Classics 430:
Greek and Roman Mythology
1 March 2002

I.   Medea and Jason in Iolcus and Corinth

1. Things: ram stew, king stew, crown and robe, infanticide
2. Places: Iolcus, Corinth
3. People:  Pelias and his daughters, Creon (king of Corinth), Glauke (his daughter), Jason, Medea, their two sons

II. At Iolcus (Hera finally gets even with Pelias!)

1. Rumor that the Argo had sunk and everyone died upon it.  Pelias celebrates, think he has escaped "fate" (the oracle that predicted Jason would destroy him).
2. He kills Aeson, Jasonís father; Jason's mother kills herself at the news; Pelias then kills their young son (Jason's brother).
3. Jason returned (to Pelias' surprise, no doubt), gave him the fleece, but the king refused to relinquish the throne to Jason.
4. Medea convinces Pelias' daughters that she can make him young again, with the ole' "oregano" trick.
5. Peliasís daughters are thus deceived into killing their own father; Medea admits that she must have "missed an ingredient" in her recipe for "king stew."
6. Iolcans drove Jason and Medea out of Iolcus; they fled to Corinth.

III. At Corinth (sources: Euripides' Medea, Seneca's Medea, Ovid's Heroides)

1. Medea and Jason go to Corinth, M. gives birth to two sons.
2. Jason grows dissatisfied with M., his ëforeign wife,í and arranges with king Creon to marry his daughter Glauke (spelled also, ëGlauceí).
3. He tries to get rid of Medea, but this is one woman who has very different plans for herself and the way men treat her (note: even in the case of her ëmarriage,í she was not given by her father but rather ëgave herself away.í)
4. Creon tries to help Jason by banishing Medea from Corinth.
5. Medea meets Aegeus (on way back from receiving oracle) and secures refuge in Athens.  She advances many interesting arguments about the social position of women and the way their ëenforced passivityí renders them powerless.  She argues that she is responsible for Jasonís glory and power, and will not be so easily ëthrown away.í
6. M. gives Glauke a magical / poisoned crown and robe; both Glauke and Creon die.
7. M. then kills her and Jasonís two sons with a knife in a symbolic destruction of the marriage.
8. M. escapes to Athens riding on a flying chariot borrowed from her grandfather Helios.