Medea

Medea, Corinth, Aegeus, Creon, Aeson, Pelias
Euripides, Talos

1. Medea in Love: Colchis and the Journey Home
   • Deflation of Jason
   • Medea Dominates the Action
   • Talos, the Bronze Giant protecting Crete
   • Medea defeats him (ankle)
     
2. Medea the Sorceress: Iolcos
   • The Rejuvenation of Aeson
   • The Murder of Pelias
   • A Different Ending: Not Happily Ever After
   • Magical Powers
3. Interpreting the Jason Story
1. Story Pattern of Initiation and Rite of passage (see chart here)
• Quest
• Success in challenges
• Return, Claiming inheritance
• Gain knowledge of the female
2. Folktale motifs
• Recognition (Sandal)
• Disposal by quest (Fleece)
• Accidental killing of friend (Cyzicus)
• Magic, Love Charms (Medea)
• Delay pursuit by sprinkling things (Apsyrtus)
3. Expedition as a Team Effort
• Each hero does his part (Orpheus, Zetes and Calaïs, Pollux, etc.)
• Heracles must be left behind; too powerful
• Jason more like a manager or coach than star player
4. Jason: an untraditional hero
• The lover: Hypsipyle, Medea
• Kills a friend and a young boy
• Fails to gain the throne upon his completion of the quest
• Succeeds by the assistance of others, esp. Medea
• Dies ignominiously
4. Medea, A Woman Scorned: Corinth
1. Medea as Other = Everything NOT Greek
   1. Foreigner; Woman; Sorceress
2. Transgressive Medea
   1. Strikes at Family
   2. Deceives, Kills, Escapes
3. Euripides' Medea
   1. A Woman Wronged
   2. A Powerless Stranger in a Strange Land
4. Medea as Hero
   1. Passionate Angry Spirit; Courage; Resourcefulness
   2. Overwhelmingly powerful sense of honor
   3. Desire for Glory and Vengeance
5. Medea: A Woman Scorned: Corinth
1. Goes to Athens and taken in by Aegeus, Theseus' Dad
2. The Magic Chariot
3. Symbol of Power for the Disempowered

1. Medea. Frederick Sandys, 1866-1868. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
2. Talos Dying. Attic red-figure volute krater, c. 400-390 BCE, Talos Painter. Ruvo, Jatta Collection.
   
3. Medea and the Daughters of Pelias. c. 420-410 BCE. Frieze.
4. Creon's daughter receives Medea's gifts. Roman marble sarcophagus, mid-2nd c. CE. Pergamon Museum, Berlin.
5. *Medea about to Kill her Children. Eugène Delacroix, 1838. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
6. Medea Killing Child. Campanian red-figure neck-amphora, c. 330 BCE, Ixion Painter. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
7. Medea. 1st c. CE Roman copy of a 1st c. BCE Greek wall painting. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.
8. Medea and Chariot. Lucanian calyx krater, c. 400 BCE. Cleveland Museum of Art.