Notes and Study Guide

1. What is Euripides trying to say about the sanctity of oaths in this play? Who takes oaths? Who breaks oaths? Who complains most about broken oaths in the play? Does the person who complains most about oaths also abide by the oaths that they take?

2. Numerous references to bending one's knee in supplication exist in the Medea. Who bends their knee in supplication in this play?

3. How does Medea figuratively change her gender and species in the play?

4. The Medea was staged in 431 B.C., on the eve of the outbreak of a war between Athens and Sparta that would rage for twenty-seven years. How does this play express a reaction to that imminent war?

the Argo: The Argo was the ship in which Jason and his crew sailed. It was called the Argo after its builder (Argus), or from the Greek word argos, which means "swift." See Diodorus of Sicily 4.41.3

the grey-blue jaws of rock: i.e., the Symplagades, which means the Clashing Rocks. Jason had to sail between these deadly rocks to reach the town of Colchis, situated on the southeast shores of the Black Sea.

Colchis: Colchis was the town in which the golden fleece was found.

Pelion's slopes: Mount Pelion was just east of Iolcus, Jason's birthplace.

Pelias: Pelias, king of Iolcus, had heard an oracle that predicted Jason would kill him. Therefore, Pelias sent Jason on the quest for the golden fleece in the hope that the young man would be killed.

Medea: Medea was the daughter of Aeetes, king of Colchis. She had helped Jason steal the golden fleece.

When Pelias' daughters, at her instance, killed their father: Medea tricked the daughters of Pelias into killing their father when Medea told them she could make Pelias young again if they killed Pelias and put his body into a bronze cauldron filled with one of Medea's magic potions. Medea proved she could restore Pelias by first changing an old ram into a frisky lamb. However, when Pelias' daughters killed their father, Medea let him die because she hoped that with Pelias dead, Jason would become king of Iolcus.

-Why is Medea in exile in Corinth?

-What type of wife is Medea to Jason?

-Whom has Jason married?

Which she betrayed and left: When Medea helped Jason steal the golden fleece, she betrayed Colchis and her father Aeetes, king of Colchis.

-What intentions does Creon have for Medea and her children?

her eye like a wild bull's: Throughout the play Medea is described in animalistic terms. For further bull imagery, see also p. 23.

-According to the Nurse, what way is "best by far, in name and practice"?

-Where is Jason held "prisoner"?

Themis: Themis is the personification of what is right according to custom and morality. Medea invokes her because Jason has violated these rights by taking another wife. Contrast the invocation of Themis here with Medea's later invocation of Hecate, the goddess of witches (p. 29).

My brother I shamefully murdered: Medea killed her brother Absyrtus to help Jason escape from Colchis with the golden fleece. When King Aeetes pursued the Argo, Medea cut up Absyrtus and threw parts of his body into the sea. Medea did this because she knew Aeetes would stop to collect his son's body parts. The delay would allow Jason to escape.

like a mad bull/Or a lioness: Note once again the animalistic terms used to describe Medea.

Themis, daughter of Zeus: According to Hesiod, Themis is the daughter of Ouranos and Gaia.

Asia: Colchis is located in Asia.

Hellas: i.e., Greece.

the salt strait: The strait which guards the entrance to the Black Sea is called the Bosporus.

the Pontic Sea: i.e., the Black Sea.

-According to Medea, what is not respectable for women?

-According to Medea, in contrast to men, what are wives forced to look to?

-According to Medea, what would she rather do three times than bear once child?

-What help does Medea have other than Jason?

-According to the Chorus, to punish Jason will be...?

-What order does Creon give to Medea?

I kneel to you...: Medea becomes a suppliant at various times throughout the play in order to get what she wants.

-What one final favor does Medea want from Creon?

-According to Creon, what will happen "if tomorrow's holy sun/Finds you [Medea]...inside my boundaries"?

-What does Medea plan to do to three of her enemies?

-What three enemies does she plan to attack?

-By what means does Medea intend to attack her enemies?

-What divinity does Medea venerate above all others?

Your father was a king: The reference is to Aeetes, Medea's father and king of Colchis.

His father was the Sun-god: Helios was the father of Medea's father Aeetes.

Jason and his new allies, the tribe/Of Sisyphus: Jason's alliance with Creon linked him by marriage to Creon's ancestor Sisyphus, who was a notorious liar and was punished for his impiety by having to constantly roll a boulder to the top of a hill in the underworld. Once the boulder reached the top of the hill, the boulder would roll back down again.

Phoebus: i.e., Apollo.

the Rocky Jaws of the eastern sea: The reference is to the Clashing Rocks which guard the entrance to the Black Sea.

the King and the princess: i.e., Creon and Glauce.

-What does Jason say he "could never bear...to" Medea?

-What was Jason sent to master?

-What kept watch over the Golden Fleece? What happened to that guardian and who was responsible for doing it?

-According to Medea, she could have pardoned Jason for hankering after a new marriage if what had been the case?

My poor right hand, which you so often clasped! My knees which you then clung to!: Medea's words point to the time when Jason, faced with dangerous tasks (cf. p. 31), was once a suppliant to her, begging for her help. Additionally, the mention of the right hand, the hand of friendship and agreement, hints at Jason's betrayal of his pledge of faith to Medea. Now the tables are turned and Medea will have to become a suppliant to save her own life. At p. 27 Medea knelt before Creon so that he will allow her to stay in Corinth one more day. At p. 39, Medea kneels to Aegeus so that he will grant her asylum in Corinth. At p. 46, Medea wants her children to kneel before their new mother so that she will accept the gifts which will bring about her death.

Hellene: i.e., Greek.

-According to Jason, who deserves credit for his successful voyage?

-What benefit, according to Jason, has living in Hellas brought to Medea?

-According to Jason, whose interests was he serving by marrying Creon's daughter?

-By marrying Creon's daughter, Jason wanted to ensure above all that...?

give them all/An equal place: Jason's assertion here is naive and almost certainly invalid. It seems almost impossible that Jason's children by Medea would ever have been on equal standing with any children Jason might have by Glauce. In the realm of Greek mythology it is unthinkable that a stepmother would have treated her step-children with anything but contempt. The whole matter of the Golden Fleece came about when Athamas' second wife Ino tried to bring about the death of Phrixus, Athamas' son by his first wife Nephele. If Nephele had not sent a ram with golden fleece to save Phrixus, Ino would have succeeded in having Phrixus sacrificed by his own father.

-In the first nine lines of the Chorus' song, they advocate moderation in respect to what divinity?

the dread Cyprian: i.e., Aphrodite, who was born on the island of Cyprus.

May the gods save me from becoming/A stateless refugee...: The Chorus' prayer here may reflect fears of the impending war between Athens and Sparta, which broke out in the same year as the Medea was staged.

-Who is the son of Pandion the wise?

-From where has the son of Pandion come?

-What problem faces the son of Pandion?

Phoebus: i.e., Apollo.

"not to unstop the wineskin's neck": The oracle was telling Aegeus not to have sexual intercourse before he reached his homeland.

Troezen: Troezen was located on the southeast coast of Greece, about 30 miles east of Argos. Troezen is famous as the birthplace of Theseus.

Pelops: This is the same Pelops whose father Tantalus cut him up and served him as food for the gods.

-Whose advice is Aegeus going to ask about the oracle?

I touch your beard as a suppliant, embrace your knees: Just as Jason became a suppliant to Medea in his time of need (cf. p. 32), so too Medea will become a suppliant to Aegeus.

-Of what town is Aegeus king?

-What promise does Medea make to Aegeus? How will she accomplish this?

-What does Aegeus not intend to do for Medea? Why? What must Medea do on her own?

the house of Pelias: Medea had killed Pelias, king of Iolcus, so she could not return to that town.

-What two things does Aegeus swear to Medea he will do?

-What is Medea going to beg Jason to do?

-What means will Medea use to attack the princess?

-Whom will Medea attack after the princess?

The laughter of my enemies I will not endure: The hatred of being mocked and underestimated is one of Medea's primary concerns in the play. See also pp. 42, 49, 59. Contrast Medea's mockery of Jason at p. 60.

won over/By eloquence from a Greek: Jason is characterized as a smooth talker in the Medea. See also p. 32.

-According to Medea, what "is the way to deal Jason the deepest wound"?

Erechtheus: Erechtheus was, according to mythological tradition, one of the early kings of Athens. See Ion, p. 49.

Children of blessed gods: The people of Athens could claim to have descended from Hephaestus and Gaia.

They grew from holy soil: The people of Athens believed that their descendants were born directly from the ground. When Hephaestus tried to rape Athene, his seed spilled on the ground and impregnated Gaia. See Ion, p. 49.

unscorched by invasion: The reference anticipates the ravaging of Athenian territory that will occur during the impending Spartan invasions. One of the first things an invading army did was ravage their enemies territory, burning and destroying crops and property outside the city limits.

the nine virgin Muses: According to Hesiod, the nine Muses, goddesses who inspired writers of various types of literature, were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory).

-What question does the chorus ask the city of Athens in regard to Medea?

-What inference does the Chorus' question have with regard to the political climate in Athens in 431 B.C.?

-What does Medea ask Jason to do?

-What does Medea pretend to do in regard to Jason?

Only naturally a woman/Is angry when her husband marries a second wife: Euripides explores the same theme in the Andromache, staged a few years after the Medea in about 427 B.C. In that play, Hermione, the wife of Neoptolemus, is angry with Andromache, the slave and concubine of Neoptolemus.

Tread down my enemies: Jason may be referring to the people of Iolcus, who exiled him and Medea after Medea brought about the death of Pelias, king of Iolcus.

-What does Medea want to be done in regard to the two children?

-What does Medea want the two children to deliver for her?

My father's father the Sun: Medea's father Aeetes was the son of Helios, god of the Sun.

Kneel down and beg your father's new wife: Once again we see the theme of supplication. Earlier in the play we read how Jason used supplication to gain Medea's help (p. 32), later Medea used supplication to get a favor from Aegeus (p. 39), now Medea will use her children as pawns in an act of feigned supplication in order to bring about the murder of the princess.

-What was the princess' attitude towards the gifts from Medea?

I shall never see your brides, Adorn your bridal beds, and hold the torches high.: Medea's lamentation recalls that of Alcestis for her daughter prior to Alcestis' death. Cf. Alcestis p. 52.

-What act is Medea hesitant to commit?

-What is Medea's motivation for commiting that act?

Are my enemies to laugh at me?: Once again we see Medea's concern with being mocked by her enemies.

-What relevance does the Chorus' speech about children have to the impending war between Athens and Sparta?

-Whom have Medea's poisons killed?

-What did Jason want Glauce to ask her father to revoke for his sake?

she was won over,/And agreed to all that Jason asked: Just as Medea was won over by Jason's smooth talk in Colchis (cf. pp. 32, 41), so too Glauce is won over by the eloquent Jason. However, Jason's eloquence will prove his undoing as he convinces Glauce to accept the gifts that will bring about her own death.

-What did the gown and coronet do to the princess?

-What happened to the King when he tried to help the princess?

-What decision does Medea finally reach regarding her children?

the blue Symplagades: i.e., the Clashing Rocks, which guarded the entrance to the Black Sea. Jason had to pass between them to reach Colchis, where the Golden Fleece was located.

There was but.../One woman.../Raised hand against her own children. It was Ino...: Hera caused Ino, the wife of Athamas, to go mad because Ino had taken care of Dionysus, whom Hera hated, when he was young. According to Apollodorus (Bibliotheca 3.4.3), Ino threw her son Melicertes into a boiling cauldron and then jumped into the Gulf of Corinth with him. Of course, other stories of women killing their children did exist in Greek mythology. For example, Euripides mentions Procne's murder of her son Itys in the Heracles (Medea and Other Plays p. 184).

-In what vehicle is Medea being carried?

in a land of savages: Medea's homeland Colchis was located in the area around the Black Sea, a region regarded as barbarian territory by the Greeks. The same view is expressed many times in the Iphigenia in Tauris, which is set in the barbarous Black Sea land of Tauris.

You had already murdered your brother: Medea had murdered her brother Absyrtus in order to ensure her and Jason's escape from Colchis.

No woman, but a tiger: Once again Medea is described in animalistic terms.

a Tuscan Scylla: The Scylla was a monster with six heads who lurked about the strait between the toe of Italy's boot and the island of Sicily. Tuscan refers to the Tuscan valley region of Italy.

-According to Medea, her pain is a fair price to do what?

-Who will bury the children and where will they be buried?

-According to Medea, how will Jason die?

-Of what three sins does Medea accuse Jason?