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THE GORGON'S HEAD

the snakes entwined within the beard and hair of the central head as indicating that it represents the head of the Gorgon, a mythical creature killed by the Greek hero Perseus with the assistance of the goddess Athena. Perseus then gave the head to the goddess and she bore it thereafter on her breastplate.

The central head is held aloft by female 'Victories', on a shield ringed with oak leaves. The Victories stand on globes.

The great head itself has snakes entwined within its beard,

Wings above its ears

Beetling brows and a heavy moustache

In the lower left centre ground is a face helmet in the form of a dolphin’s head.

the Gorgon’s head glowered down from a height of 15 metres on all who approached the temple.

A problem with this interpretation is that the Gorgon was female, and the character at the centre of this pediment is most decidedly not. In this interpretation the gender difference is explained by suggesting that the carving of the Gorgon has been styled to reflect a combination of Celtic and classical imagery.

An alternative interpretation sees the central head as the image of a water god. It has similarities with other depictions of water gods known from Britain

In the corners are Tritons, half men and half fish, servants of the water god Neptune.

The small owl tucked away to the lower right of the large central roundel is also almost certainly perched at the top of another helmet.

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