Medea was a princess of the barbarian kingdom of Colchis during the 1300s BC. She married the Greek prince Jason, and, when Jason left her to marry Glauce, Medea killed Glauce, her father Creon of Corinth, and her two sons with Jason before fleeing to Athens.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Medea on the Argo, 1246 BC
Medea was the daughter of King Aeetes and Idyia and the sister of Absyrtus and Chalciope. In 1246 BC, Jason and his Argonauts invaded Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece, the symbol of Colchian kingship, and they pillaged the countryside. Medea awoke her brother Absyrtus and convinced him to help her steal the Fleece, hoping to turn it over to Jason and thus end the war. They succeeded, and they ran off with Jason and his Argonauts. As their father's horsemen closed in, Medea decided to murder and dismember her brother, scattering his limbs; her father and his horsemen were distracted with picking up the pieces as Jason and Medea made off on the Argo. When they returned to Greece, Medea helped Jason in his attempt to claim the throne of Iolcus by persuading King Pelias' daughters to murder him in a ritual, but Jason was an accessory to the crime, rendering him unable to succeed to the throne.
Life in Greece and exile[]
When Medea arrived in Corinth, she was seen as a barbarian by the locals, and Jason saw to it that Medea was stripped of her barbarian garments and dressed in Greek clothing. They had two children: Tisander and Alcimenes, and they were married for ten years. In Corinth, Jason abandoned Medea for King Creon of Corinth's daughter Glauce, disappointed with his "barbarian" wife. Medea proceeded to send Glauce a poisoned dress as a wedding gift, killing her; Creon also died while attempting to save his daughter. Medea then went on to stab her two children dead and burn the house down, fleeing to Athens, where she married Aegeus and bore him a son, Medus. At that time, Aegeus' long-lost son Theseus arrived, and Medea, concerned that her son's future would be at risk if Theseus became Aegeus' heir once more, attempted to poison Theseus. However, Aegeus knocked the cup from Theseus' hand, and he embraced Theseus as his own. Medea then returned to Colchis, where she found that her uncle Perses of Tauris had usurped the throne. She killed her uncle and restored the throne to her father, and she then lived among the Aryans in Iran; the Aryans renamed themselves to the "Medes".