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Mount Vesuvius. Pompeii – Herculaneum
The mount Vesuvius near Naples is probably not only the most famous, but also one, if not the most dangerous volcano on Earth. The first eyewitness account of a volcanic eruption that has been preserved has come to us from Vesuvius: In 79 AD, after a century-long slumber, the volcano woke up with terrifying power in an eruption that buried several Roman towns like Pompeii and Herculaneum under several meters of ash. Mt. Vesuvius, or more correctly the Somma-Vesuvius complex, is about 400,000 years old, as dating of lava sampled drilled from over 1,300 m depth have shown. Present-day Vesuvius is a medium-sized typical stratovolcano volcano reaching a height of 1,281 m a.s.l. It comprises the older volcano, the Somma, whose summit collapsed (likely during the 79 AD eruption), creating a caldera, and the younger volcano, Vesuvius, which since then has re-grown inside this caldera and formed a new cone. Although in a dormant phase at present, Vesuvius is an extremely active volcano and particular for its unusually varied style of activity: it ranges from Hawaiian-style emission of very liquid lava, extreme lava fountains, lava lakes and lava flows, over Strombolian and Vulcanian eruptions to violently explosive, Plinian eruptions that produce large pyroclastic flows. It is estimated that ore than 500,000 people live in the zone immediately threatened by a future eruption. Pompeii, a former Greek colony of 6th cent. B.C., was a thriving commercial centre of about 20.000 inhabitants and Herculaneum a largely residential town of about 5000. Frozen in time, they offer a superbly detailed picture of life in the early Roman Empire. Temples, theaters, shops, private houses, gardens, fountains, public baths, swimming pools, and a miraculously preserved library, a rich variety of rare items including gold jewelry, silver dishes and the most complete known set of Roman surgical instruments, even wax tablets inscribed with bank records, were unearthed almost intact. Paradoxically, volcanoes, although regarded as mere destroyers, are perhaps nature’s most effective preservers of ancient human structures and settlements. No other natural phenomenon can so quickly and thoroughly bury large areas, protecting evidence of human occupation and artefacts from subsequent damage. Towns such as Pompeii and Herculaneum, were rapidly engulfed in voluminous tephra and pyroclastic ejecta and survive relatively intact. Besides the inescapable surface exposure and degradation, the buildings and artwork were buried in their original context, so their spatial and functional relationships remained largely undisturbed. Although most buildings in Pompeii are roofless, crushed by the accumulation of tephra from Vesuvius, many of Herculaneum’s structures (e.g. small shops), retain their upper stories. Herculaneum is perhaps the best-preserved urban site of the early Roman Empire. Until the early 1980s, it was assumed that most of Herculaneum’s population had managed to escape the city alive, as the dwellers of Akrotiri did. The discovery of 130 largely intact skeletons caught in the fierce heat and swirling ash of a pyroclastic surge, showed that the victims had apparently been asphyxiated while attempting to flee by boat. Hundreds more skeletons may still await discovery.
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Titanomachy & Gigantomachy : THE ENVIRONMENTAL & GEOMYTHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND
Gigantomachy is a sequence of different events and persons with a various symbolism, naturalistic, environmental, cosmic, religious, sociological, historical, anthropological, folkloric, linguistic, e.t.c. proving, once more, the richness of the ancient Greek mythical thought. The rivalry, the pursuit and the battles between the Olympian Gods and the Giants, in Greece and Egypt, incarnate the internal changes of the elementary primordial natural forces and the cosmic reordering that took really place in Eastern Mediterranean Region, during a remote period of time. Shifts of the crust, submarine trenches, orogeny, erosion and sedimentation, the emergence and fragmentation of the mainland of Aegaeis, tectonic faults, volcanic eruptions and sea-level changes symbolize the perpetual struggle between the natural elements (fire, water, air, soil). The dualism of the natural powers and elements is also revealed through their role in the ecological equilibrium. The chaotic violent forces of the natural world with their primordial impetus (burning heat, the winter’ s darkness, catastrophic phenomena like storms, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes) differentiate from the order of the beneficent natural periodicities (impact of the solar energy, rainfall, breeze, seasonality, formation of fertile lands). Ancient writers who mentioned the giants : Aeschylus, Apollonius Rhodius, Aristophanes, Diodorus of Sicily, Euripides, fragmenta of various historians & comedians, Herodotus, Hesiod, Homer, Kallimachos, Lucian, Pausanias, Pindar, Plato, Sophocles, Vergilius.
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CAMPI FLEGREI or BURNING FIELDS
The Phlegrean Fields caldera formed about 40. 000 years ago with the eruption of 80 cubic km of ash (the Campanian Tuff). The caldera is about 13 km in diameter and includes numerous cones and craters, 25 km west of Vesuvius and 5 km west-southwest of Naples. Recent data drawn by the distribution of the volcanic products in the Mediterranean point out that, in the period between 40 000 and 27 000 years ago, in the Flegrean Fields there at least five explosive eruptions occurred. Those events gave the most violent volcanic paroxysm of the circum-mediterranean area during the last 200.000 years. There is no evidence for their birth in the written texts of Classical Period, but a later tradition says that the pregnant Gaia half opened the Phlegrae plain and brought them to life as adolescents. The final battle of Gigantomachy took also place in Pallene, former Phlegraean or “burning” fields: 1. The westernmost of the three macedonian peninsulas jutting into the Aegean Sea from Chalcidice, between the Thermaic and Toronean Golf. 2. Mountainous Arcadia (Peloponnesos). Pausanias Description of Greece , VIII ( About Arcadia ). xxix.1 – 3. 3. A later tradition, reported by Strabo, locates the place of the battle in Campi Flegrei in Italy. The mythological tales set in the Phlegraean Fields deal with three heroes: Heracles, Ulysses and Aeneas. The names of several Giants are related to some physical phenomena and ecofacts: 1. Enkelados < ancient greek word “ kelados “ ( = the loud noise, the meteorological or geological crash ) 2. Mimas < “ mimichmos “ (= the subterrenian dull sound, the neighing ) 3. Rhoitos < “ rhoibdos “ (= the deafening sound) & “ rhoisos “ (= the hissing sound ) 4. Porphyrion < “ pyr “ (= the fire, either as a mass of hot missile, or as a person who causes a fire destruction) 5. Pallas & Pallene < “pella” ( = the stone and its correlating words ), e.t.c.
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THE INFLUENCE OF VOLCANIC HAZARDS ON THE CULTURAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES OF THE CIRCUM-MEDITERRANEAN REGION 1
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K. Kyriakopoulos , A. Laupi and T. Papadopoulos 1
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Geology and Geoenvironment, Panepistimioupolis GR-15784 Ano Ilissia. E-mail: ckiriako@geol.uoa.gr and tpapadop@geol.uoa.gr 2
National Technical University of Athens - Centre for the Assesment of Natural Hazards and Proactive Planning . E-mail: alaoupi@otenet.gr
ABSTRACT
Nisyros-Yali Islands
Nisyros volcanic island is situated at the eastern part of the Aegean active volcanic arc. It’s a composite volcano with a central caldera with 4 Km diameter (subaerial cone < 160 Ka). The calc-alkaline volcanic products have been deposited during the last 100 Ka on a basement of Mesozoic limestones and Neogene sediments. Di Paola, 1974 and Limburg and Varekamp, 1991 present a general evolutionary phases of the Nisyros volcano: i) Precaldera activity generating submarine and sub-aerial volcanic products, ii) Caldera forming explosive eruptions and iii) Post caldera domes fallowing by hydrothermal activity, phreatic explosionsand deposition of younger pumice sequences. All the historical registered explosions (1873-1887) are hydrothermal and created the three small craters in the caldera. The island today is affected by intense hydrothermal activity which feed many fumaroles in the caldera floor area and various sites of hot springs along the coast of the island. Yali islet is an upper Quaternary rhyolitic edifice. Neptune (Poseidon) with his trident uses a piece of an island as a weapon against the Giant. The huge piece of land is represented full of terrestrial and marine creatures (? wild goat, snake, scorpion, ? jelly fish, ? dolphin, octapus). The island of Karphathos is also related to this giant and his struggle against the sea-god. The God, who belongs to the panhellenic pre - olympian religious substratum, was worshipped widely because: a) changes the surface of the earth with the physical & geological phenomena, and the formation of valleys, islands, straits, isthmi ( e.g. the formation of Euboia, Nisyros, the area of Tempi in Thessaly, e.t.c.) b) causes earthquakes, faults and rockfalls , he submerges or emerges pieces of land (he is considered as Master, husband of the Earth) c) floods the mainland (e.g. Plain of Eleusis at Athens), he is dominant over anything that is related to the waters gushing up from earth (rivers, lakes, springs, floods) and is symbolized by the wild horses & bulls, fearless and proud animals d) controls the vast sea - world.
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MILOS ISLAND
In Milos island the volcanic products consists of Plio-Pleistocene age rocks, mainly of rhyolitic-rhyodacitic and andesitic composition, which show a typical calcalkaline affinity. The bulk of these rocks were erupted between 3 and 1 Ma ago, but activity as young as 90 Ka has been documented. According to volcanological, geophysical, geochemical and petrogenetic data the strongly tentional tectonic regime affected the area of Milos, as well as the central and the eastern part of the South Aegean Island Arc, offers a favorable conditions to rise the magma and form vast magmatic chambers near the surface. The long duration of the volcanic activity in Milos Island (3.5 to 0.08 Ma) produced a great quantity and variety of volcanic rocks ranging in composition from basaltic andesites to rhyolites. The volcanism in the area developed with submarine activity character and was followed by a subaerial principaly having effusive phase. At the end of Pliocene early Pleistocene the submarine pyroclastic activity produced several volcanic extrusions of lava domes. The last phase of the volcanism create subaerial type surge deposits and lava flows forming ‘tuff rings’ characterized by homogeneous rhyolitic composition. In ancient times the alum of Melos was reckoned next to that of Egypt and the Melian earth was employed as a pigment by ancient artists. Melos was also, along with other volcanic islands of the Aegean, a source of obsidian (a volcanic glass) during Prehistory for the Eastern Mediterranean. Franchthi Cave is unique in Greece because it shows an essentially unbroken series of deposits spanning the period from ca. 20.000 B.C. (and probably even earlier) down to ca. 3000 B.C. This is by far the longest recorded continuous occupational sequence from any one site in Greece. The site itself is located in and immediately outside of a large cave in the SE Argolid, across a small bay from the modern Greek village of Koilada. Excavation at the site began in 1967 and ended in 1976.
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LIPARI ISLANDS - AEOLOS KINGDOM 7
Lipari, the ancient Meligunis, is the largest island of the Eolian Archipelago and its economic and cultural center. It is located immediately north of Vulcano Island. The island contains numerous small stratovolcanoes, craters, and lava domes on a basement of submarine volcanic deposits.
From the land of the Cyclops Ulysses came to the kingdom of Aeolus, custodian of the winds, who welcomed him and his companions. Homer’s description of the island of Aeolia and the other geographical evidence led many scholars to identify it with Malta. But some scholars maintain that Lipari or Stromboli is Aeolia. In the Tyrrhenian Sea, north of Sicily and south of Naples, are some small islands which are called after the main one the Lipari islands or the Aeolian islands.
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Etna volcano about 3310 m high is the most active volcano in Europe continent, lies in a structurally highly complex, and not yet fully understood, setting which is reflected in the abundance and variety of - often controversial - models proposed for the volcano and its tectonic environment. “Activity in the Etnean area began about 0.5 Ma (million years) ago with the emission of tholeiitic magmas in a submarine and coastal environment that crop out on the coast to the north of Catania (Acicastello, Acitrezza) and was followed at around 0.3 Ma by another episode of tholeiitic volcanism in the SW sector of Etna. Beginning about 170 ka (thousand years) ago, mafic alkaline magmas were emitted to form several eruptive centers. The result of these eruptions is a highly complex edifice whose morphology is that of an asymmetric shield volcano topped by a stratocone and whose eastern flank hosts the Valle del Bove, a vast caldera depression formed during successive collapse events beginning during the late Trifoglietto stage and continuing through the Holocene. Much of the stratigraphic information regarding the growth of the various eruptive centers has in fact been gained from the walls of the Valle del Bove.” Typhoon, a monstrous creature of the Greek and Egyptian mythology, was the son of Tartarus and Gaia. Typhoon bellowed like a bull and roared like a lion, symbolizing the strong winds, the hurricanes and the burning steams of the volcanoes. Lernean Hydra, a huge serpent with nine heads, was the daughter of Echidna and Typhon. He was the largest monster ever born, his bottom portion and hands were a mass of coiled snakes. He frightened the gods of Olympus sending them fleeing to Egypt. When Zeus was taunted for his cowardice he returned to fight Typhon. After a long and dreadful battle Zeus defeated the monster.Its punishment was to lay under Etna. The figure of the serpent - monster against the gods is depicted, for the first time against Zeus, on the handle of a shield, from Olympia and is dated to the early 6th cent. B.C But, generally, the serpent - tailed giants belong to the late tradition of the years after the 4th cent. B.C.
The volcanic activity in the area of north Aegean (Lemnos, Lesvos islands) took place about 20 Ma. Numerous, isolated volcanic plugs with extensive columnar jointing suggest additional point source activity. Specific centers of volcanic activity in the form of craters and domes are located in several places. In Lesvos is part of a belt of late Oligocene - middle Miocene calc-alcaline to shoshonitic volcanism of the northern and central Aegean Sea and western Anatolia. In the central part of the island there is a series of volcanic centres, situated along a SW-NE direction. The last volcanic manifestation took place later with the local basaltic-shoshonitic lavas of eastern Lesvos, in Mytilene area, around 11 m.y. ago (Pe-Piper, 1978). The intense volcanic activity in the area left a large number of active surface thermal manifestations (hot springs, various geothermal fields, etc). HEPHAESTUS, in Greek mythology, the god of fire and by the ancients often confused with, the Roman god Vulcan; the derivation of the name is uncertain, but it may well be of Greek origin. The elemental character of Hephaestus is far more apparent than is the case with the majority of the Olympian gods; the word Hephaestus was used as a synonym for fire not only in poetry (Homer, //. ii. 426 and later).
Poliochne, ancient Greek Bronze Age town on Lemnos island. One of the most ancient towns in Europe. Unearthed by excavations of the Italian Archaeological School of Greece. It is believed that Troy was its main rival commercially.
Except in Lemnos and Attica, there are few indications of any cult of Hephaestus. His association with Lemnos can be traced from Homer to the Roman age. A town in the island was called Hephaestia, and the functions of the god must have been wide, as we are told that his Lemnian priests could cure snakebites. Once a year every fire was extinguished on the island for nine days, during which period sacrifice was offered to the gods of the underworld and the dead.
Aiolos gives Odysseus the bag of winds. 17th century etching Theodor van Thulden (1606 -1669). Fine Art Museum San Francisco
ETNA - TYPHOEUS (TYPHOON)
LEMNOS - LESVOS HEPHAESTOS AND METALLURGY
In Homer the fire-god was the son of Zeus and Hera, and found a place in the Olympian system as the divine smith. The Iliad contains two versions of his fall from heaven. In one account (i. 590) he was cast out by Zeus and fell on Lemnos; in the other, Hera threw him down immediately after his birth in disgust at his lameness, and he was received by the sea-goddesses Eurynome and Thetis. The Lemnian version is due to the prominence of his cult at Lemnos in very early times; and his fall into the sea may have been suggested by volcanic activity in Mediterranean islands, as at Lipara and Thera.
The latest eruption in historic times, probably in 729 AD, at Monte Pilatus at the NE tip of the island, formed a spectacular obsidian lava flow. Since Ancient times, the island has been known for its rich deposit of pumice (the largest deposit in the world!) and obsidian, - a highly valued raw material to manufacture tools such as knives and arrowheads in the Stone and Bronze Age. Obsidian from Lipari has been found throughout the Mediterranean, proving that a vast trade network existed already during the 2nd millennium BC.
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THERA VOLCANO - THE BRONZE AGE CYCLADIC SETTLEMENT
Thera (Santorini) is one of the five volcanoes, which make up the South Aegean Active volcanic Arc. The volcanic centeres include three Quaternary volcanoes (Santorini, Nisyrow, and Methana), solfataras and fumaroles fields (Sousaki, Aegina, Milos and Kos). Thera is a group of five islands (Thera, Therasia, Aspronisi, Palea Kameni and Nea Kameni). Thera, Therasia and Aspronisi enclose a sea-flooded caldera of about 13 Km diameter. The volcanic activity in the area of Santorini started about 2 Ma ago. A particularly spectacular example of volcanic preservation occurs on the Cycladic island of Thera (also called Santorini), about 60 miles north of Crete, where a late Bronze Age city, named for the nearby modern village of Akrotiri, was engulfed during the eruption of 1640 ± 12 B.C. (dated by ice core samples and tree-ring evidence). Known as ‘the Pompeii of the Aegean’, Akrotiri is by far the best preserved settlement of its era, corresponding to Late Minoan IIIA on Crete. A prosperous sea port, with a population of several thousand, enriched by maritime trade with Crete and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean region, had luxurious and opulent multistory dwellings, indoor running water, underground sewers and flush toilets. Although the site of Akrotiri was continuously inhabited since the Neolithic Period, pre-eruption Akrotiri was profoundly influenced by Minoan civilization. The technological sophistication and the artistic splendor were reflected on the famous wall paintings, some of the most extensive and beautiful wall paintings to have survived from the ancient world. The scarcity of valuable jewelry or metal goods, as well as the total absence of human remains, indicates that Akrotiri’s people had ample warning of the disaster that overtook their city. Both volcanologists and archaeologists succeeded in interpreting the stratigraphic record, reconstructing the order of events that doomed Akrotiri. This eruption, known as ‘the minoan eruption’, was among the most catastrophic volcanic events of the last 100.000 years (VEI e” 6.0 ). Giant tsunami triggered by caldera’s collapse, rainfall of tephra and other pyroclastic or toxic material (deep sea sediments in Mediterranean and Black Sea, terrestrial layers in prehistoric settlements of Crete and other islands, lacustrine deposits in S. Turkey), pumice floating over the sea surface and intense seismic paroxysm caused losses in human lives, poisoning of the air and the subterranean water horizons, catastrophe on the crops, death on flocks, abrupt climatic changes, high percentage of some acute or chronic respiratory, dermic and psychic diseases and serious problems on marine communication network, thousand of miles away from there. The dating of the event has also revised the whole chronological setting of the Mediterranean Bronze Age civilizations.
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Volcanoes and especially large volcanic eruptions have influenced humans, their resources, their culture, and perhaps - in certain circumstances - even the course of their civilizations. In some cases, active volcanoes have made their mark in living memory. They have destroyed homes, reshaped landscapes, killed wildlife, and altered global weather patterns. In other cases, the affects have been less immediately observable. Their impact on human traditions, religions, and cultural practices have evolved and been affected by various volcanic phenomena in volcanically active localities such as the Mediterranean region. From the very beginning of human evolution, our ancestors have been strongly connected to volcanic archaeoenvironments as Laetoli footprints imply. From Eastern Central Atlantic islands to Anatolian plateaus, volcanic phenomena have transformed the geomorphology and the landscapes of past ecosystems. The aim of this poster is to highlight : a) two Pleistocene major events, the giant submarine landslides & tsunami triggered by mega-eruptions of palaeovolcanoes in Canary Islands and the destructive activity of Phlegrean Fields in Italian peninsula , b) the interaction of Volcanology with the urban environment (Holocene eruptions), c) the interrelation between various volcanic hazards and human psychology and d) the influence of volcanoes on human evolution (cultivation of fertile lands, exploitation of metals and useful rocks like obsidian, organization of trade routes and exchange patterns, existence of prevention policies). Eruption size and type, other information of classification and geological characteristics, time series of events and their geographical distribution are also recorded on the map of circum-mediterranean region. Although there was no scientific instrumentation until the Krakatoa eruption of A.D. 1883, evidence is given by thorough interdisciplinary investigation (e.g. oceanographic expeditions west of Gibraltar Straits), the earliest artistically represented eruption (²atal Hüyük mural dated from c. 6.200 B.C.), destruction levels and archaeological evidence (e.g. Thera and the Cycladic settlement of Akrotiri), ‘fossilized’ landscapes (Pompei and Herculaneum), written sources (e.g. Pliny the Younger), geo-parks (extended area around Stromboli and Aitna) and geomythological symbolism (the Gigantomachy, other gods and heroes related to volcanoes such as Hephaistos, Hercules, Ulysses, Aeneias).
During Neolithic Times Anatolia was the centre of an advanced culture. Excavations during 1961 - 1965 unearthed Catal Hüyük in central Anatolia (modern Turkey) as a major site. The settlement consisted of brick houses with entry over ladders from roof level. The houses contained a hearth and stove and had platforms for sleeping and working. It is believed to have had a population of around 7000 people, who cultivated grains and oil seeds and may have practiced animal husbandry. The religious quarter contains several shrines with wall paintings of outstanding quality. A vivid, nearly naturalistic wall painting from one of the shrines depicts the plan of the city and a remarkable Neolithic portrayal of the active twin-peaked volcano of Hasan Dag, eight miles to the east of the city. This is the earliest known visual record of a volcanic eruption, dating to about 6200 B.C. with an error margin of less than 100 years. The mural shows a cinder cone, perhaps one of the cinder cones in the Karapinar volcanic field that lies about 30 miles east of Catal Hüyük, ejecting tephra from the summit vent. The volcano is shown exhibiting only mild Strombolian activity.
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CANARY ISLANDS - ATLANTIS
Canary island currently contains 6 volcanoes: LA PALMA (Stratovolcano), HIERRO (Shield volcano), TENERIFE (Stratovolcano) GRAN CANARIA, (Fissure vent), FUERTEVENTURA (Fissure vent) and LANZAROTE (Fissure vent). Volcanism in the region of Canary Islands is largely caused by hotspots in oceanic crust, and the region has the highest proportion of fissure vent volcanoes (as primary features). Several known volcanoes lie along or near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that separates the Eurasian and African plates from the North and South American plates, but the Canaries and Cape Verdes lie just west of the African continental margin. La Palma is a stratovolcano and is the largest (6500 m above the surrounding ocean floor). There are two main rock formations separated by a line about 427 m above sea level make up La Palma island. Several historic eruptions include Tahuya a cone of lapilli, scoria and bombs about 1000 m high that formed over a three month period in 1585 by Strombolian eruptions.The most recent eruption occured in 1971. The Atlantides were the seven daughters of Atlas, the mythic Titan son of Poseidon (Oceanus) that founded the city of Atlantis. Greek myths tell that the Atlantides were also called Pleiades or Hesperides, and personified the seven Islands of the Blest, which the Greeks obscurely placed in the Outer Ocean (Atlantic). Ancient writers tell also about an island opposite the strait, larger than Libya and Asia combined. From it travellers could in those days reach the other islands, and from them the whole opposite continent which surrounds what can truly be called the ocean. The Atlantis’ case is taken mainly with some skepticism among many scholars because it disappeared an advanced civilization without leaving any trace.
Fire and its permanent fermentation seems to have a significant role in Gigantomachy. Fire is related to the goddess Hera, ‘ mother’ of all the fire - spirits. In the ancient Greek mythology, a number of Giants and deities were connected, directly or indirectly, with her. Among the Giants, Ixion, the arrogant, is tied to a burning wheel for punishment. As for the others, Eurymedon and Porphyrion are thrown into Tartarus, Alcyoneus is buried under the volcano of Etna and Enkelados, personal rival of Zeus and Athena, under the mountain of Ossa or Othrys, or under Etna. Hera’ s son, the deformed Hephaestos, thrown by his own parents from the mountain Olympus to the earth, installs his smithery on the island of Lemnos. The Thracian blacksmiths used to paint a circle on their forehead as a symbol of the Sun. This interpretation is possibly as old as the beginning of Bronze age (before 3000 B.C.) when metallurgy was still regarded as a mystery and blacksmiths as its priests. He is the Greek God of the forge, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals and metallurgy and fire.
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GORGO (Gorgone) - MEDUSA
Monsters that symbolized the deathly powers emanating from the earth (poisonous air, gas explosion, lava, bolides & melting rocks) A. Attic mythological tradition: Creature belonging to the mythical cycle of Gigantomachy, notorious in the local attic traditions, daughter of Gaia and allied to the Giants. Gorgo was killed by Athena. Her skin was used as a shield by the goddess (Gorgoneion). At the beginning, it was awful to look at, but Gorgo’ s face gradually transformed into a pathetic beautiful head surrounded by snakes, during the Hellenistic Era. B. Mycenean mythological tradition: Medusa was the only mortal among the three Gorgon sisters, the others being Stheno & Euryale. Daughter of the sea gods Ancient Greek Neapolis (Macedonia). Classical Phorcys and Ceto, she was once a beautiful maiden but was hemidrachm (1.9g), c. 411 - 348 B.C. O: Medusa with turned into a snake-haired monster by Athena. Men who looked tongue protruding and hair of snakes ; R:female head, at Medusa turned to stone. The hero Perseus later killed possible Artemis (goddess of the hunt and the night) Medusa at her home on an island off Libya by cutting off her with hair bound in cord. Sear Greek 1417. head with a sickle.