Medea (episode)

***Miscellaneous Myths: Medea*** is the sixty-sixth episode of the *Miscellaneous Myths* series by Red. Focusing on Greek mythology and the character of Medea, a Colchian princess who helped Jason out in his journey to take the golden fleece from Colchis and give it to his uncle Pelias in order to win back his usurped throne.

The story of Medea is found in two primary sources; the *Argonautica*, a Hellenistic poem from the 200s BC written by Apollonius of Rhodes, which narrates the Argonauts' journey to Colchis and Jason's acquirement of the Golden fleece, and *Medea*, a tragedy written by Euripides in the 400s BC, which narrates the story of Jason and Medea's doomed marriage.

## Summary

The video starts with Red complaining that in Greek mythology most female characters don’t get much nuance or personality, with the exception of the goddesses and the occasional girlboss like Atalanta and Circe, most of them simply filling the role of a queen or mother of heroes.

However there a notable exception, and that’s Medea. She’s the princess of Colchis. Medea’s story is told in the *Argonautica*, a Hellenistic epic poem, and *Medea*, an earlier tragedy by Euripides. Red offers a quick summary of the former, skipping a good deal of details before the story reaches Medea.

Aeson, the king of Thessaly, was killed by his brother Pelias who usurped the throne while the queen sent baby Jason to be fostered by Chiron. Once grown up, Jason returned to take his throne back; on the way, he helped an old lady cross a river and that’s how he got Hera’s favour.

Pelias, unwilling to let go of his throne, ordered Jason to prove himself worthy by bringing him the golden fleece from Colchis were it was kept. To achieve this, Jason gathered a large number of heroes (including, depending on the version: Atalanta, Heracles, Theseus, Pirithous, Orpheus, Peleus, Castor and Pollux) to sail the Argo with him. After many adventures, they finally reach Colchis.

The king there, Aetes, is unwilling to let go of his country’s prized treasure, so he says that Jason can have it after he’s accomplished several impossible tasks; he needs to yoke two fire-breathing bulls, then use those bulls to plough the field and sow dragon teeth, from which an army of warriors will spawn that Jason will have to defeat. Jason is pretty intimidated, but Hera, in order to help him, makes Aetes’s sorceress daughter Medea fall in love with Jason with the help of Eros.

Medea is heavily conflicted; she is desperately in love with a stranger and wants to help him, but she is terrified of the consequences should her father find out, as well as betray her family and leave everything behind for a stranger who will leave her.

So she goes out to meet him (under the pretext that she’s trying in fact to sabotage him) and offers him to help him, and in exchange Jason promises that he’ll make her famous all over Greece (and compares the two of them to Ariadne and Theseus, which really should have been an obvious red flag for Medea). Medea gives him a potion that will make him invulnerable, as well as gives him advice on the other tasks.

Come next morning, and Jason successfully completes all the impossible tasks with the help of Medea leaving Aetes beffudled. That night, Hera sends Medea a dream, warning her that Aetes knows of her involvement. So Medea runs off in the middle of the night and tells Jason they have to leave now. Medea puts the drago guarding the fleece to sleep, so Jason can steal it.

They’re prosecuted by Medea’s brother however, Absyrtus, and in order to escape, Medea distracts him so Jason can kill him (Medea killing her problems away is a major theme of her story).

Zeus however is furious of the murder, and sends a storm to the couple, until they reach Circe’s island where she purifies them of her brother’s murder. Then they reach another island, and the king there agrees to marry them so Medea’s father will leave them alone. On their wedding night, Jason and Medea sleep on the golden fleece.

Eventually, the get back to Thessaly, and this is where the Argonautica ends. What followed next was told in a now lost tragedy by Euripides, *Peliades*. Pelias refused to give up the throne, so Medea found his daughters and showed them a trick where she made an old lamp younger after killing it. The girls, excited, butcher their father, but he stays dead.

For their part in the king’s murder, Jason and Medea cannot really stay in Thessaly and claim the throne, so they’re exiled to Corinth, where they’re taken in by King Creon. This is where Euripides’ Medea takes off.

Eventually, sometime after the birth of their two sons, Jason starts courting Creon’s daughter Glauce, leaving Medea furious. Creon, afraid that Medea might do something extreme, exiles her. Medea asks him to give her day to sort her things out, and he, unwisely, agrees.

Jason then appears, all unsympathetic to her sorry situation, and even says she should be more graceful about it. Medea recounts the various and numerous ways she’s helped him so far, only to be repaid in betrayal by him. Jason counter-points that she got more than he did out of their deal, as she gets to live in Greece (rather than the barbarian land she’s from) and gain wide fame.

Medea is pretty desperate when Aegeus, king of Athens, appears. She explains her story to him and he is pretty sympathetic to her plight; in fact he suggest that she moves in Athens with him, only he cannot take her, and she will have to find a way to make the travel herself. Medea agrees, after Aegeus promises that he’ll protect her from her enemies.

So Medea plans her revenge; she takes the gown and jewelry that her grandfather Helios gave her, and dips them in a very powerful poison, then has her sons deliver those gifts to Glauce. They soon return successful, as Glauce has accepted the gifts.

But then a messenger burst in, furious. He says that after Glauce wore the dress and jewelry, she cought fire and died. And Creon, who cradled her dead body, died as well. Medea is satisfied, but she knows she can’t easily get away with murdering the royal family, and thus kills her children as well.

That’s right when Jason arrives, looking for the children, only to see Medea rise in a flying chariot (another gift of Helios). Jason tells her she’s cursed, and she’ll find her comeuppance for her crimes, but Medea replies that the truly messed-up in the situation is him; he was the one who broke his vows as husband and father; Zeus hates oathbreakers, while Hera is the goddess of marriage and women.

And it’s true that despite Medea’s multiple murders, she never loses the favour of the gods, and is thus never punished; in fact, she doesn’t canonically die, just vanishes after leaving Athens (following the events of Corinth, Medea went to Athens, married Aegeus, and tried to poison Aegeus’ son Theseus).

Jason, meanwhile, gets to spend the rest of his life in disgrace, and dies when the rotting prow of the Argo falls on him, killing him.

## Credits

Red sings *The Thunder Rolls* by Garth Brooks, and notes that while Medea is often depicted as dark-haired, her description gives her blond hair.

## Characters appearing

Alcimede

Jason

Pelias

Aeson

Hera

Zeus

Atalanta

Heracles

Orpheus

Castor and Pollux

Theseus

Pirithous

Peleus

Aetes

Medea

Eros (off-screen)

Medea’s girl servants

Absyrtus

Circe

Alcinous

Pelias’ three daughters

Glauce

Jason and Medea’s two sons

Creon

Aegeus

Messenger

## Notes

1. ↑ Though Circe in myth is considered to be a goddess as well.
2. ↑ The correct spelling of his name is **Aeetes**.
3. ↑ It’s not mentioned by Red, but this is the same king of Phaeacia that helps Odysseus in the Odyssey, Alcinous.