Medusa and The Gorgons

In Greek Mytholgy, Medusa was a Gorgon, and a daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. She had two other sisters, Stheno and Euryale, who were also Gorgons. All three sisters were know to be unbelievably beautiful and turned to stone anyone stupid enough to look at them. In their beauty, they were covered in golden scales with hissing and writhing snakes for hair. Their sisters, the Graiae guarded their home from beyond the sea.  In another version of mythology, the sitsters were know to be ugly. The reason for this is that Poseidon raped Medusa in Athena's temple. Athena was so outraged and instead of punishing Poseidon for his actions, she cursed all three sisters to their hideousness. In most versionso of the story, she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. In his conquest, he received a mirrored shield from Athena, winged sandals from Hermes, a sword, and Hades' cap of invisibility.  Medusa was the only one of the three Gorgons who was mortal, so Perseus was able to slay her while looking at the reflection from the mirrored shield he received from Athena, who thereafter used her head as a weapon to place on her shield.