Medea is one of the best known ancient sorceresses that ever lived. It was said that she was a priestess of the goddess Hekate and had many different magical powers. She was the daughter of King Aeetes of Colchis, granddaughter of Helios, the sun god, and niece of Circe, who was also a well-known sorceress. The most famous myth involving Medea is that of Jason and the Argonauts.
In the myth, Jason, who is seen as a heroic figure, comes to Colchis to claim his inheritance to the throne and claim the Golden Fleece. King Aeetes agreed to give him the fleece on the condition that he perform some tasks first. When Medea saw Jason, she immediately fell in love with him. She offered to help him with her magic to complete the impossible tasks assigned to him by his father, only if he married her. Jason agreed and began his first task. He had to plow a field with fire-breathing oxen, and Medea gave him an ointment with which he anointed himself, to protect his body from any damage from the fire. He completed that task, but he still had two more left, and Medea used her magical powers to help him each time. So when all was said and done, Jason kept his promise to Medea, took her golden fleece and fled Colchis with Medea. They married and lived happily in Corinth with their two children for a time.
Until one day, King Creon offered Jason the hand of his daughters in marriage. Eager to please the King, Jason accepted his offer and left Medea to marry Glauce, the King’s daughter. This enraged Medea and, seeking revenge, she sent Glauce a beautiful wedding dress, covered in poison. The daughter of the Kings died and Medea is said to have killed her two sons by Jason and fled Corinth in a chariot led by dragons sent to her by her grandfather, Helios.
Later in the myth, it is said that she married Aegean, a former king of Athens, and gave him a son Medus, who was in line to inherit the throne. Although Aegeus did not realize that he had another son whom he never knew was named Theseus. Medea tried to poison Theseus when he came to fight for the throne, and when Aegeus realized it, he immediately stopped him. Medea then fled with her son Medus to a country in which Medus eventually became king, and that country was later called Media.
I believe that in this myth, Medea becomes the victim of an unfortunate circumstance. She fell deeply in love with Jason and willingly sacrificed everything, including her entire family, to help him complete the arduous tasks assigned to her by her father. She then fled her homeland to marry the man she loved and have children together, only to be betrayed and abandoned by him at the first mention of another woman. And as you can see from her actions earlier in the myth, Medea is no stranger to taking revenge and using her abilities as a great sorceress and witch, even if it is for evil purposes. This shows her strong feminine and rebellious power.
It is also something that I find interesting, seeing as she is the granddaughter of the Sun God Helios and the niece of Circe, a minor goddess of magic, it seems that perhaps Medea also has some of that divine power within herself. Myth says that she practiced her magic under the guidance of the goddess Hecate, some even speculating that she was Hecate’s daughter. But there really isn’t any mythological evidence that this is true.
This is a quote from the myth in which Medea asks Hecate for help in her magic: “For the goddess I adore above all, my chosen assistant Hecate, who lives in the inner chamber of my house, none of them will harm me I will make his marriage bitter, I will embitter Creon’s marriage alliance and embitter my exile from earth! (Euripides, Medea 400).
I hope you enjoyed learning the myth of Medea, Priestess of Hekate!