Checking saved dictionary data and trusted language sources. This will stop automatically if a source does not respond.
Pronunciation varies by accent · noun
A (representation of a) gorgon's head, especially that of Medusa..
The gorgoneion or "bodiless head of fright" antedates by many centuries the Gorgon with a woman's body.
Pausanias twice mentions a gilt-bronze aigis with the head of Medousa, or gorgoneion, at its center, placed high on the south wall of the Acropolis above the Theater of Dionysos [Figs. 4, 9].
Greek drinking cups with low bowls, kylices, were used in sixth century BCE Athens with representations of the gorgoneion on the inside of the bowls and on their outsides, depictions of pairs of huge eyes—to safeguard the drinkers from the Evil Eye (see above, Illus. 6, p. 137).
Even where, as on a kratēr of the Tarporley Painter, the reflection is centred and placed where we expect the gorgoneion, it appears upside-down and is thereby markedly different from the gorgoneion.
Use gorgoneion when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Gorgoneion means A (representation of a) gorgon's head, especially that of Medusa..
The closest synonym depends on the sentence and intended sense.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
The gorgoneion or "bodiless head of fright" antedates by many centuries the Gorgon with a woman's body.
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.