The Mythology Book

84

HATE IS A

BOTTOMLESS

CUP, I WILL

POUR AND POUR

JASON AND MEDEA

J

ason, the rightful heir to the

throne of Iolcos, grew up in

exile, displaced by his

father’s half-brother Pelias. As soon

as Jason was old enough, he made

the return voyage to his Thessalian

kingdom to take back his crown.

Pelias conceded Jason’s claim but

insisted that, to be the king of

Iolcus, he would first have to

journey east to the Caucasus and

bring the magical Golden Fleece

back from King Aeëtes of Colchis.

The Argonauts

Pelias was confident the mission

would be suicidal and Jason would

never return, but Jason had the

goddess Athena on his side.

On her instructions, he gathered

together a group of warriors and

set them to work building a ship—

the Argo. Then his warriors set out

to sea, calling themselves the

“Argonauts,” and, after many

adventures, landed in Colchis.

This was an island considered

the edge of the Earth by the

Greeks. Making their way

upstream into a wild mountain

region, the Argonauts found the

fabled fleece hanging from a branch

in a sacred grove. Guarding it was

a ferocious dragon that never slept.

Medea’s obsession

On Jason’s arrival, capricious Eros,

god of desire, struck the king’s

daughter, Medea, with one

of his gold-tipped arrows. The

young princess instantly fell madly

in love. Though she was a niece

of the witch Circe, and a sorceress

in her own right, Medea was

powerless to resist. Consumed by

desire, all she wanted was to be

Medea holds her deadly potion as

the unwitting daughters of Pelias bring

in a cauldron for his fatal bath. This is

a Roman copy of a Greek marble stele

(funerary monument) from ca. 420 bce.

IN BRIEF

THEME

Betrayal and revenge

SOURCES

Medea, Euripides, 431 bce;

Argonautica, Apollonius of

Rhodes, ca. 250 bce; Library,

Pseudo-Apollodorus, ca. 10 0 ce;

Description of Greece,

Pausanias, ca. 150 ce.

SETTING

Iolcos, Thessaly; Colchis, on

the Black Sea; Corinth, the

Peloponnese.

KEY FIGURES

Jason Son of Cretheus;

rightful heir to the throne.

Pelias King of Iolcos.

King Aeëtes Son of the sun

god Helios; king of Colchis.

The Argonauts Jason’s ba nd

of heroes, who command a

ship named the Argo.

Medea Sorceress, and

daughter of King Aeëtes.

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85

Medea prepares to murder Absyrtus

and throw his remains overboard, as

she and Jason flee Colchis together on

board the Argo in this painting by

Herbert James Draper (1904).

See also: The labors of Herakles 70–73 ■ Theseus and the Minotaur 74–75 ■

Perseus and Medusa 80–81 ■ Cupid and Psyche 110–11

ANCIENT GREECE

with Jason and help him in any

way she could. She prepared a

potion that would send the dragon

into a long, deep sleep, so that

Jason could step over its resting

body and take the fleece.

Having cheated her father of

the fleece, Medea then resorted

to a gruesome murder in order

to escape with Jason and the

Argonauts. As she fled Colchis on

board the Argo, she butchered her

younger brother and threw his

body parts into the sea, so that

her pursuing father would have to

stop to gather them up for burial.

A woman scorned

When Jason reached Iolcos with the

Golden Fleece, Pelias refused to

keep his side of the contract.

Medea tricked him into taking a

deadly potion she claimed would

give him eternal youth. After this

second murder, Jason, Medea, and

their children had to flee to Corinth.

There, in pursuit of political

advantage, Jason betrayed Medea

and left her for Glauce, a princess

of the city’s ruling house.

Medea soon took her revenge.

She gave the new bride a wedding

gown steeped in poison that burst

into flames when she put it on,

killing her and her father. Medea

then slew two of her three children,

leaving only Thessalus alive. Before

Jason could punish her for this

terrible crime, she fled to Athens,

flying in the golden chariot of her

grandfather, Helios. ■

Euripides

The three greatest

playwrights of ancient Greece

turned myths into tragedies

that are still performed to this

day and eloquently articulate

the helplessness of humanity

in the face of an unforgiving

fate. Aeschylus (ca. 525–455

bce) and Sophocles (ca. 496–

405 bce) wrote about the

existential anguish of

mankind, but Euripides

(ca. 480–406 bce)

went further, revealing the

harrowing inner lives of

compelling men and women.

More of his works survive

than of Aeschylus and

Sophocles combined—his

popularity grew in the

Hellenistic Period that

followed the death of

Alexander in 323 bce, and he

is regarded as a cornerstone

of Western literature.

Euripides’s Medea is

particularly striking for its

psychological sophistication

and compassion. Her fury is

evoked in all its horror, as is

the torment she feels at her

abandonment, and the pain

she faces as a mother: “I

would sooner stand in the

front line of the battle phalanx

three times,” she says, “than

go through the sufferings of

childbirth even once.”

Stronger than lover’s love

is lover’s hate. Incurable, in

each, the wounds they make.

Medea

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