Medusa, The Enigma

February Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Statues”

Beauty or beast? Who am I?

Medussa was the among most beautiful women in the ancient world. At least according to Greek mythology. A priestess of the goddess Athena, she was required to stay chaste as long as she was in Athena’s service. There are many versions of her story. But in the best-known one, Medusa is desired by the sea god Poseidon, who rapes her on the floor of the Temple of Athena. When Athena’s temple is defiled, she turns Medusa into a gorgon. Snakes replace Medusa’s beautiful black hair. She becomes a terrifying lonely figure, who turns anyone who looks into her eyes to stone. While ancient Greek sculptors focused on Medusa’s monstrous form, the later Greeks saw her as both beautiful and terrifying. She became the mysterious enigma she remains today.

The legend of Medusa lives on in the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul. The cistern was once among the primary sources of drinking water for a metropolis of about 500,000 people in the Byzantine Empire of the sixth century, Today, the waterways and brooding alleys of the cistern have been adorned with modern art from a new generation of artists and sculptors. It is rooted in its old Byzantine history. But it is the art of modern Istanbul.

The artist brings together these different identities in this statue. But what do you see? Statue or shadow? Hideous monster or enigmatic beauty? Lonely prisoner or solitary thinker? Some, none, or all of that?

The shadow is also a part of the statue. That is what makes this so unique.

This post is in response to the wonderful February prompt from Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles.