Gorgon (composition) a ceremonial work, used the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra's commission to see its realization. "Gorgon" was inspired by the legend of the three Gorgons from Greek mythology: Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa. Rouse described the creatures in the score program notes, writing: He added, "Since the time of the ancient Greeks, the gorgon has become a symbol for any terror too immense — and too horrible — to be faced. It has thus become an image of sublimated brutality and savagery, perhaps a metaphor for our own private and subconscious monsters." He concluded, "In addition to certain intentional similarities common to musical
The Adventures of Hercules help, Hercules also teams up with Glaucia and rescues her sister Urania from hideous monsters called the Slime People. They are overwhelmed by their huge numbers and they flee into a cave where they meet Euryale. The cave is full of stone statues and Hercules and the sisters battle some more monsters, while Euryale walks away and reveals herself to be a snake-haired, half-woman, half-scorpion Gorgon. Using his shield as a mirror, Hercules avoids getting turned into stone and manages to decapitate Euryale, and retrieves the second thunderbolt. Hercules and the two sisters sail to an island and enter an