Medea 2: Princess and Witch
Show notes
Last episode, we saw how Medea was driven to murder her own children, using Euripides’ famous play as our primary source. In this episode, Mary and Charlotte delve deeper into Medea’s life both before and after this shocking incident. Her earlier adventures are told through Apollonius of Rhodes’ Argonautica, written in the 3rd Century BCE.
Prince Jason of Iolcos is sent by his uncle to steal the Golden Fleece from King Aeëtes of Colchis. Knowing his task is impossible, Athena, who is Jason’s protector, makes King Aeëtes’ daughter Medea fall in love with him and betray her own people. Princess Medea is also the niece of Circe and has inherited her aunt’s witchy powers. Medea helps Jason steal the fleece and escapes with him across the Black Sea.
They have many adventures on the way home, many of which involve Medea killing someone. She murders her own brother, when he is sent out to capture her. She tricks the daughters of Jason’s uncle/usurper, King Pelias, into killing their father, which forces her and Jason’s flight to Corinth.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses is the best source for what happens after she kills her children and Jason’s new bride. She flees again, this time alone, to Athens where she marries King Aegeus. But killing has become an addiction. She tries to trick Aegeus into murdering his son Theseus, but Aegeus uncovers her plot and banishes her. She is never heard of again.
Further reading:
A good recent translation of Apollonius with a very helpful introduction is by Richard Hunter, in the Oxford World’s Classics series
One innovative discussion of Medea in Apollonius is R. Buxton, “How Medea Moves” in Bartel and Simon (eds), Unbinding Medea (MHRA, 2010). Online: https://classics.domains.skidmore.edu/lit-campus-only/secondary/Apollonius/Buxton%202010.pdf
For Ovid, we concentrate on his treatment of Medea in Metamorphoses VII, 1-424; but he also focuses on her in his Heroides 12 (an imaginary letter from Medea to Jason).
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