Sorceress

Medea

She Helped Him Win Everything — Then Burned It All Down

Princess of Colchis

Medea was a princess of Colchis, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, niece of the sorceress Circe, and a priestess of Hecate, goddess of witchcraft. She was one of the most powerful magic users in all of Greek mythology. When Jason arrived in Colchis seeking the Golden Fleece, Aphrodite caused Medea to fall desperately in love with him. Without Medea's help, Jason would have died on his first trial.

Saving Jason

Medea gave Jason a magical ointment that made him invulnerable to the fire-breathing bronze bulls. She told him how to defeat the warriors that sprouted from dragon's teeth. She drugged the sleepless dragon that guarded the Fleece. She betrayed her father, her country, and her family for a man she had known for days. When her father's fleet pursued them, Medea murdered her own brother Absyrtus and scattered his body parts in the sea, forcing her father to stop and collect them for burial. She sacrificed everything for Jason.

The Betrayal

Jason and Medea settled in Corinth, where they had two sons. For years they lived together. Then Jason announced he was leaving Medea to marry Glauce, the princess of Corinth, a political marriage that would secure his position and advance his career. He told Medea she should be grateful: their sons would be raised as Greek princes. He expected her to accept this quietly.

The Revenge

Medea did not accept it quietly. Euripides' tragedy Medea (431 BC) dramatizes what followed with devastating psychological realism. Medea sent Glauce a poisoned golden robe and crown as a wedding gift. When Glauce put them on, the poison burned her alive. Her father Creon, trying to save her, embraced her and was consumed by the same fire. Then Medea did the unthinkable: she killed her own two children to ensure Jason would have no legacy, no heirs, no future. She escaped in a chariot drawn by dragons sent by her grandfather Helios.

Jason, who had once been the great hero of the Argonauts, was left with nothing. His new wife was dead. His children were dead. His former wife had escaped divine justice. He died alone years later, crushed by a falling timber from the rotting Argo, the very ship that had carried him to glory.

Why Medea Matters

Medea is the most morally complex female character in Greek literature. She is simultaneously a victim (betrayed by the man she sacrificed everything for) and a monster (she murders her own children). Euripides refuses to let the audience settle into easy judgement. The play forces you to understand why she does what she does without excusing it. Modern audiences continue to debate her: is she a feminist icon who refused to be discarded, or a cautionary tale about the destructive power of vengeance? The answer is both, and that is why her play has been performed continuously for 2,400 years.