Wednesday 25 March 2015

Medea

                                              In Greek mythology, Medea was described as the witch, enchantress or sorceress, the daughter of  King Aeetes of Colchis  and Eidyia. In some versions, Medea was described as the daughter of goddess Hecate, since Medea was a devotee of the goddess Hecate.
Medea

                                           Medea first saw Jason when he arrived at the king's palace to request the Golden Fleece and Medea fell in love with him. According to some versions, Hera, queen of the gods, persuaded Aphrodite, the goddess of love, or Eros, god of love, to make Medea fall in love with Jason. Medea promised to help him, but only on the condition that if he succeeded, he would take her with him and marry her. Jason agreed.
                                                                                  Aeetes promised to give Jason the fleece, but only if he could perform certain tasks. First, Jason had to plough a field with fire-breathing oxen that he had to yoke himself. Medea provided an ointment that protected him and his weapons from the oxen's flames. Then, Jason had to sow the teeth of a dragon in the ploughed field. The teeth sprouted into an army of warriors. Jason was forewarned by Medea, however, and knew to throw a rock into the crowd. Unable to determine where the rock had come from, the soldiers attacked and killed each other. Finally, Aeetes made Jason fight and kill the sleepless dragon that guarded the fleece. Medea put the beast to sleep with her narcotic herbs. Jason then took the fleece and sailed away with Medea, as he had promised.
Medea and Jason
Medea distracted her father, who chased them as they fled, by killing her brother Apsyrtus and throwing pieces of his body into the sea. Aeetes stopped to gather them. In another version, Medea lured Apsyrtus into a trap. Jason killed him, chopped off his fingers and toes, and buried the corpse. In any case, Jason and Medea escaped. During the fight, Atalanta, the only female member of the Argonauts, helping Jason in his quest for the fleece, was seriously wounded, but Medea healed her. (see the quest for golden fleece )
                               
Medea....

                                   
                                     When Jason and the Argonauts reach back to Icolcus.  Jason, celebrating his return with the Golden Fleece, noted that his father was too aged and infirm to participate in the celebrations. He had seen and been served by Medea's magical powers. He asked Medea to take some years from his life and add them to the life of his father. She did so, but at no such cost to Jason's life. Medea withdrew the blood from Aesons body and infused it with certain herbs, putting it back into his veins, returning vigor to him.
                                  Pelias still refused to give up his throne. Medea conspired to have Pelias' own daughters (Peliades) kill him. She told them she could turn an old ram into a young ram by cutting up the old ram and boiling it. During the demonstration, a live, young ram jumped out of the pot. Excited, the girls cut their father into pieces and threw them in a pot, in the expectation that he would emerge rejuvenated. Pelias, of course, did not survive. As he was now an accessory to a terrible crime, Jason was still not made king. Pelias' son Acastus later drove Jason and Medea to Corinth and so reclaimed the kingdom.
Medea conspired Pelias daughter to kill him

                       Having been expelled from Iolcus, Jason and Medea settled in Corinth, where they lived happily for many years. With Jason she had sons Alcimenes, Thessalus, Tisander, Mermeros and Pheres and daughter Eriopis. But  Jason, having grown weary of being married to a foreign sorceress, felt ready for a younger and more representative wife. He found her in Glauce, daughter of King Creon of Corinth. But this sort of humilitation and betrayal was more than Medea could bear. Medea pretended that she had accepted her husband's decision, Medea sent to Glauce, a wedding present, a bridal robe steeped in poison, and when the girl put it on, she caught fire. Creon then, tried to rescued his daughter, but died in the attempt. 
Medea ................
In some versions, Medea two sons Mermeros and Pheres helped their mother's revenge and were murdered by Corinthians for their crime.  According to some versions, Medea continued her revenge, murdering her two children Tisander and Alcimenes. Only one son Thessalus survived.
Medea kills her children 
Afterward, Medea left Corinth and flew to Athens in a golden chariot driven by dragons sent by her grandfather Helios, god of the sun. Medea was received by King Aegeus of Athens, who protected her well, since in vain Hippotes, son of the Corinthian king, claimed from the Athenians the person of Medea on account of her murdering his father. Aegeus married Medea and had a child (Medus) by her, himself ignoring that he already was the father of another child (Theseus).


Medea and the golden chariot driven by dragon


                                    Medea lived peacefully in Athens until the arrival of Theseus. Medea recognized Theseus immediately as Aegeus's son and worried that Theseus would be chosen as heir to Aegeus' kingdom instead of her son Medus. Medea told Aegeus that Theseus had came to kill him and that she would give Theseus poisoned wine. Aegeus unaware that Theseus was his son, agreed. He invited Theseus to a banquet, however, when Theseus was just about to drink his wine, Aegeus recognized the sword and knocked the poisoned wine cup from Theseus's hand. Theseus and Aegeus were filled with happiness and Medea along with her son, Medus, fled from there.
Aegeus recognized Theseus as his own son, Medea fled from there...

                                                                                According some version, Medea return back to Colchis with Medus. Medea's father Aeetes was the former king of Colchis, and Aeetes's brother Perses ruled after his death, In some versions, Aeetes was murdered by Perses. Perses imprisoned Medus to protect his throne from any potential claimants. To free her son, Medea impersonated a priestess and demanded he be given to her for sacrifice to appease the gods, as a plague was at the time being visited upon Colchis. Perses agreed, and was subsequently killed by the sacrificial blade in the hands of either Medea or Medus. Medus thus came to rule, and when he conquered a neighboring land it was named Media in honor of either Medus or Medea.
                                                           In other version, Medea and her son Medus fled from Athens on her flying chariot, to the Iranian plateau and lived among the Aryans, who then changed their name to the Medes.
the-quest-for-golden-fleece
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    Jason : Theseus : The quest for golden fleece :   

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3 comments:

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