There is a myth about the hero Jason, the leader of the Argonauts. He was the hereditary king of the city of Iolk in Northern Greece, but power in the city was seized by his elder relative, the imperious Pelius, and in order to return it, Jason had to accomplish a feat: with fellow heroes on the Argo ship, sail to the eastern edge of the earth and there , in the country of Colchis, get the sacred Golden Fleece, guarded by a dragon. About this voyage, Apollonius of Rhodes later wrote the poem "Argonautica". In Colchis, a mighty king, the son of the Sun, ruled; his daughter, the sorceress Medea, fell in love with Jason, they swore fidelity to each other, and she saved him. Firstly, she gave him witchcraft potions, which helped him first to endure the test feat - to plow arable land on fire-breathing bulls, and then to put to sleep the guardian - the dragon. Secondly, when they sailed from Colchis, Medea, out of love for her husband, killed her own brother and scattered pieces of his body along the shore; the Colchians pursuing them lingered, burying him, and could not overtake the fugitives. Thirdly, when they returned to Iolk, Medea, in order to save Jason from the deceit of Pelias, invited the daughters of Pelias to slaughter their old father, promising after that to resurrect him young. And they slaughtered their father, but Medea renounced her promise, and the parricide daughters fled into exile.
However, Jason failed to get the kingdom of Iolk: the people rebelled against the foreign sorceress, and Jason with Medea and two young sons fled to Corinth. The old Corinthian king, having looked closely, offered him his daughter as a wife and the kingdom with her, but, of course, so that he would divorce the sorceress. Jason accepted the offer: perhaps he himself was already beginning to be afraid of Medea. He celebrated a new wedding, and the Medeetsar sent an order to leave Corinth.
On a solar chariot harnessed by dragons, she fled to Athens, and told her children: “Give your stepmother my wedding gift: an embroidered cloak and a gold-woven headband.” The cloak and bandage were saturated with fiery poison: the flames engulfed the young princess, the old king, and the royal palace. The children rushed to seek salvation in the temple, but the Corinthians, in a rage, stoned them to death. What happened to Jason, no one knew for sure.
It was hard for the Corinthians to live with the notoriety of child-killers and wicked people. Therefore, the legend says, they begged the Athenian poet Euripides to show in the tragedy that it was not they who killed the Jason children, but Medea herself, their own mother. It was difficult to believe in such horror, but Euripides made him believe it. “Oh, if those pines from which the ship on which Jason sailed had never collapsed ...” - the tragedy begins. This is Medea's old nurse speaking.
Her mistress has just learned that Jason is marrying a princess, but does not yet know that the king tells her to leave Corinth. Behind the scenes, the moans of Medea are heard: she curses Jason, herself, and the children. “Take care of the children,” says the nurse to the old teacher. The choir of Corinthian women is in alarm: Medea would not have called out a worse misfortune! “Terrible royal pride and passion!
Better peace and measure. The groans ceased, Medea went out to the choir, she said firmly and courageously: “My husband was everything for me - I have nothing more. O wretched fate of a woman! They give her to a strange house, pay a dowry for her, buy her a master; it hurts her to give birth, as in a battle, and to leave is a shame. You are here, you are not alone, but I am alone.” To meet her comes the old Corinthian king: immediately, in front of everyone, let the sorceress go into exile! "Alas!
It is hard to know more than others: from this fear, from this hatred. Give me at least a day to decide where I should go. The king gives her a day to term. "Blind man! she says after him.
"I don't know where I'm going, but I know I'll leave you dead." Who - you? The choir sings a song about universal untruth: oaths are violated, rivers flow backwards, men are more insidious than women! Jason enters; starts an argument.
“I saved you from the bulls, from the dragon, from Pelius - where are your oaths? Where should I go? In Colchis - the ashes of a brother; in Iolka - the ashes of Pelias; your friends are my enemies. Oh Zeus, why can we recognize fake gold, but not a fake person! Jason replies: “It was not you who saved me, but the love that moved you. I am counting on this salvation: you are not in wild Colchis, but in Greece, where they know how to sing glory to me and to you.
My new marriage is for the sake of children: born from you, they are not full, and in my new house they will be happy. “Happiness is not needed at the cost of such an insult.” “Oh, why can’t people be born without women! There would be less evil in the world."
The choir sings a song about wicked love. Medea will do her job, but where will she go then? Here the young Athenian king Aegeus appears: he went to the oracle to ask why he had no children, and the oracle answered incomprehensibly. “You will have children,” says Medea, “if you give shelter in Athens.” She knows that Aegeus will have a son on a foreign side - the hero Theseus; knows that this Theseus will drive her out of Athens; he knows that later Aegeus will die from this son - he will throw himself into the sea with false news of his death; but is silent.
"Let me perish if I let you drive you out of Athens!" Egey says. Medea doesn't need anything else now. Aegeus will have a son, and Jason will have no children - neither from his new wife, nor from her, Medea. “I will uproot the Jason family” - and let the descendants be horrified. The choir sings a song in praise of Athens.
Medea reminded of the past, secured the future - now her concern is about the present. The first is about her husband. She calls Jason, asks for forgiveness - "that's how we women are!" - flatters, tells the children to hug their father: “I have a cloak and bandage, the legacy of the Sun, my ancestor; let them bring them to your wife!” “Of course, and may God grant them a long life!” Medea's heart shrinks, but she forbids herself pity.
The choir sings: "Something will happen." The second concern is about children. They carried the presents and returned; Medea cries over them for the last time. “I gave birth to you, I nurtured you, I see your smile - is it really the last time? Dear hands, dear lips, royal faces - won't I spare you?
The father stole your happiness, the father deprives you of your mother; I will pity you - my enemies will laugh; don't be this! Pride is strong in me, and anger is stronger than me; decided!” The choir sings: “Oh, it’s better not to give birth to children, not to lead at home, to live in thought with the Muses - are women weaker in mind than men?” The third concern is about the homeowner.
A messenger runs in: "Save yourself, Medea: both the princess and the king died from your poison!" “Tell me, tell me, the more, the sweeter!” The children entered the palace, everyone admires them, the princess rejoices at the dresses, Jason asks her to be a good stepmother for the little ones. She promises, she puts on an outfit, she flaunts in front of a mirror; suddenly the color escapes from the face, foam appears on the lips, the flame covers her curls, the burnt meat shrinks on the bones, the poisoned blood oozes like resin from the bark. The old father, screaming, falls on her body, the dead body wraps around him like ivy; he struggles to shake off, which the singer Orpheus told people about: a person must be clean, and then he will find bliss behind the grave.
And for this, the goddess of love Aphrodite also hated him. The third wife of Theseus was Phaedra, also from Crete, the younger sister of Ariadne. Theseus took her as his wife in order to have legitimate children-heirs. And here begins the revenge of Aphrodite. Phaedra saw her stepson Hippolytus and fell in love with him with mortal love. At first, she overcame her passion: Hippolyte was not around, he was in Troezen.
But it so happened that Theseus killed the relatives who had rebelled against him and had to go into exile for a year; together with Phaedra, he moved to the same Troezen. Here the stepmother's love for her stepson flared up again; Phaedra was maddened by her, fell ill, and no one could understand what was happening to the queen. Theseus went to the oracle; in his absence, tragedy struck. Actually, Euripides wrote two tragedies about this.
The first one has not survived. In it, Phaedra herself revealed herself in love to Hippolytus, Hippolytus rejected her in horror, and then Phaedra slandered Hippolytus to the returned Theseus: as if her stepson had fallen in love with her and wanted to dishonor her. Hippolyte died, but the truth was revealed, and only then Phaedra decided to commit suicide. This story is best remembered by posterity. But the Athenians did not like him: Phaedra turned out to be too shameless and evil here. Then Euripides composed a second tragedy about Hippolyte - and it is before us. The tragedy begins with Aphrodite's monologue: the gods punish the proud, and she will punish the proud Hippolytus, who abhors love.
Here he is, Hippolyte, with a song in honor of the virgin Artemis on his lips: he is joyful and does not know that punishment will fall on him today. Aphrodite disappears, Hippolytus comes out with a wreath in his hands and dedicates it to Artemis - "pure from pure." "Why don't you honor Aphrodite?" the old slave asks him. “I do, but from afar: the night gods are not to my liking,” Hippolyte replies. He leaves, and the slave prays for him to Aphrodite: "Forgive his youthful arrogance: that's why you gods are wise to forgive."
But Aphrodite will not forgive. A chorus of women from Trezen enters: they have heard a rumor that Queen Phaedra is sick and delirious. From what? Wrath of the gods, evil jealousy, bad news? Phaedra, tossing about on her bed, is carried out to meet them, with her old nurse. Phaedra raves: “I would like to hunt in the mountains!
To the flowery Artemidin Meadow! To the coastal horse races" - all these are Hippolytus' places. The nurse persuades: “Wake up, open up, pity if not yourself, then the children: if you die, they will not reign, but Hippolytus.” Phaedra shudders, "Don't say that name!" Word for word: “the cause of the disease is love”; “the cause of love is Hippolyte”; There is only one salvation - death. The nurse opposes: “Love is the universal law; resisting love is fruitless pride; and there is a cure for every disease.” Phaedra understands this word literally: maybe the nurse knows some kind of healing potion?
Nurse leaves; the choir sings: "Oh, let Eros blow me!" Noise from behind the stage: Phaedra hears the voices of the Nurse and Hippolyte. No, it was not about the potion, it was about Hippolyte's love: the nurse revealed everything to him - and in vain. Here they go on stage, he is indignant, she prays for one thing: “Just don’t say a word to anyone, you swore!” “My tongue swore, my soul had nothing to do with it,” replies Hippolyte. He pronounces a cruel denunciation of women: “Oh, if only you could continue your race without women! A husband spends money on a wedding, a husband takes in-laws, a stupid wife is hard, a smart wife is dangerous - I will keep my oath of silence, but I curse you!
" He's leaving; Phaedra in desperation stigmatizes the nurse: “Damn you! By death I wanted to be saved from dishonor; Now I see that death cannot save us from it. There is only one thing left, the last resort, ”and she leaves without naming him. This means is to blame Hippolytus before his father. The choir sings: “This world is terrible!
Run away from him, run away! Weeping from behind the scene: Phaedra is in a noose, Phaedra has died! There is anxiety on the stage: Theseus appears, he is horrified by an unexpected disaster, the palace swings open, a general cry begins over the body of Phaedra. But why did she kill herself?
She has writing boards in her hand; Theseus reads them, and his horror is even greater. It turns out that it was Hippolyte, the criminal stepson, who encroached on her bed, and she, unable to bear the dishonor, laid hands on herself. "Father Poseidon!" Theseus exclaims. - You once promised me to fulfill my three wishes, - here is the last of them: punish Hippolytus, let him not survive this day! Hippolyte appears; he is also struck by the sight of the dead Phaedra, but even more by the reproaches that his father brings down on him. “Oh, why can’t we recognize lies by sound!
Theseus screams. “Sons are more deceitful than fathers, and grandchildren are more deceitful than sons; soon there will be no room for criminals on earth. Lies are your holiness, lies are your purity, and here is your accuser. Get out of my sight - go into exile! - “Gods and people know - I have always been clean; Here is my oath to you, but I am silent about other justifications, ”replies Ippolit. “Neither lust pushed me to Phaedra the stepmother, nor vanity to Phaedra the queen. I see: the wrong one came out clean from the case, but the truth did not save the clean.
Execute me if you want." - "No, death would be your favor - go into exile!" “Sorry, Artemis, sorry, Troezen, sorry, Athens! You have never had a purer heart than me.” Hippolyte exits; the choir sings: “Fate is changeable, life is terrible; God forbid I know the cruel laws of the world!” The curse comes true: a messenger arrives. Hippolyte in a chariot left Troezen along a path between the rocks and the seashore.
“I don’t want to live as a criminal,” he called out to the gods, “but I just want my father to know that he is wrong, and I am right, alive or dead.” Then the sea roared, a wave rose above the horizon, a monster arose from the shaft, like a sea bull; the horses shied away and carried away, the chariot hit the rocks, the young man was dragged over the rocks. The dying man is carried back to the palace. “I am his father, and I am dishonored by him,” says Theseus, “let him expect neither sympathy nor joy from me.” And here above the stage is Artemis, the goddess Hippolyta.
"He's right, you're wrong," she says. - Phaedra was not right either, but she was driven by the evil Aphrodite. Cry, king; I share your grief with you." Hippolyte is brought in on a stretcher, he groans and begs to finish him off; Whose sins is he paying for? Artemis leans over him from a height: “This is the wrath of Aphrodite, it was she who killed Phaedra, and Phaedra Hippolyta, and Hippolytus leaves Theseus inconsolable: three victims, one more unfortunate than the other. Oh, what a pity that the gods do not pay for the fate of people!
There will be grief for Aphrodite - she also has a favorite - the hunter Adonis, and he will fall.
Myths and Legends * MedeaMedea
Wikipedia
Medea (other Greek. Μήδεια - "courage") - in ancient Greek mythology, the Colchis princess, sorceress and beloved of the Argonaut Jason.
Myth
Medea was the daughter of the Colchis king Eeta and the oceanid Idia, the granddaughter of the god Helios, the niece of Circe (or the daughter of Eeta and Clitia), a sorceress, and also a priestess (or even daughter) of Hecate.
Meeting with Jason
Having fallen in love with Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, she helped him with the help of a magic potion to take possession of the golden fleece and endure the tests that her father subjected him to. First, Jason had to plow the field with a team of fire-breathing oxen and sow it with dragon teeth, which grew into an army of warriors. Warned by Medea, Jason threw a stone into the crowd, and the soldiers began to kill each other (cf. Cadmus). Then Medea, with the help of her herbs, put the dragon guarding the fleece to sleep, and her lover was thus able to kidnap him.
(Some versions of the myth claim that Medea fell in love with Jason only thanks to the direct order of Hera to Aphrodite - the goddess wanted someone to help the hero whom she patronized to get the fleece). Pindar calls her the savior of the Argonauts.
Sailing on the Argo
Medea, 1870 (Anselm Feuerbach (1829-1880)
After the rune was kidnapped, Medea fled with Jason and the Argonauts and took her younger brother Apsyrtus with her; When her father's ship began to overtake the Argo, Medea killed her brother, and dismembered his body into several pieces, throwing them into the water - she knew that Eet would have to delay the ship in order to pick up the remains of her son's body. (another option: Apsyrtus did not run with Medea, but led the Colchians chasing the Argonauts. The sorceress lured her brother into a trap, and Jason killed him.)
She healed the Argonaut Atalanta, who was seriously injured.
, since the king Eet, who was chasing them, with his wars, demanded to extradite the fugitive, if only she had not yet become his wife.
The engagement of Jason and Medea (Biagio d'Antonio (Florentine, 1472-1516)
Then the ship made a stop on the island of Medea's aunt Circe, who performed a rite of purification from the sin of murder. She prophesied to Euphem, the helmsman of the Argo, that one day power over Libya would be in his hands - the prediction came true through Batt, his descendant. In Italy, Medea taught the Marsians spells and cures for snakes (see Angitia).
After Jason took the Golden Fleece and Medea, Argo sailed from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. When the Argonauts sailed to Crete, they saw the brogz giant Talos guarding the island with a horned head.
Talos in Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Talos- the great bronze warrior was a gift from Hephaestus for the wedding of Europe with the king of Crete. In addition to Talos, Hephaestus created various magical things - flying golden thrones for the Olympian gods, lightning for Zeus, Achilles' shield, a helmet for Hades that made his master invisible, a spear that always hits its target, two metal servants for himself and bellows automatically maintaining the set temperature for his ovens.
Talos could circle the island three times a day (i.e., his average speed was about 155 miles per hour) and throw huge stones in order to sink any enemy ship that approached the coast of the kingdom of Minos. In addition, if this did not help, he spewed red fire and drove away uninvited guests with it.
Talos 
He had a single vein that ran from his ankle to his neck and was plugged with a bronze nail. According to Apollodorus, the Argonauts killed him. Medea drugged Talos with herbs, and inspired him that she would make him immortal, but for this she had to remove the nail. She took it out, all the ichor flowed out, and the giant died. A variant - Talos was killed from a bow by Peant, another version - Medea drove Talos crazy with magic, and he pulled out the nail himself.
When the Argonauts finally reached Iolk, for the sake of whose throne Jason mined the golden fleece, his uncle Pelius still ruled there. He refused to cede power to his nephew. The daughters of Pelias, deceived by Medea, killed their father. The sorceress told the princesses that they could turn an old man into a young man if they cut him up and threw him into a boiling cauldron (and demonstrated this to them by slaughtering and resurrecting a goat). They believed her, killed their father and cut him up, but Pelia Medea, unlike the demonstration goat, did not begin to resurrect.
Medea and Pelias' daughters cooking
deadly drink for his father
Ovid describes in detail how she prepared a potion for Aeson, whom she nevertheless returned to her youth. At the request of Dionysus, she restored youth to his nurses.
Medea, return of youth (Alfred Morgan (1862 - 1902)
According to the version, she also returned youth to Jason.
Medea rejuvenates Jason
(Nicolas-Andre Monsiau (1754-1837)
According to the rationalist interpretation of the myth, Medea invented hair dye, which rejuvenated the elderly.
After the assassination of Pelias, Jason and Medea were forced to flee to Corinth.
In Corinth, she stopped the famine by sacrificing to Demeter and the Lemnian nymphs, Zeus fell in love with her, but she rejected him, for which Hera promised immortality to her children, whom the Corinthians revered as myxobarbara(semi-barbarians). Theopompus spoke about the love of Medea and Sisyphus. According to Eumela's poem, Jason and Medea reigned in Corinth.
Medea (Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863)
When Medea had children, she hid them in the sanctuary of Hera, thinking to make them immortal. She was exposed by Jason, he left for Iolk, and Medea left, transferring power to Sisyphus. According to Euripides and Seneca, she killed her two children, whom they do not name.
According to one of the sub-options (the historian Didymus), the king of Corinth, Creon, decided to marry his daughter Glauca to Jason (option: Creusa) and persuaded him to leave Medea. In turn, Medea poisoned Creon and fled the city, but she could not take her children with her, and they were killed by the Corinthians out of revenge.
Medea, 1868 (Henri Klagmann (1842-1871)
According to a more common version, Jason himself wanted to marry Glaucus. The abandoned Medea soaked luxurious peplos with magical herbs and sent a poisoned gift to her rival. When the princess put it on, the dress immediately caught fire, and Glauca was burned alive along with her father, who tried to save her. Then Medea personally killed her sons from Jason (Mermer and Feret) and hid on a winged chariot drawn by dragons sent by her grandfather Helios (or Hekate).
Medea 
This plot was popularized by Euripides: the playwright introduced a psychological motivation for Medea's murder of her children, showing that she was neither a barbarian nor a lunatic, but committed this act because it was the best way to hurt Jason. (Modern writer's evil tongues claimed that Euripides attributed the murder of the boys to their mother, and not to the Corinthians, as was the case before, for a huge bribe of 5 talents, aimed at cleansing the good name of the city).
After escaping from Jason, Medea made her way to Thebes, where she cured Hercules (also a former Argonaut) of insanity after killing his children. In gratitude, the hero allowed her to stay in the city, but the enraged Thebans expelled the sorceress and murderer from their walls against his will.
In Athens
Then Medea ended up in Athens and became the wife of King Aegeus. In Athens, she was brought to trial by Hippo, son of Creon of Corinth, and acquitted. She gave birth to Aegeus son Meda.
Their family idyll was destroyed by the appearance of Theseus, the heir to the king, conceived by him in secret and raised in Troezen. Theseus came to his father incognito, and he did not know who the young man was to him. Medea, sensing a threat to her son's legacy, convinced Aegeus to kill the guest. The king treated Theseus with a goblet of poisoned wine, but before the guest could raise it to his lips, Aegeus saw his sword on his belt, which he left Theseus' mother for his firstborn. He knocked the goblet of poison out of his son's hands. Medea, along with her son Medes, fled Athens before trouble began.
The further fate of Medea
Then Medea returned to her homeland, to Colchis (or was expelled from Athens by a certain priestess of Artemis, convicted as a sorceress), on a team of dragons. Along the way, she freed the city of Absorida from the snakes.
Medea 
At home, she discovered that her father had been overthrown by his brother Persian, who had seized power. The sorceress quickly eliminates this injustice by killing her uncle-murderer at the hands of her son Honey, and restores the kingdom of her father, led by Honey. Then Med subsequently conquers a large part of Asia. (Option: Med died on a campaign against the Indians, Medea kills the Persian herself and returns her father Eet to the throne).
(Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys, 1829-1904)
According to another story, caught in malice against Theseus, she fled from Athens and with her son Honey came to the country of Aria, giving the name to its inhabitants - honey. According to Hellanicus, this son (from Jason) was called Polyxenus.
According to some reports, she reigned in Media along with Jason and introduced the wearing of clothing that covered the body and face.
After death
Some legends tell that Medea married Achilles on the Isles of the Blessed (this version was mentioned by Ivik (fr. 291 Page), Simonides (558 Page) and the scholiast Apollonia). Others say that the goddess Hera endowed Medea with the gift of immortality because she resisted the courtship of Zeus.
A priest in Sicyon, offering sacrifices to the winds over four pits, cast Medea's incantations. She began to be revered as the goddess Hesiod.
Two Medea
Chronological inconsistencies suggest to some researchers that in ancient Greek mythology there could be two female characters with this name. This is due, first of all, to the relationship between Medea and Theseus:
Medea appeared in Greece after the campaign for the Golden Fleece
Theseus was an Argonaut, and went on a campaign for the Golden Fleece after Aegeus recognized him as a son (and Medea tried to kill him)
Thus, it turns out that Medea was present in Athens before the campaign for the Golden Fleece. Or maybe it was another Medea. The contradiction is smoothed out if we accept that Theseus did not take part in the campaign of the Argonauts (many classics do not include him in the list) and, therefore, first there was a campaign, and then Theseus' arrival in Athens.
Semantics
Image interpretation
Medea (Victor Mottez (1809-1897)
The myths that tell about the fate of Jason are inextricably linked with the female image of Medea. According to one of the concepts, experts considered them part of the mythological layer, which is part of the legends that told about the Hellenes of the distant heroic age (before the Trojan War), who encountered the pre-Greek Pelasgic cultures of mainland Greece, the coast of the Aegean Sea and Anatolia. Jason, Perseus, Theseus and, above all, Hercules, were such border figures, balancing between the old world of shamans, chthonic deities of the earth, archaic matriarchy, the Great Goddess, and the new Bronze Age coming to Greece.
Medea, 1868 (Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys, 1829-1904)
Such features of the image of Medea as her ability to revive the dead, fly through the heavens, and so on, suggest that she was originally revered as a goddess. Probably, the following features merged in her image:
sun goddess revered in Colchis
sorceresses of the Thessalian tales (Iolk, Thessaly - the birthplace of Jason and the center of stories about him)
heroines of the Corinthian epic, in which Medea and her father Eet were considered to come from Corinth
Sources
The story of Medea, Jason and the Argonauts is best known from a late literary adaptation of Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd century BC), called Argonautica. But judging by the ideas that fill this epic and its rather archaic vocabulary, it is based on very old, scattered materials.
"Medea" - a play by Euripides, (431 BC). Text
Apollonius of Rhodes, "Argonautics"
Apollodorus, Library I, 23-28
Ovid, Metamorphoses, VII, 1-424, Heroines, XII, Medea (tragedy, not preserved)
Seneca, "Medea" (tragedy)
Guy Valery Flakk, "Argonautics"
The image of Medea in art
Literature
Medea is the protagonist of the tragedies of Sophocles "Colchisian women" (fr. 337-346 Radt), "Scythians" (fr. 546-549 Radt), "Potion diggers" (fr. ” and “Aegeus” and Seneca “Medea”. The tragedies "Medea" were also written by Antiphron, Euripides the Younger, Melanthius, Neophron of Sicyon, Diogenes of Sinop, Karkin the Younger, Dikeogen, Morsim, Theodorides, Biot, an unknown author, Ennius ("Medea the Exile"), Actions ("Medea, or the Argonauts") , Pompey Macro, Ovid and Lucan. Seven comedies are known, including Epicharmus and Rinphon. Ovid also composed a letter from Medea to Jason (Heroides XII).
Chaucer, The Legend of Good Women (1386)
Corneille, Medea, tragedy (1635)
F. W. Gotter, "Medea"
José António da Silva, play The Enchantment of Medea (1735)
F. M. Klinger - dramas "Medea in Corinth" (1786) and "Medea in the Caucasus" (1791)
L. Thicke, "Medea"
G. B. Niccolini - tragedy "Medea" (1825)
Franz Grillparzer - play "The Golden Fleece" (1822)
Paul Heise - short story "Medea"
William Morris - poem "The Life and Death of Jason" (1867) Catul Mendes - tragedy "Medea"
Jean Anouille, drama "Medea" (1946)
F. T. Chokor, "Medea"
Maxwell Anderson - "The Wingless Victory"
Robinson Jeffers - "Medea"
Hans Henny Jann, "Medea"
Heiner Müller - "Medeamaterial and Medeaplay" 1982)
A. R. Gurney - "The Golden Fleece"
Marina Carr - "By the God of Cats"
Dario Fo - play "Medea" (1979)
Ulitskaya, Lyudmila Evgenievna - "Medea and her children" (1996)
KLIM - play "Medea Theater" (2001)
Tom Lanois - play "Mother Medea" (2001)
Sarah Stridsberg - drama "Medealand" (post. 2009 in Dramaten, starring Noomi Rapace)
Cherrie Moraga - "The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea"
Michael Wood - "In Search of Myths & Heroes: Jason and the Golden Fleece"
Percival Everett - "For Her Dark Skin"
Robert Holdstock - "Celtic"
Francesco Cavalli - opera "Jason" ( Giasone, 1649)
Marc-Antoine Charpentier - musical tragedy "Medea", 1693
Jean-Philippe Rameau - cantata "Medea"
Rodolphe, Jean-Joseph - Jason and Medea (ballet), 1763, Stuttgart, first production by J.-J. Noverre, ibid; this production became the harbinger of all modern classical ballet
Jiri Benda - melodrama "Medea", 1775
Luigi Cherubini - Medea, 1797
Simon Mayr - opera "Medea in Corinth" (Spanish 1813)
I. G. Nauman, "Medea"
Saverio Mercadante - Medea (1851)
E. Kshenek - "Medea"
D. Milhaud - opera "Medea", 1939
Samuel Barber - Medea Ballet Suite Op. 23, Medea's Meditation & Dance of Vengeance (1946)
Pascal Dusapin - Medea Material, libretto by Heiner Müller (1990)
Chamber Made - opera Medea, 1993
the musical "Marie Christine" on the plot of Medea, but in New Orleans of the 19th century. and voodoo
Mikis Theodorakis - opera "Medea" (1988-1990)
Ballet "Medea" by John Neumeier to music by Bach, Bartok, Schnittke (1990)
Rolf Lieberman - opera "Medea" (1995)
Oscar Strasnoy - opera Midea (2000)
group "Zlomrak" - song "Medea"
Horgi group - song "Medea"
Tamara Gverdtsiteli - "Medea" (song in Georgian)
Viena Teng song "My Medea"
Ballet by Angelin Preljocaj The Dream of Medea to music by Mauro Lanz (2004)
A Filetta - "Medea" (2006, in Corsican)
Punk opera “Medea. Episodes. (Staging: Giuliano Di Capua, Medea: Ilona Markarova, monologues: Lyokha Nikonov, poem "Medea", music: "Uniquetunes", "Last Tanks In Paris", Andrey Sizintsev, Brass trio: Emil Yakovlev, Leon Sukhodolsky, Sergey Smirnov, St. Petersburg, 2010)
Aribert Reimann - Medea (2010)
Alina Novikova (composer) and Daria Zholnerova (dir.), St. Petersburg — opera Medea (2011)
Painting
paintings by Veronese, Poussin, Vanloo, Guercino, G. Moreau, A. Feuerbach.
"Medea kills her children" - painting by Delacroix
"Medea" is a poster by Czech artist Alfons Mucha depicting one of the scenes of the tragedy of the same name by Katul Mendez
Sculpture
Medea is a sculpture in the city of Pitsunda (Republic of Abkhazia). Author Zurab Tsereteli
Cinema
1963: Jason and the Argonauts / "Jason and the Argonauts", in the role of Medea - Nancy Kovak
1969: "Medea" - a film by Pier Paolo Pasolini, in ch. roles Maria Callas
1978: "A Dream of Passion" - a film by Jules Dassin, where Melina Mercury - the actress playing the role of Medea - is looking for her mother (Ellen Burstyn), who is serving time in prison for killing children
1988: "Medea" - television film by Lars von Trier, written by Carl Theodor Dreyer "Medea", in the role of Medea - Kirsten Olesen
2000: "Jason and the Argonauts", a Hallmark TV movie, as Medea - Jolene Blalock
2005: "Medea" - television series by Theo van Gogh, as Medea - Katja Schuurman
2007: "Medea Miracle" - a film by Tonino De Bernardi, starring Isabelle Huppert
2009: "Medea" - a film by Natalya Kuznetsova (director, producer, scriptwriter, cameraman, composer), Navrozashvili Lilian as Medea
see Medea (film)
Medea appears as a summoned servant in the anime series/movie Fate: Stay Night (2006)
Interesting Facts
"Medea complex" is a sometimes used name for mothers, especially divorced ones, who kill or hurt their children.
The genetic manipulation Maternal effect dominant embryonic arrest (abbreviated as Medea) is named after this mythical character.
The asteroid (212) Medea, discovered in 1880, is named after Medea.
There is a myth about the hero Jason, the leader of the Argonauts. He was the hereditary king of the city of Iolka in Northern Greece, but power in the city was seized by his elder relative, the imperious Pelius, and in order to return it, Jason had to accomplish a feat: with his fellow heroes on the Argo ship, sail to the eastern edge of the earth and there , in the country of Colchis, get the sacred Golden Fleece, guarded by a dragon. About this voyage, Apollonius of Rhodes later wrote the poem "Argonautica".
In Colchis, a mighty king, the son of the Sun, ruled; his daughter, the sorceress Medea, fell in love with Jason, they swore fidelity to each other, and she saved him. First, she gave him witchcraft potions, which helped him first to endure the test feat - to plow arable land on fire-breathing bulls - and then to put the dragon's guardian to sleep. Secondly, when they sailed from Colchis, Medea, out of love for her husband, killed her own brother and scattered pieces of his body along the shore; the Colchians pursuing them lingered, burying him, and could not overtake the fugitives. Thirdly, when they returned to Iolk, Medea, in order to save Jason from the deceit of Pelias, invited the daughters of Pelias to slaughter their old father, promising after that to resurrect him young. And they slaughtered their father, but Medea renounced her promise, and the parricide daughters fled into exile. However, Jason failed to get the kingdom of Iolk: the people rebelled against the foreign sorceress, and Jason with Medea and two young sons fled to Corinth. The old Corinthian king, having looked closely, offered him his daughter as a wife and the kingdom with her, but, of course, so that he divorced the sorceress. Jason accepted the offer: perhaps he himself was already beginning to be afraid of Medea. He celebrated a new wedding, and the king sent an order to Medea to leave Corinth. On a solar chariot harnessed by dragons, she fled to Athens, and told her children: “Give your stepmother my wedding gift: an embroidered cloak and a gold-woven headband.” The cloak and bandage were saturated with fiery poison: the flames engulfed the young princess, the old king, and the royal palace. The children rushed to seek salvation in the temple, but the Corinthians, in a rage, stoned them to death. What happened to Jason, no one knew for sure.
It was hard for the Corinthians to live with the notoriety of child-killers and wicked people. Therefore, the legend says, they begged the Athenian poet Euripides to show in the tragedy that it was not they who killed the Jason children, but Medea herself, their own mother. It was difficult to believe in such horror, but Euripides made him believe it.
“Oh, if those pines from which the ship on which Jason sailed had never collapsed ...” - the tragedy begins. This is Medea's old nurse speaking. Her mistress has just learned that Jason is marrying a princess, but does not yet know that the king tells her to leave Corinth. Behind the scenes, the moans of Medea are heard: she curses Jason, herself, and the children. “Take care of the children,” says the nurse to the old teacher. The choir of Corinthian women is in alarm: Medea would not have called out a worse misfortune! “Terrible royal pride and passion! better peace and measure.
The groans ceased, Medea goes out to the choir, she says firmly and courageously. “My husband was everything to me - I have nothing more. O wretched fate of a woman! They give her away to a strange house, pay a dowry for her, buy her a master; it hurts her to give birth, as in a battle, and to leave is a shame. You are here, you are not alone, but I am alone. The old Corinthian king comes forward to meet her: immediately, in front of everyone, let the sorceress go into exile! "Alas! hard to know more than others:
from this fear, from this hatred. Give me at least a day to decide where I should go. The king gives her a day. "Blind man! she says after him. "I don't know where I'm going, but I know I'll leave you dead." Who - you? The choir sings a song about universal untruth: oaths are violated, rivers flow backwards, men are more insidious than women!
Jason enters; an argument begins. “I saved you from the bulls, from the dragon, from Pelius - where are your oaths? Where should I go? In Colchis - the ashes of a brother; in Iolka - the ashes of Pelias; your friends are my enemies. Oh Zeus, why can we recognize fake gold, but not a fake person! Jason replies: “It was not you who saved me, but the love that moved you. I am counting on this salvation: you are not in wild Colchis, but in Greece, where they know how to sing glory to me and to you. My new marriage is for the sake of children: born from you, they are not full, and in my new house they will be happy. - “Happiness is not needed at the cost of such an insult!” “Oh, why can’t people be born without women! there would be less evil in the world." The choir sings a song about evil love.
Medea will do her job, but where will she go then? Here the young Athenian king Aegeus appears: he went to the oracle to ask why he had no children, and the oracle answered incomprehensibly. “You will have children,” says Medea, “if you give me shelter in Athens.” She knows that Aegeus will have a son on a foreign side - the hero Theseus; knows that this Theseus will drive her out of Athens; he knows that later Aegeus will die from this son - he will throw himself into the sea with false news of his death; but is silent. "Let me perish if I let you drive you out of Athens!" - says Egey, Medea doesn't need anything else now. Aegeus will have a son, and Jason will have no children - neither from his new wife, nor from her, Medea. "I will uproot the Jason family!" - and let descendants be horrified. The choir sings a song in praise of Athens.
Medea reminded of the past, secured the future - now her concern is about the present. The first is about her husband. She calls Jason, asks for forgiveness - “we women are like that!” - flatters, tells the children to hug their father: “I have a cloak and bandage, the legacy of the Sun, my ancestor; let them bring them to your wife!” - “Of course, and God grant them a long life!” Medea's heart shrinks, but she forbids herself pity. The choir sings: “Something will happen!”
The second concern is about children. They carried the presents and returned; Medea cries over them for the last time. “I gave birth to you, I nursed you, I see your smile - is it really the last time? Dear hands, dear lips, royal faces - won't I spare you? The father stole your happiness, the father deprives you of your mother; I will pity you - my enemies will laugh; don't be this! Pride is strong in me, and anger is stronger than me; decided!” The choir sings: “Oh, it’s better not to give birth to children, not to lead at home, to live in thought with the Muses - are women weaker in mind than men?”
The third concern is about the homeowner. A messenger runs in: "Save yourself, Medea: both the princess and the king died from your poison!" - “Tell, tell, the more, the sweeter!” The children entered the palace, everyone admires them, the princess rejoices at the dresses, Jason asks her to be a good stepmother for the little ones. She promises, she puts on an outfit, she shows off in front of a mirror; suddenly the color escapes from the face, foam appears on the lips, the flame covers her curls, the burnt meat shrinks on the bones, the poisoned blood oozes like resin from the bark. The old father, screaming, clings to her body, the dead body wraps around him like ivy; he tries to shake it off, but he himself becomes dead, and both, charred, lie dead. “Yes, our life is just a shadow,” the messenger concludes, “and there is no happiness for people, but there are successes and failures.”
Now there is no turning back; if Medea does not kill the children herself, others will kill them. “Do not hesitate, heart: only a coward hesitates. Be silent, memories: now I do not mother them, I will cry tomorrow. Medea leaves the stage, the choir sings in horror: “The ancestor sun and the supreme Zeus! hold her hand, don't let murder multiply by murder!" Two children's groans are heard, and it's all over.
Jason bursts in: “Where is she? on earth, in the underworld, in the sky? Let her be torn to pieces, if only I could save the children!” "It's too late, Jason," the choir tells him. The palace opens, above the palace - Medea on the Sun chariot with dead children in her arms. “You are a lioness, not a wife! Jason screams. “You are the demon with which the gods struck me!” "Call whatever you want, but I hurt your heart." - "And your own!" - "My pain is light to me when I see yours." - "Your hand killed them!" - "And before that - your sin." - "So let the gods execute you!" "Gods do not hear perjurers." Medea disappears, Jason calls out to Zeus in vain. The chorus ends the tragedy with the words:
“What you thought was true does not come true, / And the gods find ways for the unexpected - / Such is what we experienced” ...
retold
One of which is Medea. The summary of this tragedy will deepen you into the atmosphere of Ancient Greece and tell you about the complexities of human relationships and human vices.
Philosophy of Euripides
The ancient Greek playwright Euripides argued that man is wiser than the gods, so he was one of the first to decide on a critical attitude towards the inhabitants of Olympus. Any supernatural power, he believed, is the fruit of human imagination.
Euripides writes his famous tragedy called "Medea", reviews of which are still very ambiguous. The main merit of the author is to portray not an ideal person, but a vicious one who suffers and commits terrible crimes. The characters in the play are negative. Events are developing in such a way that human suffering comes to the fore.
Characters. Biography excerpts
In Euripides, the heroes of tragedies could be gods, demigods or mere mortals. Medea is the granddaughter of the sun god Helios, the daughter of King Eet and the oceanid Idia, whose parents are Ocean and Typhis. It is curious that in the tragedy the sorceress is not able to correct the situation without massacre, because if she had punished Jason and his bride without the intervention of children, the end would have been less tragic. However, Medea becomes a humanoid bearer of vices.
The main characters have been married for twelve years and gave birth to two boys - Mermer and Feret. Their marriage was organized with the participation of magical power: the gods send love spells on Medea and she helps Jason and the Argonauts to get the Golden Fleece. In gratitude, the hero marries her. Although Jason was not a god, he came from a noble family and was the son of King Eson, the ruler of the city of Iolk.
After meeting with Jason, Medea immediately shows her cruelty: she flees from Colchis with him and, in order to detain the angry Eet, kills her brother Apsyrtus, who was her traveler. Pieces of the body were scattered on the seashore - because of this cruelty that Medea showed, reviews of this legend are very mixed.
Glauca is the daughter of the Corinthian king Creon. According to Jason, he marries her not out of great love, but in order to ensure a happy future for his sons. Having become related to the royal heirs, the boys could later live among noble people.
"Medea": a summary of the tragedy of Euripides
The king of Corinth offers Jason to marry his daughter Glauca, to which he agrees. The actions of his wife Medea sometimes begin to frighten the hero, and he is not averse to leaving her to her fate. The enraged woman calls her ex-husband ungrateful, because it was with her help that he obtained the Golden Fleece and regained his former glory. However, Jason says that he did his duty to her. He gave her two sons, and now he can live his life as he pleases. Perhaps this position will seem incomprehensible to women, so the reviews about Jason about the tragedy "Medea" can be negative.
The Corinthian king expels Medea, but she tries to take revenge on her ungrateful husband and decides on a desperate act - to kill the children so that Jason dies of despair. The villain persuades her boys to take a wedding gift to Glauca - a poisoned crown, which instantly corrodes the face of the beautiful queen. A desperate father, who decided to save his daughter, dies after her. Medea dooms her children to death: the angry Corinthians would tear them apart, so the unfortunate mother herself decides to kill them and does not even allow Jason to say goodbye to them.
About the main character
Medea is not able to put up with humiliation, so she starts and looks for a way to take revenge. She does not immediately decide to kill the children, but the boys' teacher instantly guesses about her plans. Creon appears to Medea - the father of Jason's future wife orders her to leave Corinth along with her offspring.
She makes the final decision about the murder after a meeting with the childless Athenian king Aegeus. She understands how a man without offspring suffers, so she decides to take the most precious thing from her husband. Medea and Jason were once a happy married couple, until the fateful day came on which the leader of the Argonauts did not make his harsh decision. The main character thinks about leaving the city alone - Aegeus offers her asylum, but the thirst for revenge is much stronger: with the help of her babies, she wants to take revenge on her rival. According to the myth, the children of Medea were killed by the inhabitants of Corinth, and Euripides changed the ending and portrayed that the unfortunate mother herself takes on this sin and reassures herself that the boys died a less terrible death. In the play, Medea changes her mind four times - this is where the exceptional psychological skill of Euripides is manifested, which shows the complexity of human nature.
The trial of Medea or how the heroine was punished
Contemporaries of Euripides criticized the tragedy "Medea", the reviews were most often unflattering. The main opponent was Aristophanes, who believes that a woman had no right to kill her children. If the Greek comedians and tragedians tried the heroine, the accusations would be as follows:
Everyone knows that even the most recent traitor,
Keep and protect your child
And she is ready to throw herself into the jaws of a formidable beast for him.
But the granddaughter of Helios, accused by Medea,
He considers his anger higher than life
Their little ones - two sons.
She killed four at once:
Corinth lost the king and his heiress
And her unborn Jason descendants.
Murder is the worst sin
Kill four at the same time
And break the life of the fifth
For my own satisfaction
The solution is rather crazy,
rather than reasonable, therefore incur
Severe punishment must Medea.
The further fate of Medea
Despite the bloody crimes committed, the killer did not suffer execution and hid in distant lands. In Athens, she married Aegeus and bore him a son, Medes. Soon, Theseus, known for his fight with the bull Minotaur, visits their house. Medea wants to kill the guest, but Aegeus recognizes him as his son in time and makes sure that the villainess Medea leaves their country. The summary does not tell about the further fate of the heroine, but other works tell about this.
On the island of the blessed, the exile becomes the wife of Achilles. The sorceress lives a long life, which is the most terrible punishment for her. She constantly lives in exile, tormented by the mere thought of a perfect atrocity, everyone despises her. Perhaps this punishment is worse than death - such is the fate of the granddaughter of Helios.
She tells how a violent heroine distorts the fate of not only her hated person, but also her own with a terrible atrocity.
Colchis princess Medea, granddaughter of the solar god Helios, fell in love with a Greek hero Jason, who sailed with the Argonauts to her homeland for the Golden Fleece. She helped Jason outwit her father, take possession of the rune and return to Hellas along a dangerous path.
Myths of ancient Greece. Medea. Love that brings death
Jason took Medea with him and married her. For the sake of her beloved, Medea even killed her own brother Absyrtus. Already in Greece, she helped Jason to destroy King Pelius, who deceived him and did not give up the royal throne in the city of Iolka in exchange for the Golden Fleece.
The son of Pelius Adrastus, who inherited the power of his father, expelled Jason and Medea from his possessions. They settled with King Creon in Corinth. Two sons were born to them. It seemed that Jason and Medea should have been happy. But fate did not promise any of them happiness. Captivated by the beauty of Creon's daughter, Glauca, Jason betrayed the oaths of allegiance given to Medea in Colchis; he betrayed the one with which he accomplished a great feat. Jason decided to marry Glaucus, and King Creon agreed to give his daughter as a wife to the famous hero.
When Medea found out about Jason's betrayal, despair took possession of her. She still loved Medea Jason. As if turned into a soulless stone, Medea sat, immersed in sadness. She did not eat, did not drink, did not listen to words of consolation. Little by little, violent anger took possession of Medea. Her indomitable spirit could not be humbled. She, the daughter of the king of Colchis, could not bear the triumph of her rival! No, Medea is terrible in anger, her revenge must be terrible in its cruelty. O! Medea will take revenge on Jason, Glaucus, and her father Creon!
Everyone curses Medea in violent anger. She curses her children, curses Jason. Medea suffers and prays to the gods that they immediately take away her life with a lightning strike. What, besides revenge, is left for her in life? Death calls Medea, this will be the end of her torment, death will free her from grief. Why did Jason act so cruelly, with her - with the one who saved him, helped, by lulling the dragon, to get the golden fleece, who, for the sake of his salvation, lured her brother into an ambush, killed Pelias?
