Mythology Book

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

US_084-085_Jason_and_Medea.indd 85 30/11/17 4:55 pm