Medea

You’ll probably be familiar with the character of Medea because she’s often branded as the poster-child of a “crazy” mythological woman. It’s a word thrown around far too easily as a way to describe the ancient sorceress, condemning her to an eternity of false judgement and childlike name-calling. Famously, Medea appears alongside the greek hero, Jason, as he embarks on one of the most exciting expeditions mythology has ever given us: the quest to get the Golden Fleece. It’s here we meet our sorceress Medea, daughter of the King of Colchis, Aeetes. Considering Aeetes was the brother of the well known “witch” from Homer’s Odyssey, Circe, this means Medea’s grandfather was the Titan god of the sun, Helios. Through her divine family ties, Medea is therefore a sorceress from birth, following on from her predecessors in practicing magic and conjuring spells in her free time.

Before we begin, it’s important to understand that Medea is one of the best three dimensional characters ever written. Along with this episode here on Moan Inc. we’ve also mentioned her in two other more in-depth studies: one explicitly discussing the use of the word “crazy” to describe her, and the other about why Jason was just the worst person, ever. In those two studies, we concluded that even though Medea was probably a little looney before meeting Jason, he certainly did just about everything wrong in relinquishing the “crazy” fire within her. However, in between her somewhat questionable decisions, Medea still says some incredibly important and monumental things for an ancient woman of her time. We’ll be highlighting these later on as we run through her mythology, but please remember even when we’re praising her — she’s still unhinged.

Unfortunately for Medea, it’s tough to not be remembered as “crazy” when you murder five people. Her kill list includes: her own brother, Jason’s uncle Pelias, her own two children and King Creon’s daughter (who is Jason’s new bride-to-be). The fact three of the people on that list are blood related to her … that alone is a good enough argument to be absolutely terrified of Medea.

Let’s talk about her mythology though and highlight some of her more feminist moments (and then I guess, we’ll have to highlight her crazy, too).

The Golden Fleece

The first time we meet Medea is in connection to Jason’s famous (and only) myth. Jason, a young man from Iolchus, is sent by the king on an impossible task to retrieve the infamous Golden Fleece. The king giving these orders happens to be Jason’s uncle, who overthrew Jason’s dad to place himself on the throne (the drama of it all!). Because of his unethical succession to the throne, King Pelias wants his strong nephew out of his way in fear Jason may one day seek revenge on his father’s behalf. Therefore, in true mythological fashion, King Pelias gives orders that Jason must go to Colchis and only return once he has acquired the Golden Fleece. Jason has a new boat made specifically for this task called The Argo, upon which his team of helpers called The Argonauts venture with him towards foreign lands to complete this epic quest.

When Jason first arrives in King Aeetes palace at Colchis, Medea falls madly in love with him. In Ovid, one of Medea’s first lines is “Why do I dread/ His death whose face I first have seen today?” (book 7, line 14). Just in case anyone needed the proof it was a love-at-first-sight situation, at least for Medea. Anyways, Jason announces to the king that he is in Colchis to bring the Golden Fleece back to his uncle, causing Aeetes to scoff and give Jason a bunch of mini tasks to perform before he can leave victorious. It’s then that Jason goes to Medea and “besought/ Her aid and promised marriage” (book 7, line 91) … which is where the downfall of the story begins. Jason promises that if Medea is to help him succeed, he’ll marry her and bring her back to Greece with him. Considering Medea nearly fell over herself when Jason breathed the same air as her, we already know this probably won’t pan out well. Not more than seven lines later Medea “was sure; and straight the magic herbs/ She gave into his hands and taught their use” (book 7, line 98).

And thus Jason’s victory is set into motion, all due to the fact Medea is willing to help guide him through each and every task with magic of her own. Despite her teaching Jason how to use each elixir she gifted him, Medea still remains skeptical of Jason being able to perform each spell when need be (which tells us more about Jason than it does Medea). In lines 137-138, Medea is said to be so worried about Jason that Ovid writes “And lest her herbs should fail she reinforced / Them with her spells and summoned secret charms”. This means that Jason not only has the protection of the original magic Medea gave him, but then a safety-buffer-spell is cast each and every time he dives into action for DOUBLE protection. Long explanation short: there was no way Jason was not going to get out of this unscathed, and it’s all thanks to Medea.

When Jason completes all of the mini tasks set by the king, Aeetes still refuses to give Jason the Golden Fleece. It is only with Medea’s encouragement and guidance that Jason decides to steal the fleece for himself. Medea gives Jason “opiate herb’s Lethean juice” (book 7, line 152) to sprinkle on the serpent guarding the fleece while chanting a spell, allowing Jason enough time to get the fleece unharmed and run back to board The Argo. Ovid writes “And proudly with his prize, and with her too, / his second prize, who gave him mastery” (book 7, line 157). This is important because even the author explicitly tells his reader that Medea is the sole reason Jason was able to leave victorious.

Unfortunately, the celebrations only last so long as Aeetes is not thrilled to discover his daughter’s involvement. After hearing the news, Aeetes immediately springs into action to find Medea and Jason and punish them both. But alas our great sorceress is now on The Argo, sailing towards Greece with the love of her life. Realising her father is on a mission to make an example of Jason, Medea knows she has to figure out a way to derail his search. It’s this moment where Medea kills her brother, chopping the poor sod into tiny pieces and scattering him in the sea. Medea knows that doing this will force her father to stop his hunt as he attempts to salvage what is left of his son. Given that her first kill is her brother, the audience is fully aware of what evil Medea is capable of from this point on in her story; here she proves that she would do absolutely anything for the man she loves, even sacrificing her own family to save Jason’s life.

The Return to Iolchus

On that somber note, the pair return safely to Jason’s home. Their first stop is to visit Jason’s father, Aeson, the original king of Iolchus. This moment is important to shed some light on because we get a more understandable display of love from Medea towards Jason. Not only has she shown that she is willing to help Jason directly, but here she shows that she is willing to use her magic to help those he loves. Jason asks Medea to “Take from [his] youthful years some part and give / That part to [his] dear father” (book 7, line 168). As expected Medea says no, but she does help Jason’s dad get stronger by making his “limbs [grow] supple and strong” (book 7, line 292), causing him to feel forty years younger. This means that Jason, Medea and the newly young-looking Aeson can now devise an elaborate plan to put Aeson back on his rightful throne.

Medea sets their secret plan into motion, flying to the king’s palace to falsely inform Pelias that her and Jason have broken up. Pelias gladly accepts her as a guest into his home, believing he now has a powerful sorceress to use at his disposal. But alas, Pelias is in for a rude awakening. When Medea is in front of the king, surrounded by all his daughters, she conjures up a spell. This spell puts all the king’s daughters under Medea’s command, whereby they all begin stabbing king Pelias against their will (lines 339-342). As Pelias “tried to rise from the couch” (line 344), Medea “cut short the words and windpipe in his throat / and plunged him, butchered, in the boiling pot” (lines 348-349). So yeah, that happened.

Medea’s hit list verses her good qualities are now at 2 and 2, mind you. By killing King Pelias, Medea leaves the throne wide open for Jason’s father, Aeson, to go and reclaim it. However due to the whole murdering the previous king thing, Jason and Medea are forced to start a new life, which they settle into in Corinth.

Corinth (Euripides - all text references are in the play)

We are now up to the point in Medea’s mythology where Euripides takes hold of her story. The incredible play titled “Medea” was first written in 431BC, portraying Medea and Jason’s famous break up. Although it’s somewhat important to know the build up to this monumental tragedy, Euripides’ play is the most popular snippet of the Medea & Jason relationship drama.

Our favourite dysfunctional couple have now been in Corinth for a hot second. They’ve gotten settled, had a couple of kids, and even became chummy with the king of the polis (city state). Up until this point, throughout the mythology Medea has been described as “loyal”, “passionate”, and overcome by her love for Jason. However, the play picks up right after Jason — seemingly out of no where — decides to leave Medea for king Creon’s daughter (shock horror!). Medea’s opening lines in response to this news are some of the most heart breaking to have ever been written, and are as follows:

“My friends, it is over. / I want to die. / Life has lost all point. / The man who was my life / — and he knows it too — / has become for me beneath contempt.” (line 145ish — my copy doesn’t have line numbers but it’s somewhere there).

In these lines, Euripides here really leans into Medea’s pain. It’s hard to read those and not feel for her in this moment considering she tells us explicitly that Jason is the love of her life. The idea that he has actively chosen to leave her for someone else has catapulted her into such pain that she doesn’t even want to live. Not only does Euripides give Medea this space to vocalise her grief, but he then follows this with some of the most powerful lines to have ever been written into a Greek tragedy:

“Of all creatures that can feel and think, / we women are the worst-treated things alive. / To begin with, / we bid the highest price in dowries / just to buy some man /to be dictator of our bodies.” (line 230-235 — again, this is an estimate)

“We live safe at home, they say. / They do battle with the spear. / How shallow! / I had rather stand my ground three times in battle / than face a childbirth once.” (lines 249-251 … ish)

The idea that a man wrote those lines for a female character to say is utterly mind blowing. Not only this, but Euripides’ actors would have also been men, and they would have been performing to an audience of men. Take that into careful consideration when reading Medea’s lines as she exclaims “we women are the worst-treated things alive”. Given Athenian society at the time gave women next-to-no rights, the fact Euripides used Medea as a mouthpiece to literally scream and cry at a theatre full of men is truly monumental.

In addition to this, Medea’s comparison between the strength of being in battle and the strength of giving birth is also worth noting. During the first year that this play as published, Athens went to war with Sparta — igniting the Peloponnesian Wars. This means that all the men sitting in the audience of this theatre would have already fought in battle, or were about to fight in battle. And Medea just told them that childbirth was worse. An icon.

Back to the action though (apologies for the tangent, we’ll wrap it up now), after this Creon enters the scene. Despite this moment flying under the radar in many classrooms, this scene truly shows us how terrifying Medea is. As Creon expresses his worry that she may come to kill him since he gave his daughter to Jason — after all, Medea does have a history of killing kings — Medea says: “Creon, forget your fear … it is my husband that I hate” (lines 308-311ish). This speech just shows us how calculated she really is. Medea is only worried about causing Jason pain, rather than just murdering people recklessly left, right and centre. Obviously this doesn’t exactly calm king Creon, but it’s a good enough answer that he leaves her so she can meet with Jason.

When Medea and Jason finally come face to face, it is literally the argument of the century. I’ve explained the whole argument here but long story short: Jason tells Medea he’s leaving her because she’s a foreigner in Greece and he can do better vis-a-vis the princess, so Medea screams a list of everything she’s sacrificed for him and Jason goes Well Medea you should be thanking me for taking you away from a savage land and bringing you to a civilised place. Considering Medea is definitely not mentally stable, and given Jason just slated her AND her home country … yeah, this does not go down well.

The play ends with Medea finishing off her hit list by killing her two children and Jason’s new bride to be. While her method of murdering her children is stabbing them, she decides to poison Jason’s new wife — thus killing her from a far. Now that Medea has murdered yet another royal she must flee from Corinth, which she does by boarding a chariot drawn by serpents (or dragons? However you want to translate that). She then goes to Athens, attempts to kill Theseus but fails (a shame, really), and then is exiled from there.

… the end.

Honest opinions: Medea is the most iconic female character pretty much ever. In a time when real women had no voice to whisper with, mythological Medea is given a voice with which to scream. In a time when real women could not speak of the trauma inflicted on them by men, mythological Medea is given a stage to present her case against Jason. In a time when real women could not exhibit masculine strength, mythological Medea is given the ruthlessness persona to survive a war. Even though she may be a little unhinged, Medea is by far the one of the best developed female leads the ancient world has to offer us.

For more information on Medea, you can check out the following sources:
Ovid’s Metamorphoses (we have this version)
Euripides Medea (read it on Perseus here)

All citations made starting with “book …” are all from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.