“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
Amanda Perez
This story just goes to show that our emotions can make us do crazy things. It also shows us how important power is to a lot of people. As I was reading this article, my heart hurt for Medea when Jason betrayed her after all that she did for him. I would have probably been crushed but I cannot imagine taking my anger to that extent
Edward Cerna
This was a really interesting article to read and it is crazy how she killed her own sons just because she was scared of what others might do to them She should’ve let them live because their is no telling if something would have happened to them or not. I had not known of this before and I am glad I came across it as it was really interesting.
Megan Barnett
I think capitalizing all the letters in “what” was a great idea because it represented my thoughts exactly after reading this article. I found the story somewhat amusing because the actions of Medea did not make any logical sense to me and the title the crew had of “Argonauts” seemed really fake. Even though this was a bizarre story I enjoyed reading it and it expanded my knowledge on Greek Mythology.
Zeresh Haman
I have never heard this story before, but it was really interesting. This story had a bunch of twists and turns, that is something that I love about Greek Mythology is that all of these stories are interesting. I cannot grasp the idea that someone would kill their own children in order to prevent something else from happening to them. I have never heard anything like this before, it makes for a very interesting story.
Mario Sosa
Nicely written article! I am surprised that Medea’s story was left unfinished and I wonder if that was done intentionally or if the rest of the story has yet to be discovered. There are a lot of Greek mythology tales I have not heard about and I am sure that all of them are just as fascinating as this one. Great job!
Edith De Loera
This may probably sound totally crazy, but this story is very similar to that of La Llorona. They both include the same story line: a mother has children, falls in love, picks lover over children, kills children. The story does not have a happy ending for either of the two, much like Romeo and Juliet. Love definitely makes people do crazy things, and you did a great job at depicting that.
Mariet Loredo
Greek mythology has always been very interesting to me and I have always enjoyed reading it. This article was very informative about the Medea and Jason story. I find it crazy the murders Medea committed to be with Jason. It very sad that she killed not only Jason’s next wife but her kids. Medea was an extreme jealous ex girlfriend.
Michelle Falcon
I have and probably always will be a hopeless romantic. I love reading about love stories as well as mythology. However this was no normal love story, in a way it was more tragic to me. From killing a dragon to killing ones own children to protect ones self, it was in the end an interesting story. Over all it was well written and had a great introductory paragraph.
Thomas Fraire
When I read the name of this article, I was not expecting this story. Coming into this I had no previous knowledge on this topic. I love greek mythology, but I really love how you told this story it flowed very nicely. Great job on your article congrats on your nominee. You really brought this story to life great job.
Erin Vento
Wow, I am genuinely shocked. I did know Medea had killed the sons she gave Jason, but I always thought it was more out of anger- not that that’s any better than killing them out of fear at all. I didn’t know that she fled afterwards, got remarried and then tried to kill her other child though!! This was a great article about a pretty crazy woman.