In
Greek mythology Medusa (, ; Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress") was a
monster, a
Gorgon, generally described as a winged human female with a hideous face and living venomous snakes in place of hair. Gazers on her face would
turn to stone. Most sources describe her as the daughter of
Phorcys and
Ceto, though the author
Hyginus (
Fabulae Preface) makes Medusa the daughter of Gorgon and Ceto. According to
Hesiod and
Aeschylus, she lived and died on an island named Sarpedon, somewhere near
Cisthene. The 2nd-century BCE novelist Dionysios Skytobrachion puts her somewhere in
Libya, where
Herodotus had said the
Berbers originated her myth, as part of
their religion.