[Tidbits] A Beautifully Ugly Gorgoneion

From the time Perseus lopped off Medusa’s head-- she’s the one who
could never be bothered to use a little conditioning in her hair to
tame those wild locks --well… from that time on the gorgoneion
became functional as an apotropaic device. Use evil to ward off evil
I always say.

As an aside… the Gorgon is always alluded to as a head. No arms. No
legs. No body in fact. And almost always ugly as ugly can be. Except
for this dichotomy. When ugly is only ugly… then it’s pretty much
ugly. But when ugly gets really ugly… when it descends into the
muck and mire of ugliness… when it transcends all boundaries of
ugliness and begins to border on the edge of grotesqueness… why
then… it abruptly transforms… and suddenly it’s beautiful. Still
ugly mind you. But also quite beautiful.

There is however an exception to the ugliness of the Medusa. There is
a Hellenistic marble known as the Medusa Rondanini which is in fact
quite beautiful in the traditional sense. I guess if viewed from the
right angle one can see beauty in all things. I believe this surely
holds true for all living creatures except for that anomaly called a
politician. No beating me over the head on this one folks. I’m Benjy
the setting man… I yam what I yam what I yam… I fights to the
finish when I see a winger… don’t matter left or right.

For what it’s worth… Gorgons are all over the place. Dress.
Dishes.

Weapons. Coins. Mosaic floors. Doors. And even… for all you
jewelers… kilns.

So… there’s this Gorgoneion I have… appliqu: gold foil… dating
to late 6th century B.C… probably used for funerary purposes…
no value given… but quite stunning. Wanna see?

For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at http://www.tyler-adam.com where you
will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that
says Current Tidbits… and you will see represented on our pages a
Gogoneion of beautifully ugliness.

And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark