MEDEA

In Greek myth, Medea was the daughter of King Aeetes of Colchis and the nymph Eidyia; her two grandfathers were the sun god Helios and the sea god Oceanus. Medea was a sorceress, renowned for crimes that seemed especially horrible to the Greeks since they were committed against the men of her own family.

The story of Medea is closely wound with that ofJason, the Greek hero and captain of the Argonauts, who came to Colchis in his quest for the Golden Fleece. According to Apollodorus of Athens, a second-century-BCE collector and recorder of myths, King Aeetes agreed to give Jason the fleece if he would first single-handedly yoke two huge fire-breathing bulls, plow a field with them, and sow the field with dragon’s teeth. Jason would surely have been killed by the bulls had Aphrodite, the goddess of love, not caused Medea to fall hopelessly in love with him. The king’s daughter secretly offered Jason her assistance, giving him an ointment to spread on his skin and armor that would make him invulnerable to wounds or flames for one day. In exchange, Medea asked him to take her away with him on his ship the Argo and marry her. Jason accepted the sorceress’s offer, and the next day he used the ointment to successfully complete the task. After he had sowed the dragon’s teeth, ferocious armed warriors sprang up. On Medea’s advice, Jason threw a rock into the middle of the group to make them fight among themselves, giving him the opportunity to kill them all.