Our Favorites: Medusa

Womanica

Acast Creative Studios

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The writhing serpent hair. The fearsome gaze that can turn onlookers to solid stone. Medusa is one of the most instantly recognizable monsters of Greek mythology. But her story and image have evolved over the centuries — sometimes a villain, sometimes a victim, sometimes a divine goddess.

For Further Reading:

For the past six years, we’ve been telling the stories of women you may or may now know– but definitely should. This month, we’re bringing back our favorite Womanica episodes from across our back catalog. These are women throughout time and around the world who made their mark.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we get started with today's episode, a heads up. This episode contains mentions of violence and sexual assault.
0:09.8	Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica. For the past six years, we've been telling the stories of women you may or may not know about, but definitely should.
0:21.4	This month, we're bringing back our favorite Womanica episodes from across the back catalog.
0:26.7	These are women across centuries and around the world who made their mark.
0:31.6	With that, here's one of our favorite episodes.
0:37.1	Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica.
0:42.4	October is the perfect time to delve into all things spooky. So this month, we're talking
0:47.7	about women who give us goosebumps. Some are real-life creators of spine-chilling works of fiction.
0:57.0	Others are the subjects of frightening folklore. Either way, these scream queens are sure to give you a scare.
1:02.0	Her image is instantly recognizable, a head framed with hair that writhes and hisses with real live snakes.
1:09.0	But be careful not to gaze directly at her,
1:11.6	unless you want to be turned to solid stone.
1:14.6	We're talking about Medusa.
1:23.6	Like many mythical figures, Medusa doesn't have one clear origin story.
1:34.0	The myths surrounding her evolve across time and cultures, and she exists as an amalgamation
1:38.7	of many different interpretations.
1:41.8	Some scholars identify Medusa's origins in ancient North Africa, when Amazon tribes in Libya
1:47.7	worshipped her as a powerful and beautiful goddess.
1:51.4	She appeared as a female face with serpent hair, a symbol of divine feminine wisdom.
1:57.5	But the Medusa that most of us are familiar with in popular culture arose from ancient Greece.
2:04.4	This version of the mythic heroine appeared in the 8th century B.C.E. in Hesiods Theeghani.
2:10.5	She was one of the three Gorgon sisters, winged female monsters, often represented with snake
	...

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