GORDYENE, goralf-e'-ne, a mountain-range of Armenia.
Gorton, gor'-ga, daughter of King fEneus (q. v.) of Calydon, was the mother of Oxilus. GORGIAS, gor'-gi-as. I. The Leantine, a celebrated sophist and orator, born about 480 B.c., son of Carmantides, as ambassador suc cessfully solicited the assistance of the Athe nians against the Syracusans, 427. He died He wrote several works. 2. The Athe nian, taught rhetoric to Cicero at Athens. Go2GONES, gor'-gan-es, the three daughters of Phorcys and CEO,— Sthe'no, Eur, lifaa'22'sa, of whom the last alone was mortal. The Gorgons had their hair entwined with serpents, brazen hands, gold-coloured wings, teeth as long as a wild boar's tusks, bodies covered with impenetrable scales, and eyes that turned to stone all on whom they gazed. According to Ovid, Medusa alone had serpent hair, as a punishment by Minerva, in whose temple she had gratified Neptune's passion ; and ./Eschylus says they had only one eye and one tooth between them, which they used in turn ; and when they were exchanging the eye Perseus attacked them. Perseus (q. v.),
who received from Mercury a scythe-like weapon, and from Minerva a looking-glass, winged shoes, and Pluto's helmet (which con ferred invisibility on its wearer, while it made everything visible to him), easily conquered them, and cut off Medusa's head, which he gave to Minerva (Corgan'ia, or Gorg011ara), who placed it on her aegis, and thereby turned into stone all who gazed on it. The drops of blood that fell from Medusa's head as Perseus flew through the air to /Ethiopia, were made serpents, which ever after infested the deserts of Libya ; and from her blood Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus arose. The Gorgons were variously placed,—on the Western Ocean, in Scythia, near the Lake Triton in Libya, or in the gardens of the Hesperides.