Medea

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"There is a maiden, nurtured in the halls of Aeetes, whom the goddess Hecate taught to handle
magic herbs with exceeding skill …" (Argus 4 to the ARGONAUTS. Apollonius
Rhodius, Argonautica 3.528).

"… nothing shall come between our love till the doom of death fold us round." (Jason to Medea.
Apollonius Rhodius,Argonautica 3.1128).

Jason: O children, what a wicked mother Fate gave you.

Medea: O sons, your father's treachery cost you your lives.
Jason: It was not my hand that killed my sons.
Medea: No, not your hand; but your insult to me, and your new-wedded wife.
Jason: You thought that reason enough to murder them, that I no longer slept with you?
Medea: And is that injury a slight one, do you imagine, to a woman? (Euripides, Medea 1363).

Medea and her children. 0111 detail: A. Feuerbach, 1829-1880: Medea. Neue Pinakotek, München.

Medea, the curse of Pelias 1, is the princess, priestess, and witch, whom Jason brought to Hellas on
his return from Colchis. Medea has been called daughter of Hecate since she served this goddess as
her priestess, but otherwise her mother is said to have been Idyia, one of the OCEANIDS. Her
fatherAeetes, who had been king of Ephyraea (Corinth) before he emigrated to Colchis, was brother
of Pasiphae, the wife of KingMinos 2 of Crete, and of the witch Circe. And whereas the latter lived in
the island of Aeaea in the Mediterranean, Aeetesruled in the city of Aea in Colchis.
Medea meets Jason

The young princess met her destiny when the ARGONAUTS, searching for the Golden Fleece, came
to Aea; for then she fell in love with their captain, Jason. Now Jasonhad his own plan, which was to
obtain the Golden Fleece; but, as a matter of fact, the gods had their own, and this was to let him
bring Medea to Hellas so that she would become the curse of King Pelias 1 of Iolcus, the same man
who sent Jason in his quest. For this king had outraged Hera by killing a woman who had sought
refuge at the goddess' altar. This is why Medea, on seeing Jason, was pierced by Love; and he in
turn was tempted by the invaluable help that the princess, putting her magic powers and her
courage at his service, was willing to provide. And in exchange for them, he promised Medea to take
her to Hellas and there marry her and never dishonour her for want of kinsmen. From then on there
was nothing that she would not do for the sake of the handsome stranger, so that he, escaping all
dangers and performing great deeds, would become mighty and famous. Therefore, she betrayed
her country and her father, helping Jason to cope with the brazen-footed bulls and the sown men,
and leading him to the Golden Fleece, which was guarded by a sleepless dragon, whom she lulled to
sleep by art and drugs.

Apsyrtus

And when they left Colchis pursued by the fleet of Aeetes, she murdered her own brother Apsyrtus,
and having cut him limb from limb, cast the pieces into the sea, so that Aeetes, gathering Apsyrtus'
limbs, would fall behind in the pursuit. And if she did not perform this terrible deed, as others say,
she nevertheless helped her lover to get rid of Apsyrtus, sending him to the next world in one way
or another. For there are those who say that it was Jason who cut him into pieces, or even that
Apsyrtus was, with Medea's help, treacherously killed by Jason on an island in the mouth of the river
Ister (the Danube).

Talos 1

And when they came to Crete, she destroyed the warder of the island, Talos 1, an invulnerable man
of bronze, by drawing out a nail, so that all the ichor (divine blood). gushed out and he died. Others
say that she first drove him mad with the aid of drugs, or else that she promised him to make him
immortal. Yet others assert thatPhiloctetes' father Poeas shot him dead in the ankle.

Marriage

The Colchians came after the ARGONAUTS and, among them, also King Styrus of Albania, who at the
time had come to Colchis to marry Medea. He drowned during the pursuit, but the rest caught them
up when they came to Phaeacia (Corcyra), where King Alcinous received the fugitives and protected
them. When the Colchians demanded of Alcinous to give her up, he answered that if she already
knew Jason, he would give her to him, but that if she were still a maid he would send her away to
her father. It was then that his wife, Queen Arete, anticipating matters, married Medea to Jason in
the cave of Macris, causing the Colchians to give up their pursuit.

Death of Pelias 1

On their retur to Hellas, Medea went to the palace of Pelias 1 and persuaded his daughters to make
mincemeat of their father and boil him, promising to make him young again by her drugs. The naive
daughters of Pelias 1 did as the witch instructed, but since then no one heard anything
about Pelias 1, whose daughters, some say, emigrated to Arcadia. One of them, Alcestis, was later
married to Admetus 1, king of Pherae in Thessaly. On Pelias 1's death, his son Acastus, who succeeded
his father as king of Iolcus, expelled both Jason and Medea from the city. Some say that Medea was
indeed able to restore youth, and that she gave Aeson, Jason's father, his youth back. But what he
did with his regained youth is unknown.
Jason changes his mind

Having been expelled from Iolcus, Jason and Medea settled in Corinth, where they are said to have
lived happily for ten years. But then Jason, having grown weary of being married to a foreign
sorceress, felt ready for a younger and more representative wife. He found her in Glauce  4, daughter
of King Creon 3 of Corinth. But this sort of humilitation and betrayal was more than Medea could
bear, and consequently she prevented the new marriage by causing the death of both princess and
king in one of the following ways: Pretending that she had accepted her husband's decision, Medea
sent to Glauce 4, as a wedding present, a bridal robe steeped in poison, and when the girl put it on,
she caught fire. Creon 3 then, tried to rescued his daughter, but died in the attempt. Others say that
the king fell upon her daughter's corpse and could not separate from her, as his flesh was torn from
his bones when he tried to rise. And still others say that Glauce  4 died when she threw herself into a
well in the belief that its water would be a remedy against Medea's poison. It has also been told
that when Medea saw that she, who had been Jason's benefactress, was treated with scorn, with the
help of poisonous drugs, made a
golden crown, and bade her sons
give it as a gift to their
stepmother, who, having taken
the gift, was burned to death
along with Jason and Creon 3.
Apparently, the whole palace was
on fire, when these events took
place.

Death of Jason and his

children

But concerning the death

of Jason it is also told that Medea
foretold that the wreckage of the
Argo would fall upon Jason and kill
him. And others say that Jason
killed himself, being unable to
endure the loss of both wife and
children. For on
leaving Corinth after the murder
of Creon 3 and Glauce 4, Medea also
killed her sons with Jason,
Mermerus 1 and Pheres 2, being
very well remembered for this
horrible murder too. But others
have said that her children were
stoned to death by the
Corinthians, having been removed
from the sancturay of Hera, where
Medea, on her flight, had left
them for their protection. Still
others have said that Jason and
Medea had a son and a daughter
and that these were Medeus and
Eriopis 2.

Almost nothing of what has

been told before is true
Medea about to kill her children. 4129: Eugène Delacroix 1798-1863: Médée. Palais
des Beaux-arts, Lille. The relation of Medea to Corinth is
sometimes described in a
completely different way: Aeetes is said to have been king in the region of Corinth, and to have left
the kingdom to Bunus when he departed to Colchis. When Bunus died, Epopeus  1 extended his own
kingdom to include Corinth, and one of his successors, Corinthus (after whom the land is named),
became king. Upon the death of Corinthus, they say, the Corinthians sent for Medea. It is through
her, they assert, that Jason was king in Corinth (for they do not mention Creon 3). The reason of
their dispute, they say, was that Medea carried her children to the sanctuary of Hera, where she
concealed them, believing this was the proper method to make them immortal. She realized that
this procedure did not work by the time Jason detected her, and he, unable to forgive these
manipulations, sailed away to Iolcus. For these reasons Medea too departed, and handed over the
kingdom to Sisyphus.

Aegeus 1 weds Medea

In any case, Medea left Corinth and came to Athens, as some say, borne by a chariot with winged
dragons, the offspring of the TITANS's blood, yoked to it. In this city, she was received by
KingAegeus 1, who protected her well, since in vain Hippotes  3, son of the Corinthian king, claimed
from the Athenians the person of Medea on account of her murdering his father. Aegeus 1 married
Medea and had a child by her, himself ignoring that he already was the father of another child.

Poison again

Medea lived peacefully in Athens until the arrival of Theseus, against whom she plotted, fearing,
with good reasons, that the newcomer, instead of her own son by Aegeus 1, would inherit the
throne. As the king ignored that Theseus was his son, conceived years ago when he visited Troezen,
Medea could, at first, persuade her husband that this was a dangerous young man. Aegeus 1 tried
then to get rid of the stranger by sending him against the Marathonian bull, which Theseus,
however, either mastered or killed. In face of this failure, Medea induced Aegeus 1 to poison his son,
but just before drinking, Theseus happened to show his sword to Aegeus 1, and the latter,
recognizing the weapon he had once left in Troezen, prevented him from drinking by dashing the
cup from his hand. This is how father and son knew who they were, and this was also the end of
Medea's sojourn in Hellas.

In her way back to Colchis

Some say that she returned to Colchis, and on her way she came to Absoros where her brother
Apsyrtus was buried, and that the people of Absoros could not cope with the large amount of
serpents that were all around the place. So Medea gathered them up and put them in her brother's
tomb, where they still remain. On her return to Colchis, Medea found that King Aeetes had been
deposed by his brother Perses 3. To solve this inconvenience, she killed her uncle and restored the
kingdom to her father.

Intrigue in Caucasus

But some say that when her son Medus came to Colchis, he was put under arrest by Perses  3, who
had been warned by an oracle no to trust the descendants of Aeetes. Realizing he was in his enemy's
hands, and in order to save his life, Medus said he was Hippotes  3, the son of the Corinthian king
Medea had murdered. So when Medea came back, pretending she was a priestess of Artemis, she
bade Perses 3 to deliver this Hippotes 3, whom she thought had come to avenge his father, into her
hands so that she could kill her, but when he was delivered and she discovered who this young man
really was, she gave him a sword and Medus killed Perses 3.

Famous names derived from these persons

It is said that the country Media was called after Medea's son Medus, who is also called Medeus and
considered to be the founder of Meda in Ecbatana. They say that he died during a military campaign
against the Indians; but the death of Medea has never been reported. Some affirm, however, that
when she left Athens she came to the land called Aria, and that she persuaded its inhabitants to be
named after her Medes.