Perseus' Sickle
The curved sickle-sword, the harpe, with which Perseus beheaded the Gorgon Medusa, given to him by Hermes on his quest. Ancient sources describe it as a sword or sickle that could shear through stone and serpent, and the severed head's gaze still petrified his foes. The deed closes the Medusa episode and arms Athena with the gorgoneion on her aegis. In vase painting Perseus is shown gripping the curved blade while the Gorgon's head falls, a scene that became a standard image of heroic triumph in the Greek world.