In Greek mythology, in the widely circulated folk tales, dusa is a monster.
She is a symbol of evil, a snake demon.
Legend has it that anyone who ets her gaze will be turned to stone.
To be precise, it should be said that anyone who looks into dusa's eyes will be petrified.
In the myths, dusa's reign of terror was eventually ended by a hero.
This hero was Zeus's son—Perseus.
Of course, Perseus's quest was not smooth from the start; ultimately, with the assistance of the goddess Athena, he succeeded in beheading dusa.
However, in the various woven myths about dusa, there are several versions.
dusa was not originally a fearso snake-woman monster but a beautiful woman whose looks rivaled even the goddess Athena's, and it is said she was even a devotee of Athena.
Yet, this devotee developed a subtle relationship with Poseidon, and since Poseidon and Athena were at odds, it is said they engaged in relations within Athena's temple, deliberately to spite Athena.
This act enraged Athena, who then cursed dusa, transforming her into a monstrous snake-woman.
Of course, on the surface, it appeared to be Athena punishing her devotee for betrayal, but there is also a version that claims Athena deliberately allowed or even sched for dusa and Poseidon to beco involved, thus creating an excuse to deal with dusa.
The reason for such scheming was simple: the goddess Athena was jealous, envious of dusa's beauty, which was no less than her own.
So, why did dusa's hair also turn into snakes?
That's because one version says dusa's beautiful hair was even more splendid than Athena's, so it was turned into ugly snakes.
Returning to a question: is dusa's true identity really that of a snake-woman?
According to mythology, since ancient tis, snakes have been closely linked to the Earth Mother Goddess.
There is a belief that the snake is an embodint of the Earth Mother Goddess.
Of course, this interpretation is often a way to dean or downgrade the status of the Earth Mother Goddess.
Additionally, there is another scenario: a goddess from one myth might be portrayed as an evil being in another, and such evil beings often have terrifying forms, with the snake being one of them.
So, in this world, among the ancient beings, this dusa should also have been a goddess. What was her original form?
Renji couldn't figure it out with his current knowledge of mythology.
But he could make inferences from the figures related to dusa.
First, trace it through dusa's family relations.
dusa's father is Phorcys, who in ancient Greek mythology is identified as a primordial sea god.
Her mother is Ceto, who can be considered a sea deity, described in so accounts as half-serpent and half-fish. So, could dusa be this sea deity?
A mother and daughter at the sa ti? Such a strange relationship?
Yes, but this is a mother-daughter relationship ford by combining two different versions.
How so?
Take Athena, the deity currently associated with dusa, as an example.
In earlier Greek tis, the local goddess of wisdom was not Athena but tis.
Moreover, in this mythology, tis had no connection to Zeus. This was a matriarchal pantheon centered around tis.
Later, as ethnic groups migrated and rged, the woven myths underwent changes.
Ancient myths were absorbed by newly crafted ones, and in the new Greek mythology, the goddess of wisdom beca Athena, while tis beca Athena's mother.
Thus, one interpretation suggests that Athena, as the goddess of wisdom, was modeled after tis. The ancient myths of tis were reworked and attributed to Athena, causing the original myths about tis to fade away.
This shift, in fact, reflects the transition from a matriarchal to a patriarchal society in human history.
So, could a similar relationship exist between dusa and her mother, Ceto?
However, Renji could not find any dual-version myths in this world involving dusa that resembled the relationship between Athena and tis.
The information available depicted dusa as the evil serpent woman of mythology.
Of course, it's possible that the knowledge stored in the minds of the Witches in this world includes another identity for dusa.
After all, in this world, so hidden myths do not circulate publicly and are known only to the Witches.
Moreover, these traditions are passed down almost orally, making it even harder for others to learn the truth.
As for why the original identities or prototypes of certain deities are not widely disclosed, it is a way for humble, weak humans to limit the power of the gods.
Once widely known, a deity would beco even more powerful.
By separating and concealing parts of the myth, the original power is effectively divided, split among two or three deities, and their Authority becos fragnted rather than concentrated in a single entity.
So, does Erica know?
She does, which is why she is explaining dusa's true identity to him.
However, relying solely on verbal explanation would take several days to fully clarify.
Then, why not use [Teach]?
With this ability, couldn't Renji understand imdiately?
In reality, [Teach] has a drawback: the knowledge acquired through it only lasts for a limited ti before fading away.
This so-called "teaching" is not a transfer of mories or allowing him to access Erica's knowledge.
To describe it more accurately, this [Teach] is more like a buff effect rather than knowledge being implanted into his mind. Once the buff expires, he no longer rembers the related content.
Therefore, to truly understand, he must rely on his ears and eyes—using sight and hearing to record all the deeds of this deity and commit them to his mory.
However, he had only just begun the story, ntioning that the other party was the Trinity Dark Mother, when Lucretia called Erica over to help.
They had found a monster suspected to have broken into this world from another dinsion, and Lucretia wanted to investigate the situation. She needed Erica to draw attention while she secretly observed.
Hearing this information, Renji was also quite surprised.
Could it be that this world had also been targeted by so other dinsion? Was it about to be invaded?
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