Ovid's Medusa

Because Ovid's work was about metamorphoses, and that story of Medusa involved a metamorphosis.
Also, despite the fact that her story was tragic, and contrary to ill-sighted moderns, the ancients would have seen it as such, she was, in the end, a monster. Monsters need to be killed, because they are monsters.

>>3040624
I appreciate that, but I'm asking more in the sense as to why she was transformed in the first place.
Was it just a face-saving necessity given Athena couldn't punish Posiedon? Was it actually consensual?

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>>3040639
Maybe Athena was a cold bitch who hated that her priestess got more action than she did.
The answer is Bitches, mang

>>3040647
Fair enough, given the varying motivations for Arachne's punishment. Normally I would say being petty is sort of out of character for Athena but
>Olympian

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>>3040639
The real answer is that Medusa is just a stock monster whose oldest incarnation is as a stock monster.
By the time Ovid got to her, the tellings of Medusa have gone through 1000+ years of retelling. How Ovid came to find that legend, and whether or not he invented any parts of it are unclear.
I think on some level, it's used to represent the fickleness of the gods, and how they often took their frustrations out on mortals, instead of each other.

Poseidon defiled Athena's temple, so Athena took the token of his affection, Medusa, and warped her. It was to spite Poseidon for a perceived slight against her.

The Gods were fickle in their Myths. Athena destroys Arachne's work for daring to best her in an art, and she commits suicide over it. Apollo flays Marsys for daring to challenge him, even though Marsys loses.

In the end, you're asking why the Greco-Roman, and mostly Greek, conception of the Gods was so negative, which is something I don't know.

>>3040607

It's not justified. Ovid depicted her sympathetically on purpose and you're responding exactly how he wanted you to.