Stheno
Also called Sthenno, Sthenusa.
In Greek mythology, Stheno is an immortal Gorgon, sister to Euryale and the mortal Medusa, whose serpent hair, tusks, bronze hands, and golden wings mark her as one of the deadliest daughters of Phorcys and Ceto.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Greek mythology
- Kind
- Gorgon sisters
- Trait family
- The Stone-Gazers
- Symbols
- Boar
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Boar bears The boar denotes solar or lunar vitality, courage, fertility, warfare, lust, gluttony, and winter destruction, with sacred and hostile meanings varying sharply across traditions.
why
Descriptions of Stheno's appearance vary somewhat in emphasis but agree on the essentials: hair made of serpents, tusks like a boar's, hands of bronze, and golden wings that let the Gorgons fly.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Form
- Snake hair
why
Descriptions of Stheno's appearance vary somewhat in emphasis but agree on the essentials: hair made of serpents, tusks like a boar's, hands of bronze, and golden wings that let the Gorgons fly.
Behaviour
- Petrifying gaze turns victims to stone
why
Like her sisters, her gaze is said to turn onlookers to stone, a power so absolute that Perseus can only approach the sleeping Gorgons safely by relying on Athena's guidance, Hermes's winged sandals, and a cap of invisibility, watching Medusa's reflection rather than her directly.
Offensive powers
- Petrifying gaze
why
Like her sisters, her gaze is said to turn onlookers to stone, a power so absolute that Perseus can only approach the sleeping Gorgons safely by relying on Athena's guidance, Hermes's winged sandals, and a cap of invisibility, watching Medusa's reflection rather than her directly.
Utility powers
- Flight
why
Descriptions of Stheno's appearance vary somewhat in emphasis but agree on the essentials: hair made of serpents, tusks like a boar's, hands of bronze, and golden wings that let the Gorgons fly.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Hero meets
4 citations
- Apollodorus, translated by J. G. Frazer, The Library, p. 533.
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Stheno."
- Hesiod, translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica, p. 98.
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Stheno."