GORGONEION
For centuries a
montruous head has been a decoration on armoury and on door posts. Most of
the time it is depicted with wide open eyes and a grinning mouth usually with
tongue put out and with rumpled hair. Such monstruous heads are spread within
an area stretching out from Britain in the West to as far as Bali in the
East. Apart from this there are monstruous heads in African art. Apparently
the monstruous head was designed to inspire fear and as such was an
apothropaic device |
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The Eurasian monstruous heads apparently have a
common ancestor in the Mesopotamian head of Humbaba. The story of Humbaba is told
in the Epic of Gilgamesh from the third millennium B.C.. [1]
Humababa (= hugeness) was the being with supernatural power guarding the “the
mountain of cedars, the dwelling-place of the gods and the throne of Ishtar”.
We are told that: “Enlil has appointed Humbaba to guard it (the
mountain) and armed him in sevenfold terrors, terrible to all flesh is
Humbaba. When he roars it is like the torrent of the storm, his breath is
like fire and his jaws are death itself”. “He is not like men who die, his
weapons are such that none can stand against them” When he looks at someone, it is the look of
death. [2] On Mesopotamian
seals he is depicted as a man running to the left, his legs and arms bent in
square angles and with his monstruous head looking to the observer. A sculpure
of the head of Humbaba was found in Tell Timah (Iraq). This head is the
prototype of all later Eurasian monstruous heads as will be demonstrated in
the next sections. |
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Head of Humbaba, Assyrian,
19th c. B.C. Iraqi
Museum, IM 73921 |
Mask of Humbaba,
2nd Millennium B,C. From Sippar (S. Iraq) [Credit: © The Trustees of
the British Museum] |
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In European antiquity winged creatures were sometimes
carved on temple tympans but they were also on ancient coinage. These winged
creatures, consisting of a human figure with wings on its back, can be
determined as angels, from the greek aggeloi or messengers from
heaven. The faces of these angels are of a scaring shape as if they want to
inspire fear to the observer. For that reason they might be personifications
of an armed force the purpose of which is to inspire fear. The purpose of the
scaring face was to demoralize the enemy even before it engaged in battle. Through history the personifications of the armed
forces developed from the ancient Achaean Medusa through the Ionian Nike to
the Roman Victoria. At the same time her archaic form developed to a modern
realistic form. |
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1. Medusa |
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The three Gorgon sisters - Medusa (guardian), Stheno (forceful), and
Euryale (far-roaming) - were children of the ancient marine deities Phorcys
(or Phorkys) and his sister Ceto (or Keto), chthonic monsters from an archaic
world. Their genealogy is shared with other sisters, the Graeae, as in
Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound who places both trinities of sisters far
off ‘on Kisthene's dreadful plain”: Near them their sisters three, the Gorgons,
winged With snakes for hair - hated of mortal man - While ancient Greek vase-painters and relief carvers imagined Medusa and
her sisters as beings born of monstrous form, sculptors and vase-painters of
the fifth century began to envisage her as being beautiful as well as
terrifying. In an ode written in 490 BC Pindar already speaks of
"fair-cheeked Medusa". In a late version of the Medusa myth, related by the Roman poet Ovid (Metamorphoses
4.770), Medusa was originally a beautiful maiden, “the jealous aspiration of
many suitors,” priestess in Athena’s temple, but when she and the “Lord of
the Sea” Poseidon lay together in Athena's temple, the enraged Athena
transformed Medusa’s beautiful hair to serpents and made her face so terrible
to behold that the mere sight of it would turn onlookers to stone. In Ovid's
telling, Perseus describes Medusa's punishment by Athena as just and
well-deserved. In most versions of the story, she was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who
was sent to fetch her head by King Polydectes of Seriphos as a gift. With
help from Athena and Hermes who supplied him with winged sandals, Hades’ cap
of invisibility, a sword, and a mirrored shield, he accomplished his quest.
The hero slew Medusa by looking at her harmless reflection in the mirror
instead of directly at her, to prevent being turned into stone. When the hero
severed Medusa's head from her neck, two offspring sprang forth, for Medusa
was pregnant by Poseidon: the winged horse Pegasus and the golden-sworded
giant Chrysaor. [3] Whatever these
stories assert they throw no light on the way pictures of the Gorgons or of
heads of Gorgons were actually used for or what they actually meant. To find a solution
for this question we have to analyse the figurative data presented to us on
many artefacts decorated with winged monstruous creatures or monstruous
heads. In the first place
we find that such creatures usually are depicted in a military context. In the second place
we find that the monstruous head very often is depicted on armoury, for example
on shields and on breast plates. These, we may
suppose, were all very expensive parts of armour and for that reason only
very high ranking warriors could afford such armour. Also, there were some
other rank-insignia which symbolized the supervisor of the operation and the
attacker or defender. None of these rank-insignia could have symbolized the
qualification of “head” as they
obviously symbolized operating officers. |
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Clay plaque with Gorgon
from the temenos of the Athenaion of Syracuse 570-550 BC. Syracuse, Museo Archeologico Regionale, Cat.
56. |
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As a representation of Medusa, the personification
of the guard, the Gorgons depicted in the
tympans of temples make these temples the places of the worship of the army.
As, in our example, the Gorgon is carrying a winged horse or pegasus,
the temple would have been dedicated to the army of Corinth of which the
pegasus was a symbol (as is demonstrated by Corinthian coins bearing pictures
of Pegasus). The Gorgon is usually depicted running, thus
suggesting swiftness, another fear-inspiring quality. |
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2. Nike |
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Peloponnesian stater, about 480-470 BC |
Stater, Asia Minor, about 450-430 |
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The Ionian
version of the personification of the armed forces has a thoroughly more
naturalistic form than the Aechean version. The oldest pictures date from the
beginning of the fifth century BC. She
is also a running winged creature but her head is not turned to the observer.
In her hand she has a crown of laurel. This personification is called Nike
which means Victory. Later Nike was
given a flying-up attitude. This version has, for example, culminated
into the Nike of Samothrace (ca. 190 B.C.) who, probably is a personification
of the Athens navy. |
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3. Victoria |
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Derived from this Greek Victory is the Roman Victoria,
also always depicted as an angel and of naturalistic design. The Roman Victoria is the
ancestress of the many Victoria’s of later times of whom it is not always
certain if they are a personification of the armed forces as well. A statue
of Victoria was from about 50 BC on a pillar on the pulpit of the Forum
Romanum in Rome and another statue was in the Senate. This last one was
removed by Gratian in 382 AD probably to be replaced by the symbol of the
Christian Roman Army (the XP-cypher) as the removel met with great resistance
of the pagan aristocracy. Nevertheless,
Victoria was apparently never abandonded and was frequently depicted together
with a (victorious) Roman Emperor. |
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Gold medal of Justinian I
the Great (527-565) The emperor on horseback preceded by Victoria |
19th century Victoria. Bordeaux,
France. |
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In the Hellenistic world the the monstruous head
emblem was known as the Gorgoneion and it was supposed to be the head
of Medusa, one of the Gorgons. |
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Tetradrachmon from Athens, about 530-520
BC. |
Stater from Neapolis
(Thracia), about 500 BC. |
Etruscan silver coin, 4th
cent. BC. |
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The earliest pictures of the head of Medusa as
printed on 6th century B.C. coins from Thracia and Athens, strongly resemble the
head of Humbaba, even when there are about 1400 years between them. The qualities of Medusa also resemble those
of Humbaba: Like Humbaba she is (literally) a guardian (of the dwelling place of the gods). When
Humbaba fastenes his eyes on you they are “the eyes of death” whilst looking at Medusa petrifies you. In
spite of these qualities both were killed by a hero. Also, Medusa is
depicted in the same running attitude as Humbaba. A difference is that
Humbaba is just a wingless man. Medusa, however is a female winged creature,
that is an angel of ancient Egyptian fashion. |
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Shields |
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The head of Gorgo, literally meaning “Head of the
Guard” or “Commander of the Guard”, was often depicted on shields and breastplates,
thus qualifying the bearer as the Chief-
or Supreme Commander of the defensive forces. The first examples of
such monstruous heads are about as old as the known statues of the Gorgo. We
may notice that the Gorgoneion has the traits of the running angels on
the temple fronts. |
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Corinthian crater, the
so-called Chigi Vase, 7th century B.C. Rome, Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia |
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The first example is from the so-called Chigi-vase
dating from the 7th century BC.. On this crater a Gorgoneion is depicted on
the shield of the most important warrior, helped by warriors of a lesser
rank, symbolized by the emblems on their shields: an eagle, a bull’s head, a
cormorant and a lion. At about the same time, the monstruous head of the
Gorgo is attached to shields carried by Athena herself or by tyrants of
Athens being the (supreme) commanders of the Athens armed force. Shield of the Egyptian
Ptolemeic Guard, 4th cent. B.C. Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam These examples are a part of a very long series of
shields charged with a Gorgoneion spanning a period ending in the eighteenth
century A.D.. |
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Louis XIV of France
(1643-1715) in
classical armour (Versailes Palace) |
The arms of the City of
Capodistria (Koper). |
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Breast Plates |
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Breast plate with
Gorgoneion, 4t -5th century B.C. Kurgan no. 5 of
Elizavetskaja Stanica (Kuban region). Another example is the Gorgoneion on the breast plate
of a Skythian warrior from about the 4th - 5th century BC.. This, we may
assume, should have been of a very high ranking warrior as the breast plate
undoubtedly has been very expensive. This breast plate is the oldest known breast plate
with a Gorgoneion known and the first of a very long series of such breast
plates spanning a period ending in the 17th or 18th century A.D.. Many of these can be determined as being the
armoury of a high-ranking or even supreme commander. |
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Gorgoneion on the breast
plate of a Roman commander, 1st century B.C. Museo
Archeologico Nazionale, Aquileia |
Bust of Oliver Cromwell,
Lord Protector of The Commonwealth of England (1653-’58). (By
Joseph Wilton, 1764) |
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Certainly it is possible that the monstruous head
was invented locally several times but the occurence of the monstruous head
in the Far East may also be a striking example of cultural diffusion and in
the same way as the Gorgoneion may be derived from the Mesopotamian Humbaba. The display of the emblem in the Far East slightly
differs from the display in the West. Only in early examples it is an emblem
attached to the armoury and for that reason can be qualified to be the emblem
of a (supreme) commander. Later examples from China and South East Asia are
symbolizing guardians thus returning to Medusa (Guardian) herself. The Monstruous head is called kirtimukha in
Sanskrit and chibar in Tibetan. About the Buddhist monstruous head it is remarked: “This disembodied face represents a god of the
skies. The mouth is shown devouring or giving forth snakes, dragons, sprays
of vegetation, clouds or other substances, showing perhaps that like the sun
the god of the skies has the dual function of creator and destroyer. The
chibar is characteristically shown in conjunction with two other creatures:
his human arms hold the tails of snakes or dragons, or he is flanked by
dragons, sun-birds or other animals. The mask can appear armless as well.
Both forms of the mask lacks a lower jaw. The face is a composite monster
using elements of ferocious beasts such as the lion. The masks, often
connected by festooned pearls, frequently occur as decoration on Buddhist
altars and on such ritual objects as bells.” The Dayak shield shown here may be of a category
of its own. As relations between Kalimantan and Indo-China were intensive
enough, this might as well be an example of cultural diffusion. In any case, the Dayak certainly were no
Buddhists. |
Dayak shield. Kalimantan Timur 19th century. [4] |
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Picture Gallery |
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Sword Hilt with monstruous head. China, Ming Dynasty, early 15th century [5] |
Kirtimukha, Angkor Vat,
10th century A.D. |
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Kirtimukha from Deccan,
ca. 1700 AD |
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Chibar from Tibet |
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Dragon’s Head, Vietnam,
19th century This is a Chinese-style adaptation of the Kirtimukha
but no such dragon heads are found in China itself |
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Kirtimukha from Cambodia. |
Monstruous head above temple
gate, Bali. |
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In the head of this
essay the monstruous head on the Crater of Vix. 6th
cent. B.C. (Musée du Châtillonnais). |
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©
Hubert de Vries 2010-11-03. Updated 2015-11.11
[1] The Epic of
Gilgamesh. Penguin Classics L 100, 1960.
[2] Ibid. pp. 69,
72, 76, 80. Nevertheless he was killed by Enkidu.
[3] From Wikipedia.
[4] From: Shields
from the collection of the Barbier-Müller Museum. New York, 2000, no 57.
[5] The Board of
Trustees of the Royal Armories no. XXVIS.295