NO PEAKING!!

I was watching a TV show and it mentioned Medusa and how looking at her would result in a most certain peril. I am familiar with who and what she is but I'm not completely positive as to how she got to be in that state. From what I have found, Medusa actually use to be a lovely young lady. In some versions, Athena was jealous of her beauty. Medusa made the mistake of sleeping with Poseidon in one of Athena's temples. This act very much angered Athena and she turns Medusa's gorgeous hair into serpents and made her face so ugly that if any man looked at it, he would be turned to stone.** She was killed by Perseus, who beheaded her. He used a mirror shield so that he could look at Medusa but not directly. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to fight something you couldn't look at? Also, how tempting is it to look at something that you were told not to? I mean, look at Pandora. She was told not to open the box and look what she went and did. She opened the box. Perseus manages to not look directly at Medusa but I know that I personally would be driven crazy by the fact that I couldn't look at her. All things forbidden usually seem more tempting.

** Interesting side note, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has a similar incidence where if anyone looks into the eyes of the basilisk (large snake) they will be petrified, like stone. Hmm... Something to think about there...