MEDUSA:  Medusa, originally the serpent Goddess of female wisdom of the Libyan Amazons, was also known as Metis in those days.  Her blood was said to have the power to create life or bring death, symbolized by the 2 black swans, facing opposite directions, who sometimes accompanied her image.  In later myths, she was a beautiful Gorgon Queen who guarded the Garden of the Hesperides containing the tree of golden apples in the land of the setting sun.  Athena put a curse on Medusa, turning her hair to snakes and causing those who glimpsed her face to turn to stone, as punishment for making love with Poseidon in Athena's temple.  Patriarchal Greek myths tell of Medusa's demise at the hands of Perseus who gave Athena, the Greek Goddess of Wisdom, the former's head to wear on her shield.  These myths had also told of Zeus swallowing Metis, Athena's mother, and Athena springing from Zeus' head, a clear example of the way the embodiment of wisdom was changed from the earlier matrifocal myths.  The images of Medusa are: left foreground, Gorgon with caduceus from Corfu, 6th century BCE; right foreground, terracotta altar relief from Syracuse, late 7th century BCE; on tree on right, "The Medusa Ludovisi",  Roman, c. 200 BCE; tree in background left, 6th century BCE, Taranto.  The necklace is from a Medusa's head cameo from Petescia, Italy, 1st century BCE; earrings from Gorgon head appliques from Ukraine, 450-425 BCE.