The Myth Of Medea, The Sorceress In Love

The myth of Medea tells us about the archetype of the witch, an autonomous woman, invaded by great passions and with great decision-making capacity. By the time this character was created, she represented the complete opposite of what a female model should be. Perhaps for this very reason, it aroused great interest and had a huge impact among tragic authors.

According to the Medea myth, this sorceress was the granddaughter of Helios, the Sun god, and daughter of Eates, king of Colchis, the same place where the mythical Golden Fleece stayed. This was a winged ram, whose wool was made of gold threads. Medea’s mother was the nymph Idía, daughter of Oceanus, and whose name means “to see.”

The story goes that our sorceress learned the arts of witchcraft from her Aunt Circe. She had great powers and knew magic potions that allowed her to turn her enemies into animals and cure diseases thanks to her knowledge of herbs and medicine.

The myth of Medea, the woman in love

The moment in which the myth of Medea comes to life is when Jason and the Argonauts  arrive at Colchis, the kingdom of the sorceress’s father, in search of the Golden Fleece. The goddesses Hera and Athena protected these expeditionaries and asked the goddess Aphrodite to help them in their mission. Specifically, they requested that Medea, the king’s daughter, fall in love with Jason and support him in his purposes.

Aphrodite had to convince her son Eros to do the homework. He was reluctant, but his mother promised him a gift and then agreed to shoot one of her arrows straight into the sorceress’s heart. This, of course, fell completely in love with Jason and had no qualms about helping him fulfill his mission.

The king of Colchis promised Jason to give him the golden fleece, provided he met some tests. The first was to plow a field with oxen that breathed flames from their jaws. Soon after, and with the help of the protective goddesses, Jason and Medea found themselves in the sanctuary of Hecate, deep in the forest. There the hero asked for her help and promised to marry  her and take her with him to Greece, her homeland.

Medea’s help

The myth of Medea tells that the sorceress gave Jason a potion that made him invulnerable to the flames of the oxen. It also helped him defeat some soldiers that appeared out of nowhere and make the dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece sleepy. Thus the hero  could fulfill all the tasks that were imposed on him.

The couple then fled on the famous ship Argo, where, to prevent her father from pursuing them, she killed her younger brother, Apsyrtus, who was on the ship. He dismembered him and threw the pieces of his body into the sea, so that his father would waste time searching for his son’s body and thus stop the persecution.

In this way, they managed to reach the homeland of Jason, Yolco, and were received with great celebrations. The myth of Medea tells that the couple got married and that the sorceress decided to rejuvenate Jason’s father, in gratitude because he had kept his promises. The daughters of Pelias, the brother of Jason’s father and who had been displaced from the throne by him, wanted the sorceress to also rejuvenate their father.

A tragic ending

Medea deceived the young women and instead of granting them the rejuvenation of Pelias, she caused him to die. For this fact, the couple was exiled to Corinth, where they were warmly received by King Creon. Medea and Jason lived happily there for many years and had two children. However, Jason fell in love with the king’s daughter, Glauce, and began to think about how to get rid of his wife.

Pretending to accept Jason and Glauce’s engagement, the sorceress presented the princess with a dress. According to the myth of Medea, when the young woman wore the same, it caught fire and then the fire spread to the king and the entire palace. Later the witch killed her children and fled to Athens, where she was received by the Aegean king, whom she married and had a son named Medo.

Years later, he intrigued so that Theseus, son of Aegean, could not access the throne and instead it was granted to his son, Medo. The king noticed everything and she had to flee in a magic cloud. Thus she returned to Colchis, where she was forgiven. The myth of Medea says that the sorceress is immortal and lives forever on the Champs Elysees.