Aegis vs. Medusa — What's the Difference?

The aegis ( EE-jis; Ancient Greek: αἰγίς aigís), as stated in the Iliad, is a device carried by Athena and Zeus, variously interpreted as an animal skin or a shield and sometimes featuring the head of a Gorgon. There may be a connection with a deity named Aex or Aix, a daughter of Helios and a nurse of Zeus or alternatively a mistress of Zeus (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.

In Greek mythology, Medusa (; Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress") also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those who gazed into her eyes would turn to stone.

Protection

The Gorgon who was killed by Perseus.

Sponsorship; patronage

A body form of certain cnidarians such as jellyfish, consisting of a dome-shaped structure with a mouth underneath surrounded by tentacles, and in most species constituting the free-swimming sexual stage of the organism.

Guidance, direction, or control

(zoology) A jellyfish; specifically, a non-polyp form of individual cnidarians, consisting of a gelatinous umbrella-shaped bell and trailing tentacles.

Greek Mythology The goatskin shield or breastplate of Zeus or Athena. Athena's shield carried at its center the head of Medusa.

(pathology) worm-star

A mythological shield associated with the Greek deities Zeus and Athena (and their Roman counterparts Jupiter and Minerva) shown as a short cloak made of goatskin worn on the shoulders, more as an emblem of power and protection than a military shield. The aegis of Athena or Minerva is usually shown with a border of snakes and with the head of Medusa in the center.

The Gorgon; or one of the Gorgons whose hair was changed into serpents, after which all who looked upon her were turned into stone.

(figuratively) Usually as under the aegis: guidance, protection; endorsement, sponsorship.

Any free swimming acaleph; a jellyfish.

A shield or protective armor; - applied in mythology to the shield of Jupiter which he gave to Minerva. Also fig.: A shield; a protection.

(Greek mythology) a woman transformed into a Gorgon by Athena; she was slain by Perseus

Kindly endorsement and guidance;

Any of numerous usually marine and free-swimming coelenterates that constitute the sexually reproductive forms of hydrozoans and scyphozoans

Armor plate that protects the chest; the front part of a cuirass

One of two forms that coelenterates take: is the free-swimming sexual stage in the life cycle of a coelenterate and has a gelatinous umbrella-shaped body and tentacles