The myth of Jason and Medea: Love, Sacrifice and Revenge

Jason and the Golden Fleece 

One day there was a king named Aeson who was ruling the province “Iolcus” in Thessaly. Until, Pelias, the half-brother of Aeson deposed him and took the throne of Iolcus, threatening to kill any who disputed his claim. Meanwhile the queen Alcimede, wife of Aeson was pregnant with a boy. She claimed that the boy died as she was giving birth to protect the child. Aeson sent his son Jason (Iason in Greek) to the old Centaur Chiron who was living on the mountain of Pelion in Thessaly.

Chiron brought up Jason and taught him how to fight and use all kinds of weapons until Jason became a strong, well-built young man. After many years, Jason decided to return to Iolcus to regain his kingdom from Pelias. Pelias felt guilty for what he had committed against his half-brother, so he asked his Oracle about the fate of his throne.The Oracle gave him a prophecy warning him of (a man with one shoe). This man was no other than Jason who helped an old woman to cross the river losing one of his sandals in the stream on his way back to Iolcus. This woman was the goddess Hera in disguise who became Jason’s ally.

When Jason reached Iolcus and asked to see his uncle, Pelias was trembling when he saw the man with one shoe (Jason) as he remembered the prophecy, but he welcomed Jason archly, promising to give him one of his daughters in order to rule after Pelias, but Jason told him that he wanted to regain the throne of his father immediately. On Jason insist on regaining the throne, Pelias promised him that if he brought him The Golden Fleece, he would give Jason the throne, knowing that Jason will never return back victorious from this impossible Journey.

This Golden Fleece made its owner the strongest king on earth, it was worn on the back of an extraordinary ram. This ram could talk and think, it could move through air as easily as on land. Many scholars think that “The Golden Fleece” represented either gold amber or the alluvial gold found in riverbeds near the Black Sea. Jason agreed and asked Pelias to send some of his followers with him to help him during the Journey.

The help of Medea 

Jason won the favor of the goddesses Hera and Athene. With their help, he built the fabled ship Argo which had 50 oars. Jason took 50 remarkable people called the Argonauts and set sail for the Black Sea where legend said The Golden Fleece was hidden.  After many adventures, Jason and the Argonauts reached Colchis, a kingdom ruled by Aeetes. Aeetes imposed impossible tasks for Jason and his Argonauts to achieve in order to take The Golden Fleece:

• To use fire-breathing bulls with copper feet to plow a field.
• To sow the plowed field with dragons’ teeth, from which would spring fully armed warriors.
• To fight a dangerous dragon who was guarding The Golden Fleece.

Fortunately for Jason, The goddesses Hera and Athene went to the goddess Aphrodite and asked her to make the god Eros (God of love) Use his magic in order to make Medea (Aeetes's daughter) fall in love with Jason, so he could achieve these impossible missions. Medea was a Greek Sorceress, she used her powers to help Jason who promised to marry her after they had finished the journey. Medea made Jason take control over the bulls and when the armed men sprang from the dragons’ teeth Medea told Jason to throw a stone into the middle line of the warriors, who accused each other of throwing the stone and fought among themselves until they all died. Medea, after that, led Jason to the place where he could find The Golden Fleece. Using a magic potion, Medea put the terrible dragon to sleep allowing Jason to take The Golden Fleece.

On their way back, Medea and Jason were pursued by king Aeetes, Medea, using her magic, slew her brother, Absyrtus and cut his body into pieces throwing the pieces into the sea and onto the surrounding land, knowing that Aeetes would gather up the dismembered pieces of his son’s body to give them a ceremonial burial. This way Medea, Jason and the Argonauts managed to escape from Aeetes with The Golden Fleece. Medea returned to Iolcus with Jason with a new mission to destroy Pelias (Jason’s uncle who had taken over the throne of Iolcus from Jason’s father). She suggested to the daughters of Pelias that if they killed their father, cut him up into small pieces and cooked him in a stew with certain magic herbs, he could be restored to youth. She demonstrated her idea by cutting and cooking a ram and by her magic she made a lamb spring forth from the pot and was rejuvenated.

The enchantress Medea concatenating her potions 

Pelias daughters did so and Pelias, of course, didn’t survive. The people of Iolcus were so enraged from this action that Jason and Medea had to flee the country. Eventually, Jason and Medea settled at Corinth, but their love didn’t last as Jason deserted Medea to marry Glauca, daughter of the Corinthian king Creon. Medea began her revenge from Jason, she killed Glauca by sending her a wedding dress saturated with poison, she killed the king of Cornith and killed two of her sons from Jason to leave Jason in torture and pain. Then, she fled to Athens and married its king Aegeus, but when Medea tried to kill Aegeus’ son, he found out and this forced Medea to escape.

There is no record telling us where she went next. As for Jason, he lived lonely and unhappy wandering from place to place, until he died under the prow of his ship, the Argo.

The poet Euripides wrote a famous tragedy about Medea, first produced in 431 B.C. Medea is the most complex character of this myth and has been the subject of numerous plays and operas after that. She continues to inspire television, cinema and music up to this very day.

Sources:

A. W. VERRALL, M.A, LITT.D fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge

Greek and Roman Mythology, A to Z third edition Kathleen N. Daly Revised by Marian Rengel
 الأساطير اليونانية الرومانية – أمين سلامة
 أحلى الأساطير الأغريقية – خليل تادرس