopkins, “Assyrian Flea he Pee Gorgon St" A UPR: 34-53 1nd The Sumy Sd ofthe Geek Gann" Pers 1 (19087 25-9 " rolgomenzto he Sof Grek Reon (1 rp, New Yok, 1987), hip. 5, "The Demonlogy of Gis and Spits sng Boga” 108286 "Gorge Rephae bens, 970,he coanrrens thi Muse not represented in the processionof the gods as playing the syrimx— ‘hat rustic ute called the pipe (or fut) of Pan, [will later argue, expanding ‘on the"Périnent observations of Paul Lapert,' that to blow into the ute is for many reasons equivalent to becoming the head ofthe Gorgon, On the vase, however, the images ofthe Mistress of the Animals onthe ouside correspond (o the Gorgons painted on the inside of the handles. This design simula- neously associates and opposes the two 1yfes of Powers with each other. The contrast can be seen on several planes. Fist and foremost, the Gorgons a shown fll face, the Mistresses in profil, lke all the other gods of heroes on the vase, In addition, the Gorgons are running, their knees bent, while the Mistresses are immobile, standing erect ina hiratic pose, The Gorgons have short chitdns. the Mistresses long tunies that cover them down to thet fet. ‘The bristling hairstyle of the frst contrasts with that ofthe second, which is Arawn back on the shoulders witha band, inthe moce typical way. ‘The mask ofthe Gorgon’s face, as depicted in images, has a value, therefore, that isin with a whole series of other indications, which unambiguously marks its d= ference from the model ofthe Potnia, the Mistess of Wild Beasts, It this were an iconographical study, the task would be to explre this net. \work of signs and draw up an inclusive list of the image's significant elements nd the interactions ofthese in various similar series grouped by ther place of origin, the nature of the objects, and thet representational themes. Not being an archaeologist, I can only point out the place occupied by conan animals (snakes, lizards, binds, wild animals, even bippocampi) in the im- agery of the Gorgo, especially the horse. In figural representations, the horse for horses, when two are placed symmetriealy) is associated with the Gorgon, sometimes asa part of herself her extension or emanation, sometimes as the lle one she nurses and protects, sometimes asthe progeny to which she gives birth, oF the mount on which she rides, and sometimes, finaly, in connection with the myth of Perseus, as the horse Pegasos, who at the momeat of het resetations of he gorgonion can be found in most ofthe places where bot springs exist Thus ofthe twent-ane ancient cites whose coins hear the fig> ure of Goego, there reat east eleven where Xe Know of sing i the viin- ity. This sre, in parla, of Seripos, a oeky island, apace about which ‘Croom insists that, apart fom the hot spring where festivals take place every year even to this day, no eason ean he found account for the cen ole it ls inthe tegen af Perseus and Medusa (4) The spring Tlphousa with its deadly waters asrcated wih the Prai= dika and the EsinysTiposse (or Telphousa of Boeoi, who i the form ‘imate pave bith hy Poseidon tothe horse Arion. basis double in Arcadis DeaTHL Uv THE EVES 138 inthe personage of a Demeter Erinys, who is located at The)pousa on the banks of the Ladon and whose waters rise from several springs in the area (aus. 8.25). This Demetze couples in the form of a mare with Poseidon. himself turned into a horse, and gives birth to the salon, Areion, and to & Biel with a secret name that suggests she sa doublet of Kore. the maiden who is shared between the darkness of the underworld and lie in te Tight of she sua. The Demeter of Thelpouss has two aspects and two names. Her “Tus ‘us side is matched by a"“ealat” one. When she has appeased her anger and bathed in the waters of the Ladon, she is Demeter Lousia, the bathed one. ‘he eleansed."" The same polarity between # power of madness that causes delirium and an assuaging power that produces calm and a retum to a state of normality is evident in another Arcadian form of the raging, equiform Demeter. At Phi= gala there isa cave consecrated to Demeter Melaina, “the black une" (Paws. #-42.1-7), The Phigalians agree with the people of Thelpousa about the union cof Demeter. According to them, however, the fruit of this union was not the porse, Areion, but she whom they call Despoina, the Mistess. Like the Ex fs, Melaina oscillates bergen a state of frenzy and one of calm. Her name. the Black One, recalls those divinities that appeared to Orestes at Mani des to guises: black, as long as he was insane and a prey to pane; white, a¢ soon ashe cut ff finger in atonement for hs criminal defilement and recavered his sanity 9 phase called Ade (i,e., Remedies) (Paus. 8.34.2-4), Demeter Melaina, in ber maddened state. was portayed sented on a rock. Her body ‘was that ofa woman but she had the head and har of « horse. Figure of stakes and other wild beasts rose up from this horse's mask, in a manner similar to Gorgo. The Despoina, davghies of Demeter the mare and Poseidon Hippios, had her temple at Lycosura where she was worshipped ty the loeal people sbove any other divinity. Excavations have restored fragments of her cult statue, pariculaly her drapery. on which ae seen eleven femsle figures wits animal beads (notably horse heads) who play various mosical instruments while they dance. Small terra-cota sstues have also boen found, and these too are of draped wornen with animal heads. One last detail concesing the sanctuary of the Despoina: toward the exit from the temple a mieror Was hung oa the wall IW one looked init, one did not see oneself. The mirror did not relet human faces. Like a window opening onro the beyond, al t reflected cleatly on its surface were the statues of the gods at the throne where the Mistress satin state with the procession of masks on her drapery. (3) The polar extremes ofthese goduesses, who can sometimes init the confusion of madness and at other times bring a cure. are matched by the polarity of the springs and waters sometimes associated with them. Abovere corre Nonacts, in the neighborhood of Arcadian Styx, there bs a cave where the {daughters of Proitos went to hide when they were struck by madness ad Were ‘wandering ina trance. Melampos came there with his secret rites and puri ations to ead them inthe direction of Cletor toa place ealleé Lousoi, which recalls the Demeter Lousia. There they were calmed and cured inthe sanctuary of Artemis Hemerasia, the Assuager (or one who tame: Paus.8.18.7-8), Just previously Pausanias had noted (17.6) that a traveler who sets out westward front Pheneus, comes toa fork in the road: the pathto the right leads to Cleitor 1nd Louso; that the left toward Nonacrs and Swx. Further on in the text he is more precise. The guide points out that in the land ofthe Cynaethaeans Which borders that of the Pheneaes, there is found a cold water spring called Alussos, because tsa remedy for Issa (rabid madnese) and because to drink from ic cures rabies. Pausanias concludes, “Inthe wates named Siyx which tre near Pheneus, the Arcadians possess someting whies has proved a bane for men, while the spring among the Cynaethacans isa blessing to make up for the evil ofthe other" (8.19.24). Deri y rae Eves If we were to analyze the myth of Perseus—which tells how, withthe aid of | the gods, a hero dares to confront the lethal regard of Medusa, how, by cutting off er head, he comes to conquer the face of terror and escape the pursuit of the two remaining Gorgons—we vould be obliged, for purposes of sompari- ‘son, to take up the different versions ofthe story: from Hesiod and Pherecydes {fo Nonnos and Ovid. To keep tothe essentials, we will only indicate some important points, starting withthe presence in myth of the traditional feroic pattem—the exposure of the nwbom hero and the tial imposed on him in his adolescence thar takes place during festival hanguet in a context of bossts and challenges. ‘Let us briely summarize the outline of the story: Akrisos, king of Argos, has a daughter, Danae. If she gives birth to a boy, the oracle announces, the grandson will kill his grandfather. Akisios immediately immures Danae in a subterranean chamber with walls of bronze. But Zeus comes to visit the gid in the form of a shower of gold, After the birth of their offspring, named Perseus, the cries ofthe infant attract Akrsios’s attention, To escape his pre- dicted fate, the king places Danae and the child in a wooden chest, which be throws into the sea, The waves propel the chest safely to the island of Seripbos where Diktys, a fisherman, brings it back in his nets, shelters Danae, and raises Perseus until his adolescence. Seriphos i ruled by the tyrant Polydcktes ‘who covets Danae, but Perseus keeps watch over his mother. Polydektes sum- DexTIEIN THE EYES 13s ‘mons the youth of the country toa festive banquet (eras) where ail, to put ‘up a good show, vie with each other in parading their generosity. When his ‘um comes, Perseus, to outdo everyone ele, bossts he will offer his host, not the horse he demands, bu the head ofthe Gorgon, Polektes takes hin this word. Perseus has no choice but to fulfil his promise ‘Supernatural bist, expulsion from the human world, abandonment ofthe infant in the space ofthat other world symbolized by the immensity ofthe se, survival and return among men after going through the oréeal whose normal jutcome ought to have been death: Prscus's biography from the very outset even before the career of his exploits begins, contains all the ingredients ‘needed fo give the young man his properly “heroic” dimension, ‘But the story continues. With Athena and Hermes a8 guides, Perseus sets jet on the journey, To kill Medusa, he must obtain Irom the Nymphs the instruments of vietory over the monster withthe fatal yaze; in pericular, the helmet of Hades, the kuneé, and the winged sandals, And to find the Nymphs, ‘he must frst constrain the Graiai to reveal the route that leads to them. Sisters ‘of the Gorgons, the Gras ate albo dreadful figures, although they have only fone single tooth and one single eye among the three of them, Always on the ler, there is always one who, when the other two slp, keeps the eye open and the tooth ready at hand. Perseus confronts them and defeats them asa patlor game of “pass the slipper” He snatches the ey@ andthe tooth atthe Precise moment when, passing from hand to hand, they are out of service for any ofthe sisters. (One theme is central to this chain of episodes: the eye, the gaze. the rei procity of seeing and being seen. This theme appears already i the sequence ofthe three Graiai with ther single tooth and eve, which they pass back and forth so the trio will never be caught by surprise without any defense—without ‘tooth for eating and an eye for looking (the single tooth i that of devouring. ‘monsters and of toothless hags: the single eye that of beings with an ever Vigilant gaze, but whom a bold maneuver can blind) The them is found again in the kuned, the magical instrument of invisibility concealing from all eyes the presence ofthe one whose head it cover, and also in the detal that Perseus turned his eyes away atthe moment of Medusa’s death. He does this When he cuts the monster’ throat, and later too, wher he brandishes her head to tur his enemies into stone and prudently looks in the opposite direction ‘The theme finds its full development in those versions, attested from the fifth century on, that insist on the indispensable recourse to the mitror and its te fection that enables the young man to sce Gorgo without having to crOss © To coer ter ead ath, the ol Ga et give ve the ct fe Ny “Tes young este cies eve eo Fra te tlt a ahs inet bury te ead wf Mada to ue tr sae th eupet,Hetoeadls e ha e136 consereR 6 lances with her petrifying gaze, We should also note the role and meaning of the maga oe wie, mor than mee istumen, ae tls that seem t be the true agent ofthe exploit, There is the cap of invisibility, whi ives the living hero the mask of a dead man and thus puts im under the protection ofthe Powers of Death; the harpé and kibiss, the sickle and pouch, ‘mmplements for headhunting: and the winged sandals, which give Perseus 3 privilege lke that of the Gorgons by allowing htm to telescope all spatial di- rections to each both the heavens and the underworld, to pass from the shores ‘oF Okeanos to the land ofthe Hyperboreans. Finally itis worth recalling sev: ral significant details: e hostility of Perseus to Dionysos, his satyts and ‘maenads, whom the hero, atthe end of his journey. combats and pursues when they ative im Argos. a their rezied and conned gongolike element fn its madness: the play of beauty and usliness in the person of Medusa: the ‘emphasis om the theme of the mirror and is reflection in Tate author like ‘Ovid. and its treatmen in iconographic representations. In the images that illustrate the episode of the hero decapitating the Gorgon, Perseus, sometimes viewed ull face, looks staight ahead, fixing his eyes on those ofthe spectator with Medusa standing at his side. AC times he turns his head 10 look the op: posite ways at other times he looks at the face of the monster reflected in & rmiror, on the polished surface of a shiek, or on the surface of a pool of cng of Motu andthe aston of Ouro. the + (Ase sre i i Da ts sine . se ir nan enn earns een nf ey ene nye ao ree ih Se “reas 3 thm ina ah pe) cme Nc. At! ttmenon 28 Oo et. BNC 8 To 910) Te imine i sig can ha md aig Ties ace Ian, al Mage" Bow, hap. 12) who my be “have ma {sth eon hts Meso fbi oun El, desis of rating be Mos fens kateb in herein ins wks SS ter ceo, nse Mort Men ew Cap. DeaTiN THE EVES w Some prosisional conclusions to close his inquiry. In contrast o human = ures and human faces, the mask of Gorgo, as an isolated head, contains ek vents in its composition that ate marked with strange and umusval feature, ‘The usual conventions and typical classifications are syncopated and inte ‘mixed. Masculine and feminine, young and old, beautiful and uly. human and anion, celestial and intemal, upper and lower (Gorgo gives bi through the neck lke weasels are supposed to do, who. n producing their young from ‘eit mouths, invert buccal and vaginal orifices), inside and outside the tongue, instead of remaining hidden within the mouth, protues outside like 4 masculine organ—displaced, exhibited, and threatening): in short all he jategories in this face overlap in confusion and interfere with one another ‘Thus this figure establishes itsel right away ina realm of the supernatural thet somehow calls into question the sigoraus distinctions among god. mien, ad beasts, as well as those between different cosmic elements and levels A di quieting misture takes place, analogous to the one Dionsos achieves through ‘by and liberation toward a communion with a golden age, But with Gorge, the disorder is produced through horor and fea in the confusion of primordia Night. The telescoping of what is normally kept separate, the stylized deformation of feature, and the face breaking into a grimace convey what we have been calling the category ofthe monsious, which, in its ambivalence, hovers be ‘ween the terrifying and the grotesque oscillating irom ane po tothe other This is the context in which io examine the frontality of Gorgo, The mon srousness of which we speak is characterized by the fact that it can only be approached frontally in a direct confrontation withthe Power that demands that inorder to se it. one enter ino the fc ofits fascination and risk losing nest i i. To see the Gorgon i o look he in the eyes and, in the exchange of gazes, 10 cease to be onesel, a living being, and to become, like her a Power of death, To stare at Gorgo isto lose one's sight in her e¥es and to be transformed into stone, an unseeing, opaque abject In this face-to-face encounter with fomtality, man puts himself in «position of symmetry with respect wo the god, always remaining centered on his own axis, This reciprocity implies both duality (man and god face each other) and inseparabilty, even idetification, Fascination means that man can no tong stich his gaze and tum his face away from this Power, it means that his eve is lost inthe eye ofthis Power. which looks at him ashe laoks sti and thet ke himself s thrust into the world over which this Power presides In Gorgo's face a kind of doubling process is at work. Through the effect ‘of fascination, the onlooker is wrenched away from himself, robbed of hi ‘own gaze, invested as if invaded by that ofthe figure facing him, who seizen aed possesses i through the teror its eye and its features insite. Posses, sion: to wear @ mask means to cease being oneself and for the duration of the138 curren 8 masquerade to embody the Power from the beyond who has seized on you and ‘whose face, gestures, and voice you mimic, The act of doubling the face with 4 mask, superimposing the late onthe former so as to make it unrecognira- ble, presupposes a sel-alienaton, a takeover by the god who puts bridle and reins on you. sits astride you, and drags you along in his gallop. As a result, rman and god share a contiguity, an exchange of statu that can even tur into confusion and identification. Buc inthis very closeness, a violent separation from the sel is also initiated, a projection into radical alterty,a distancing of the furthest degree, and an utr disorientation in the midst of intimacy and “The face of Gorgois a mask, bit instead of wearing it to mime the god, this figute reproduces the effect of a rask by merely looking you in the eye. Itis 4s if the mask had parted from your face. had become separated from you. only to be fixed facing you, like your shadow or reflection, without the pos sibility of your detaching yourself fom it. It is your gaze that is captured in the mask, The face of Gorgo is the Other, your double. Its the Strange, responding to your face like an image in the mirror (where the Greeks could only see themielves frontally and in the form of a disembodied head), but at the same time, iis an image tha is both less and more than youre. [is a simple reflection and yet also a reality from the world beyond, an image that captures you because instead of merely rtuming to you the appearance of {your own face and refracting your gaze, it represents in its grimace the tert [ying honor ofa radical otherness with which you yourself will be identified 45 you are turned to stone ** “To look Gorgo in the eye isto ind yourself Face-to-Face wit the beyond in its dimension of terror, to exchange looks withthe exe that continually fastens ‘on you in what might be deseribed as the negation of looking, and to receive 8 light whose blinding brilliance is that of the night. When you stare at Gorgo, she tras you into a mirror where, by transforming you ito stone, she gazes ther own tertile face and recognizes herself inthe double, the phantom you become the moment you meet her eye. To express this reciprocity, this strangely unequal symmetry of ran and god, in other terms, what the mask ‘of Gorgo lets you see, when you are hewitehed hy it, s yourself, yourself in the world beyond, the head clothed in night, the masked face ofthe invisible that, in the eye of Gorgo, i revealed asthe truth about your own face, This that is put there, when co dhe tone of the ute you deliriously dane chanal of Hades. “Although women ae, ven more hn men, sect poutesson, madhess, a Bewich ‘lend deny azote eal Tio cane which Medusa enage wth eae ewe athough, fr tber team, ae cn, ike Nise etre son rough ese it ba PART THREE ImageChapter 7 IN THE MIRROR OF MEDUSA. Ar Lycosura in Arcadia the most honored divinity bore the name of Despoins (C*Misiress”). She was represented seated in er temple, enthraned in majesty slongside her mother, Demeter. On either side of the own goddesses and fram: ing their double thrones stood Artemis and a Titan, Anytos. Toward the exit from the sanctuary, there was a mirror set inthe wall onthe right. Le us listen {0 what Pausanias says: wheever looks att, our witness repos, either only sees himself as an obscure rellection, faint and indistinct (amudros), or sees nothing at all. On the other haa, the figures ofthe gods and the throne that supports them show up clearly inthe mirror; one ean gaze at them there dis tincly enargas) (8.37.7). In the sacred place where it is affixed, the mirror inverts its natural prop erties and sits fom its normal role to another and exactly opposite function Instead of reflecting appearances and returning the image of visible objects placed before it, the mim opens a breach i the backdrop of “phenomena,” Aisplays the invisible, reveals the divin, aad lets it be sen in the brilliance of mysterious epiphany. ‘An extreme case, no doubt. Yet more cleatly than other evidence we have bout Greek practices of eatoptromancy, it emphasizes the ambiguous status of the image that is reflected inthe polish of the meta. The image seems to ‘oscillate between two contrary poles: at times justa sham, an empty’ shadow, an illusion devoid of reality; at other times, the appearance of a power from the world beyond, a manifestation of an “her” realty that shows up om its smooth surface as inthe transparency of spring waters. Remove, foreign tothe world of here and now, and ungraspable, this “other” reality is also one that is fller and stronger than what the world offers to the eyes of mortal creatures. Oninaypulisedin do Speco 1 Dapp Dato sao Nar lo cera ele (oilan 198735 "ans Fe do mio As,” and epee Ab a de Ma india, 0 mart, Paear: Sot mime e Canteen Gree ancien has, 90 ‘nse by Fa. Zin "The eu ofthe Devi mnt have ished mangers ie ‘were found in be mgr wht he mais were ele. hes ted interac, ‘pea, ia, dees ins maton witha ado 2a oan On sea fa nun ae NCHA. Dela La campru requ tae derives (Late ang Pats, 103),1 ccugeren 7 In the daily life of the ancient world, the miror is above all « Women's thing. Ir evokes the radiance of their beauty, the brightness of thei seduction, the charm of their look, their dressed hair and deliate complexions. Women use it to sce themselves, to recognize themselves in self-contemplation. To gaze at yourself is to project your awn face hefore you, opposite your own, doubled into a figure you observe as one does an othe, Yet knowing it is syourelf. There is no other way to apprehend oneself in the singularity of one's PhySiognomy except inthis face-to-face through the mitor where one sees ‘oneself in the act of being seen, where one looks at oneself regarding oneself “he fae is called prosdpom in Greek: ts what ane presents of oneself 0 the gaze of others, an individualized countenance appearing before the eyes of anyone who meets one diretly, and itis something lke the stamp of one’s |Wenty.” Tn seeing your face in te sero, you know yourself as others know you: face-to-face, in an exchange of glances. Access 10 the sell is gained through an extemal projection ofthat self, though being obgctified, a8 if one were another. in the form ofa visage looked a straight inthe eyes and those ‘exposed features gleam inthe light of day [Nevertheless onthe mitror ofthe temple, the face ofthe living is murky oF cllaced, The worshipper who looks a himself when be leaves sees himself not ase is, but as he will be when he has left he light ofthe sun to enter the land fof the dead: a dim shadow, blurred, indistinet, a head shrouded in night, « | specter henceforth without 2 face, without a gaze, Amudros is a doublet of ‘amauros, te tere) that in the Odyssey deseribes a nocturnal phantom, and in Sappho, the trie ofthe dea. half-open door into Hades, the miror recalls to the worshipper who passes before it that his lealy defined face ofa living ‘veing is doomed to disappear into the kingdom of Night, when the moment ‘ommes, and to Vanish, engulfed in the invisible. An invisibility by default, one could say, through the lack of light, which never penetrates into the infernal «dwellings. hermetically shut off fom the rays of the sun. But there is another invisibility that is founded, not on deficiency, but on excess. The brilliance of divine splendor is too intense fo he met by the human gaze; its radiance blinds ‘or destroys those who wished to contemplate the divinities face-to-face, to see them enargets as they are in te full ight of day-* The gods too, in order to show themselves to mortals without the rsk of destroying them, clothe them- At. De part anim. 2.66018. a he ide Done he he So fac ae" On the also te tee prion ats dae meaning a ce a mah, Imai edge fot he Doct a 2 vis 198 ‘0.4924 and 635; Suppo 7 ed. Edman, dra Gree, sb, 1 London, 1922) ~ 6 Bek TC. 1 20.19.04 16131 Hom. Hom, Dom. 1 |W THE sRKOR OF MEDUSA 13 selves in appearances that disguise divinity as mach as they reveal Inthe same way, the idol, which represen the powers of the world beyond tothe {88 of their worshippers, incarnate the divine presence inthe temple where they are offered residence without, however, being lenied with that pres enc: the idol is godly, iis not the god. Sil fi the miror of Lyeowura, divine dos apearin ter fl cla (enarg)y because a Soe ane rautation is worked on its surface, In being reflected there the images, fash ioned by human hands inthe “likeness” ofthe gods, gleam with an then: tic—and unbearable—brliance ofthe divine. Instead of being weakened by being doubled in reflection, the image is actualy intensified, einfored, nd transformed it becomes a divine epiphany. Made present asa the conclsion ofan ination, i is the divinity tseIf who looks you in the eyes at ust Me ‘moment when you re about to take your leave ofthe temple We have lingered somewhat over the bizare happening reported by Pause nas in his account of his visit othe Despoina’s sanctuary because the ane ote marks in a striking way the pariculr place ancient culture ssizned to {he mir. Inthe field defined by the ambiguous relations ofthe visible and ‘ke invisible, life and death the image andthe rea, beauty and horor, and seduction at repulsion tis homely object occupies a position of strategic ‘portance, To the exten thai seems able o join twa nly Cotasted Ems, the miror, more than any eee device, lends isl! to problematzing the entire realm of seing an of being sgup: he sy fist ofall, wit the shat of Tight emanating from iti the act of seeing ust ike that other eye, the lowing pupil that is the sun, the star that both ses everyting and sakes everything visible when it beats down with ts re an is the source of life second, he real being wit is double, its flection, and its pained or sculpted image: then again, individual identity, the return hack on oneself and the pro- jetion in theater, a we fascination: and finally he fusion the {ace of the beloved in whom one search for oneself and loses oneself, a6 witha mirror, i beauty and death, ‘Three myths tha, for the most par, inspired ceramicits, painters, and seulpfors in their works ofa, sed the mir asa device to dramatize these ‘arious themes, and to invoke, eah ints own way, some aspectof their many implications: Feneus and the Gorgon Medusa, Dionysos an the Titans nd Narkisos ‘We will mit ourselves ere 10 the oldest, which is als the most richly attested inthe ancient tation, both Ierary and representational, We will refer here only tothe relevant essentials ofthe legend of Perseus decapitating Medusa, the central core that hs dizect bearing on this ingiry* The whe story in is various sequences is actually consrcted around the theme sce be seen!"—an inisoviable pairing forthe Grech. Is the same light nieMa causerer7 tly he, ating ob with saint. and ranean a echo tye mivor=ta see aj tose an thing a besoms se Garo th ber to se cary des in thorn Te oki T ee the rea oan nto eve oer hc fe su, se ao Sih oe caged fn. ind objet, as ope he anos ries tie ney ls evel ver the pre hone wo Ne de ‘Sed lover nthe cyst sight ne nese Unareis ean ye mre sf aman besa and tc ens th ete hg of ha, he en oe oles inl nd Confson primal Np he fae fof death, afar ea chs vs Fh Gorgon carte Dred ad Teor ty dineson espa. They would ing an, desfere Fan out, which sem ver bath rah) ween fotng you he spt in orn eo, nat apes of ako, a Senta sb espns ners ese pains see they ape youl id hast of 9, ig Jo ine ee Ince Om plane intron ey ii gr ec nd Ste you, Like he sage of Jol elec he mir hat vas Stork your own at hea fhe Gorgon oe asi Cement fanaa whee Gale evs ped in ples Sings enced nly. Te hero esa ees Bea don on fe apes eninge sng onl pre, Whos tee te peal of Melisa chant nthe miro pups 8 he mor af {Secu m fe fur the pune ag Fhe, Ping hugh De ior nd ping overt Hour hatSeprate H fo ds, edi) sk own IM oles a 18 9 mg. nonpenon n How enna citing Mead ping re Theses a tocol oer, complemantary stn he ace How's on se someting when he sight of canoe be ended, se rrr—._.._CSds§S#N ——r——*=#EECONSS tees thy ening fer by Sprig te aso # one won ho paint Soe atenp gurantee wor, hon publ Slat cee vale te ace ts imposible se nd he ee Ht "heat sad in ness, he dea a witha face, Fag Frnt soa sgn edo he Gogo ald propo, "foe Ba pl, "hea” Andi Iheheadneny eqn. When nen of NM al lca pens oun kamen mectg i Ot whch oa Tce [ICTHE MIRROR OF MEDUSA as forbidden to the paze in order to appropriate them and tum them against ones ‘Three episodes three tests. three stages in the journey that leads Perseus to 4 successful confrontation with the horrible fae of death, First, the Graia these aged maidens, these ancestral danes, born wrinkled and with white hair, sisters ofthe Gorgons, are possessors of sectet. They know the route that leads tothe hidden Nymphs, invisible in a place where no one ear find them, Only the Nymphs can furnish those talismans that can turn this impossible exploit into a reaityKill he Medusa, the one Gorgon of the three who isnot cntirely immoral, then detach from her dead body the head whose eyes and face still retain thei lethal power, and finally, cary it ff to bring it back into the world of men, escaping the pursuit and tring glances ofthe two futi- ‘ows survivors. Medusa as death in her eyes; the one who will beable to put the head of Medusa in his pouch and hide i there will be declared 1 master of Tertor. mésidr phoboio, lord over death.” ‘The Graii form a disturbing trio: youthful old witches, they have only one tooth among them and only one eve, which they pass from hand tohand to be used by each in turn, Somewhat reassuring, then, at fist glance. Bet one must ‘not be too confident. Is the single toth that of an old toothless woman or of a ‘young ogress eating human flesh? One eye for three—this looks alte beter, In reality, however. this eye, continually passed from one face to another, is lays kept in service, always an the lookout; forever open and ale, it never sleeps. Just as one tooth, if tis a good one, is sufficient for devouring, only lone eye is needed to see, providing it can never close, The single eye of the Graiai corresponds in symmetrical and inverse form tothe hundied eyes of Argus whom only Hermes, the good voyeur (Euskopos), can take by surprise and kill. hundred eyes fora single body means that Argus looks at al sides a the same time and never ceases to see. When filty eves slumber, the other fifty ate awake, The result is similar witha single eye for three bodes. One of the three Graiai will always have the ee. To conquer these ladies of the eye and harsh tooth, Perseus, led by Athena and Hermes—the subtle and wily {gods who protect him—will have to guess the weak point, leap to the occ som, and sim just ight. AS ina game of “pass the slipper the he finds the precise instant, the brief and mysterious interval where, in transit from one Graia’s hand to anothers, the eye has no place, not yet or no longer in any ‘one's use. It isa this moment that Perseus jumps up and puts bis hand on the «ye, and the Grasi are rendered blind and harmless. They ask for mercy. In return forthe eye, they pass om the secret of where the Nymphs res de Perseus then goes to hunt down the Nymphs. Huddled together defenseless fetbock-West t.oa this point akong with others on which we agree. Exo Pellicer. “ove le