MEDUSA a symbol of Protection and a symbol to be feared.
Her name, comes from the ancient greek word “μεδώ” and means to 'rule over'
In Ancient Greece she was used to protect from and ward off the negative, (much like the modern evil eye), she represents a dangerous threat meant to deter other dangerous threats.
The Gorgon is also reproduced on armor and the presence of Medusa on armor reinforces the idea that her presence held significant power to protect the wearer against enemies.
In the Iliad, her head appears on Zeus’ aegis. Hesiod’s Shield of Herakles describes an illustration of the myth of Perseus and the Gorgons on the hero’s shield. More commonly, the gorgoneion is the central motif on the aegis of Athena. Goddess Athena was one the most favourite Goddesses in the ancient world because of her wisdom and her protective aspects.
Depictions of the goddess in both vase painting and sculpture include the head of Medusa on her chest.
The most renowned sculpture of Athena, the gold and ivory Athena Parthenos that once stood in the Parthenon, included two gorgoneia: one on her aegis and one on her shield. The Gorgon’s face is not limited to divine armor, however, but also decorated the martial accoutrements of Greek Soldiers such as helmets, shields, and greaves.
Gorgoneion like shields were used for ages by the Greek warrior believing that they would be more protective under the frightening sight of Medusa. Alexander himself wore the image of Medusa on his breastplate in battle.
In Greek mythology, Medusa (/mɪˈdjuːzə, -sə/; Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress")[1] also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. It is in the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses that her story is most deeply elaborated. She was lovely, according to the poem—until she and Poseidon had sex in Athena’s temple.[2] Athena then punished her for this violation, by turning her into the monstrous, stony-glanced creature that we know. Thus those who gazed into her eyes would turn to stone. Most sources describe her as the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto,[3] although the author Hyginus makes her the daughter of Gorgon and Ceto.[4]
Medusa was beheaded by the Greek hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head, which retained its ability to turn onlookers to stone, as a weapon[5] until he gave it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield. In classical antiquity the image of the head of Medusa appeared in the evil-averting device known as the Gorgoneion.
According to Hesiod and Aeschylus, she lived and died on an island named Sarpedon, somewhere near Cisthene. The 2nd-century BC novelist Dionysios Skytobrachion puts her somewhere in Libya, where Herodotus had said the Berbers originated her myth, as part of their religion. She remained a priestess to Athena after her death and was risen with fresh hair