Basilica Cistern, the ancient and mysterious Cistern of Istanbul | Snake headed Medusa | Ayasofya

The Basilica Cistern, or Cisterna Basilica, is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul, Turkey. The cistern, located 150 metres (490 ft) southwest of the Hagia Sophia on the historical peninsula of Sarayburnu, was built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian I. Today it is kept with little water, for public access inside the space. In Greek mythology, Medusa also called Gorgo, or the Gorgon, was one of the three Gorgons. Medusa is generally described as a human female with living snakes in place of hair; her appearance was so hideous that anyone who looked upon her was turned to stone. Medusa and her Gorgon sisters Euryale and Stheno were usually described as daughters of Phorcys and Ceto; of the three, only Medusa was mortal. Medusa was beheaded by the Greek hero Perseus, who then used her head, which retained its ability to turn onlookers to stone, as a weapon[3] until he gave it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield. In classical antiquity, the image of the head of Medusa appeared in the evil-averting device known as the Gorgoneion. #basilicacistern #medusa #istanbul #mysterious #snakeheaded Music: I Walk With Ghosts by Scott Buckley | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...