“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
Abigale Carney
Very interesting article! I have always enjoyed reading Greek mythology stories, but I have never heard of this story before until now. Medea seems a bit extreme when she claims to do anything in order for her children to rule. This story of Jason and Medea seemed more like a real-life story because it did not end the way typical love story would. Great read!
Osman Rodriguez
Medea is a very interesting character in Greek Mythology. Sometimes, I think that maybe this woman is just misunderstood. Of course her actions are unjustifiable, it would seem as though many of them were carried out because of love. Her story is, you could say, disheartening, as she could never seem to find happiness and tended to live in fear and betrayed. Still, she did terrible things and well, nothing worked out. Great article, definitely interesting and very informative.
Crystalrose Quintero
I appreciated that the article began by explaining the typical types of love stories and then explaining why it is we enjoy them. The picture of the vase that depict the moment when Jason reaches for the golden vase was beautiful to see. I thought it was interesting to read this scenario where a love story doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending but just vengeance.
Cameron Ramirez
I have always loved Greek Mythology and your article was eye candy for me since I will always choose to read about Greek Mythology over anything else. I really enjoyed your article on Jason and Medea. Medea was such a crazy women doing anything for Jason and anything to make sure her children would be a ruler. Anyways, good work on the article it was a good read. I hope you continue to make more articles on the same subject because I find them so interesting.
Amanda Cantu
Great article! I’ve never heard this story before so it was a good read. I do love stories that don’t end in happy endings in a way it kind of reminds me of reality because not every story is a happy one. Mythology is probably my favorite to read because you never know what’s going to happen next. Reading this story was great it took so many twists. I wouldn’t understand the moral of the story is it don’t cheat or simply don’t fall in love with a crazy witch!
Alexis Renteria
I had heard of this story before reading this article, however I don’t recall most of the information. As I was reading this, I was hoping for Medea and Jason to have a good romantic relationship, but sadly Medea had to make everything worse than it already is by doing something irrational. Something I noticed while reading this article was that Medea wasn’t only concerned about herself but for what might happen to her children as well. Even if she had to kill them just so they wouldn’t be punished for their mothers actions.
Valeria Hernandez
Auroara-Juhl Nikkels wrote an interesting article about Medea a beautiful witch that would do anything in order to get what she wanted. The article had no main focus it drags on chronologically. As it did not display a central theme. However, the topic is very interesting and provides readers with a good imaginary/ fictional story. I have never heard this story before but it was interesting.
Blanca Martinez
This is an awesome article, but honestly I have never really liked Medea. I read a whole book about her once in high school, and let me just say, she was one of the worst out there, not saying that Jason was any better for cheating and dumping her. But yeah, Medea’s history is really all over the place, from one place to another, trying to find a safe place for her crimes and all that. Still this is a really great a reticle and thanks for writing it.
Manuel Aguilera
It is interesting to see the background of such stories. I have seen many of them but never considered the events they derived from. I had no clue that mythology had so much to do with current times. I enjoyed how the article was written just like a fable especially with a very obvious narrative arc.
Benjamin Voy
This mythology article really told a great story. What a strange myth, I was full expected it to be very romantic however I was so wrong. The fact Medea killed her own sons just on the basis of that she was scared incase anyone else hurt them is very strange. She must have been very wrong in the head! I love reading about greek mythology and this myth is one I hadn’t heard of. What an exciting and informative read!