“Stheno (the mighty), Euryale (the far-springer) and Medusa (the queen) were, again, ancient aspects of the triple goddess in her destructive, vengeful form, though they were later demoted in scale to malevolent creatures. Perseus’s murder of Medusa can be read as a mythic explanation of the toppling of the old female-ruled universe by a new breed of priest-warriors. However, the power of the old beliefs doesn’t wane easily: Medusa’s blood turned into serpents when it penetrated the ground, and gave birth to the winged horse Pegasus when it met the sea.”
Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.
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