“Once upon a time…” is how many of our favorite love stories start. The couple meets, and complications arise, but in the end they have a happy ending. There’s also the classic “love triangle” love stories, and the decision of who to choose. And then there are love stories where there is no happy ending, where one or both lovers end in tragic death. We love these stories. We relate to them, seek advice from them, cry over them, and find comfort in them when we ourselves are sad. Here’s the mythical love story of Jason and Medea.
Jason is from the Greek city Iolcus. He sails on his ship, the Argo, with his crew the Argonauts, in search of the Golden Fleece, a fleece that was cut from a rare golden ram. Jason believed that if he got the fleece, his cousin Pelias, who took the throne from Jason’s father, would give the throne to Jason. The Argonauts sail to Cochlis to meet king Aeetes who had a beautiful daughter named Medea. Medea was captivated by Jason, but too afraid of her father to seek him out. King Aeetes told Jason that he could have the Golden Fleece if he completed three tasks that were nearly impossible. Jason fell into a deep depression because he knew that if he were to attempt these tasks, he would surely die. Jason, however, had the favor of Hera, goddess of women and marriage. Before he set out on his quest, he carried Hera, disguised as an old woman, across a river so that she would not drown.1
Hera asked Aphrodite, goddess of love, to encourage Medea to act on the feelings she had for Jason, and help him with his tasks, for Medea was a witch. Medea came to Jason and promised to help him with the tasks her father gave him if he would marry her. That night they were married in front of a temple of Hecate, the goddess of magic, who favored Medea and gave her the gifts she possessed.2
The first task required Jason to plow a field with fire-breathing oxen.3 Medea provided an ointment that allowed Jason to pass through the flames of the oxen unscathed. For the second task, Jason had to defeat the army of warriors that sprouted from the teeth of the dragon on the field. Medea gave him special instructions to follow to ensure he was victorious. His last task was to overcome the sleepless dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece. Medea knew that if the dragon found Jason creeping towards the Golden Fleece, he would kill him. She gave Jason a potion to keep the dragon asleep.4
King Aeetes was angered by Jason’s success and by Medea’s help. As Jason and Medea fled with the fleece, Aeetes sent Medea’s half-brother, Apsyrtus, after them to bring Medea back home. Desperate to stay together, the two killed her brother and scattered his body in the sea to distract her father and sail away.5
They returned to Iolcus so Jason could overthrow his cousin, Pelias, who had overthrown Jason’s father before. Medea convinced Pelias’ daughters that if they chopped him up into little pieces and threw him in a pot set out by Medea, he would reemerge young again. They believed her because she did an earlier reincarnation with a sheep that emerged as a lamb. However, Medea left out a key ingredient in the potion, and so Pelias never reemerged. His daughters, angered by their deceit, exiled Jason and Medea, and they fled to Corinth, a kingdom that was allied with Cochils.6
Once in Corinth, Jason and Medea lived peacefully for a little while and had two sons. But soon Jason’s desire to be king started to surface, and he got engaged to Glauce, daughter of King Creon of Corinth, thinking that by marrying the daughter of a king, he would become the next king. Medea confronted Jason, but he refused to break-off the engagement to Glauce. Heartbroken by Jason’s betrayal, Medea gave Glauce a poisoned wedding gown that caused her to burn alive while she wore it. Creon burned alive with his daughter as he held her while she was dying. Terrified that her children would be punished for her crimes, Medea killed her two children and fled to Aegeus, King of Athens.7
Medea later married Aegeus. She bore Aegeus a son, but she feared for his position due to Theseus, the lost son, who returned to Athens. Medea convinced Aegeus to send Theseus on a quest to kill a deadly beast, but Theseus defeated the beast and returned a victor. Panicked by the possibility that her son might not be king, she plotted to poison him during the feast. Aegeus realized her plan and saved his son. Medea fled back to Cochlis, her homeland, in exile once again. The rest of her history is not quite known.8
- UXL Encyclopedia of World Mythology, vol. 3, UXL, 2009, “Jason.” ↵
- Charles Rowan Beye, “Jason as Love-hero in Apollonios’ Argonautika,” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies vol. 10 (1969), 40. ↵
- Apollonius, Jason and the Golden Fleece (Oxford Press, 1988), 102. ↵
- Jan N. Bremmer, “The Myth of the Golden Fleece,” Journal Of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 6, no. 1 (September 2006): 27-28. ↵
- Pamela Loy, Medea (Classical Literature and Its Times, 2006), 220. ↵
- Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, 2016, s.v. “Medea.” ↵
- The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology, 2002, s.v. “Medea,” by Don Nardo. ↵
- Ancient Greece and Rome: An Encyclopedia for Students, 1998, s.v. “Medea,” by Carroll Moulton. ↵
110 comments
Madeline Emke
Medea’s story has a multitude of twists and turns, to the point where I question whether it can be considered a love story. In the beginning, Medea and Jason were in love and married. But, throughout her story, Medea experiences betrayal and heartbreak at the hands of Jason when he chooses to marry another woman in order to secure his place on a throne. In order to spite Jason, Medea murders her children that she bore with Jason and murders Jason’s bride-to-be and his future father-in-law. Because of the betrayal and treachery by both Medea and Jason, I struggle to see how their story is one of love because most of their actions stemmed from bitterness and hatred.
Meadow Arriaga
This story has a lot of ups and downs. In the end, Jason made it out to be like he used Medea to his advantages. His true colors were shown when he chose Glauce over Medea. It seems Medea gave up a lot of herself to help Jason become king. It resulted in Medea having to make sacrifices for her own safety.
Amelia Hew
To be honest, I wouldn’t call Jason and Medea’s story a love story since on one hand, Jason killed his own cousin and in the end, got blinded by his own greed and wanted to marry the daughter of King Corinth in order for him to rule the country despite being married to Medea and had two sons. Medea, on the other hand, killed his sons and her husband’s future bride. After she was remarried to the King of Athens, she had another son and planned to kill the king’s son to ensure that her son will claim the throne. All I can say is that both of them are just downright treacherous individuals and cold-blooded murderers.
Sabrina Doyon
Talk about high maintenance! This girl needs the best fleece and he had to do all these trials and tribulations just to get with her. And then after he finally got her, he dips? Maybe both of them are crazy because then she goes mad with jealousy and kills her sons! I don’t know why she didn’t just like abandon the boys. Then she goes to try and be a queen and kill her son again! This girl is crazy.
Roberto Rodriguez
These ancient mythological stories never seem to disappoint me, they seem to always have a weird twist at the end. This is one heck of a love story, that is honestly a lot sadder than I thought. I was kind of expecting a love story about someone defeating a monster for someone or at the least a story in which someone sacrifices themselves for someone. Just a true, genuine story about eternal love, but that is not what I got at all. I was a little disappointed in the story for that reason, but I thought it was a different and compelling story nonetheless. I ended up a little angry at the end of the story, just from Jason’s sudden change of heart. After all they went through, “they lived peacefully for a little while, and had two sons”… then Jason got engaged to Glauce.
Michael Hinojosa
The Greeks always did have the most weirdly imaginative stories out of all of history but to me this one appears to take the cake! As a kid who had very minimum knowledge of Greek mythology I always thought that Jason was supposed to be a good person but after reading this article it’s clear that he was anything but as evident by how he betrayed his wife without much remorse. I’ll definitely have to reread more greek stories to make sure I don’t get anything wrong!
Christopher Hohman
Nice article. The ancient Greeks had quite active imaginations to come up with many of their famous myths and stories. Jason seems like he was not too good of a person because after all he betrayed his wife after they had been through so much to be together. It is sad that he was so greedy and lustful for power that he was willing to leave his wife. Madea was not quite a good person either because she had no qualms about committing evil against her own family especially her two sons.
Samantha Ruvalcaba
Greek mythology is one of my favorite topics to read about, so I thoroughly enjoyed this article. What a clever way for Madea to cheat the system and fight those traditional norms to go against her father and marry the love of her life. t was definitely a twist learning about his betrayal, but it made the recounting of the story much more interesting.
Maya Mani
I learned about Medea in high school, and she was a very dominant female figure. Medea was completely betrayed by Jason and shunned by society, but she also killed her own children. In the end, I think both are at fault. Jason for viciously betraying Medea for another women, and Medea for commuting such a heinous crime. Both are left to be unhappy and miserable, and have lost everything in their lives.
Eric Ortega Rodriguez
This is the first time I hear about the story of Jason and Medea. I am happy that this article was published because before this, I don’t believe I have ever read anything similar to this. The reason I really enjoyed this article is that it keeps the audience alert and wanting to hear more. It is a story full of excitement, twist, and turns. It was bizarre to read that a murder had to occur in order to avoid any punishment. After reading the end, it left me wanting to read more and see if I can find out more about this truly captivating story. Overall, this is a very well written article, has good use of images, and has very clear storytelling. Great work.