“Medusa” by Alice Pike Barney, Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Barney's interpretation of Medusa has the signature snakes for hair we see a lot, but for some reason Medusa's expression looks possibly fearful? Possibly bewildered? I also notice that only her head, neck, and left hand are visible while the rest of her body is hidden by what appears to be rock? Could there be some underlying meaning as to why this is?
It may refer to an internal, abstract, conceptual or emotional (invisible) reality.
I'm interpreting this as something along the lines of how myths are something that our human minds conceptualize and exist within our internal mindscape and fueled by our imagination rather than something in our physical world.
This text uses insights gleaned from the fields of anthropology, religious studies, depth psychology, literature, and archaeology to explore the fundamental wisdom of the world’s great mythological traditions.
I wasn't expecting this text to go into different fields like anthropology and psychology to explore and deepen our understanding of mythology. But the more I think about it, the more I realize it would make sense for these fields to be included rather than just fields like religious studies and archaeology. I wonder how we will see the text connect these fields to myths.