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The Iliad

2005-04-29T22:27:36Z

Hvyas: /* Works Cited */

[[Image:Achilles-chiron.jpg|thumb|Achilles and Chiron the Centaur]] The ''Iliad'' (a song about Ilium, or Troy) along with its companion [[Epic Poetry|epic]] the [[Odyssey]] form the foundation of ancient Greek culture and address the extremes of human experience through war and peace. Both [[Epic Poetry|epic]] are primary, or oral, [[Epic Poetry|epic]] that draw on an enormous wealth of cultural stories in unified structures that we attribute to the poet [[Homer]], in eighth century B.C.E. The [[Epic Poetry|epic]] are written in an unsentimental style: the ''Iliad'' depicts the ambivalence of war in meticulously accurate details. Both the nightmare of war and its excitement find expression in the ''Iliad'', just as the [[Odyssey]]’s pages quest for a home, or a peace that seems hard-won after the devastation of war.

==The Epic Theme==
As the narrator states first thing: the subject of the ''Iliad'' is the rage of [[Achilles]] and the consequences of that rage for both the Achaeans and the Trojans. War effects not only the men who fight the battles, but also the women and children whose lives are then shaped by its outcome. War represents the worst and, ironically, the best of humanity: ugly brutality and terrible beauty. We both pity with [[Hector]] and sympathize with [[Achilles]]; neither side of the war holds all of our sentiments. The final outcome of the war, then, becomes truly tragic: only one culture can continue while the other is destroyed or enslaved.

The brutality of [[Achilles]] and its consequences are most evident in Book XXII of the ''Iliad''. [[Achilles]]’ rage blinds him to anything but the death of [[Hector]], the Trojan champion that kills [[Patroclus]]. Replete with [[Epic Poetry|epic]] [[simile|similes]] of the hunt, book twenty-two illustrates [[Hector]]’s own reluctance to do what he sees as his duty to face [[Achilles]], yet thinks only of himself and what his people might think if he doesn’t face the Greek killing machine (cf. ll. 108-156). [[Hector]]’s resolve is soon shaken as he sees [[Achilles]] closing, bloody rage the only thing that [[Achilles]] sees. [[Hector]] flees, but is soon tricked by [[Athena]] into stopping to face [[Achilles]], perhaps a commentary on [[Hector]]’s need for companionship and [[Achilles]]’ desire for only personal vengeance and renown. [[Hector]] is mercilessly murdered in front of Troy’s walls, like a fawn at the jaws of a lion.

The death of [[Hector]], then, is given a final cultural context from [[Hector]]’s widow [[Andromache]]. She now sees the demise of Troy, but personally she sees no future for their son [[Astyanax]]. The death of the father, then, is a weighty metaphor for the Trojans: the order that they secured will soon be rendered useless by the barbarity of war; the father’s death leads to the destruction of social order. This theme will be taken up in the [[Odyssey]] as well: what is the responsibility of the son for maintaining order in the absence or death of the father? As [[Andromache]] sees no future for [[Astyanax]], life does continue even after the carnage of war, yet a new order is imposed on the losers — those who escape death. This theme of continuity is also addressed by [[Virgil]] in his [[Aeneid]].

Is war, then, a necessary component of human life? Just because it has been historically up until this point, are we to be like [[Achilles]] who could not hear reason through his bloody thoughts: “No truce / till one or the other falls and gluts with blood” (XXII.313-14)? When do we decide that war is better than order?

== Summary ==
In book one of the ''Iliad'', we discover that because of [[Agamemnon]]’s refusal to relinquish Chryseis, [[Apollo]] has rained a plague upon the Achaean forces. Because he is eventually challenged by [[Achilles]] — who represents the wishes of the rest of the men — [[Agamemnon]] decides to claim Achilles’ prize (a girl named Briseis) to reassert his authority and put Achilles in his place for his challenge. Achilles shows cunning and restraint — qualities that are usually associated with [[Odysseus]] — in his argument with [[Agamemnon]], while the latter rages and rails like a wounded child. Yet, when [[Agamemnon]]’s men take Briseis, [[Achilles]], also child-like, begins to pout by his ships, cries to his mother, and refuses to play the war game anymore. This final decision precipitates the death of many Achaeans, including Achilles’ friend [[Patroclus]]. Achilles’ resulting rage ends with the death of [[Hector]] in book twenty-two, and Achilles’ own apocryphal death under the bow of [[Paris]] before the war’s end. See more in [[The Iliad Summary]].

== Characters ==
The ''Iliad''’s participants are the nobility of both cultures, or the ''aristoi'': “the best people.” They are the hereditary holders of wealth and power, and their decisions effect all of the culture. For example, [[Agamemnon]]’s decision to infuriate [[Achilles]] at the outset of the ''Iliad'' has lasting effects on the Greek warriors during the last weeks of the Trojan War. Like most [[Epic Poetry|epic]], of which the ''Iliad'' is really the definitive example, the action begins [[in medias res]], a few weeks before the end of a ten-year campaign, with all of the [[Epic Poetry|epic]]’s traditional accouterments. The ''Iliad'' poses questions, as will the [[Odyssey]], about the nature of political order and what humans must do to maintain that vision and structure. The initial contention in the ''Iliad'' is between the Greek champion [[Achilles]] and the Greek commander [[Agamemnon]]. Who has the stronger claim to right: [[Agamemnon]] who has the hereditary position, or [[Achilles]], the one with merit? Ultimately does it matter? When swords are drawn, reason becomes irrelevant.

=== Achaeans ===
* [[Achilles]]
* [[Agamemnon]]
* [[Ajax]]
* [[Menaleus]]
* [[Nestor]]
* [[Odysseus]]
* [[Patroclus]]

=== Trojans ===
* [[Hector]]
* [[Hecuba]]
* [[Helen]]
* [[Paris]]
* [[Priam]]

=== The Gods ===
* [[Apollo]]
* [[Athena]]
* [[Hera]]
* [[Poseidon]]
* [[Thetis]]
* [[Zeus]]
* [[The Humaness of Iliad's Gods]]

== Internal Links ==
* [[Homer]]
* [[The Iliad Summary]]

== External Links ==

* [http://library.thinkquest.org/19300/data/homer.htm Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000312.shtml The Iliad: Rage and War]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000503.shtml Hector: Family Man, but Hero First]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000456.shtml Fighting Beyond Their Fates]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000297.shtml Friendship and Two Epics]

== Suggested Reading ==
== Works Cited ==

* Ceram, C.W. ''Gods, Graves, and Scholars''. New York: Alfred A. knopf 1967.

* Graves, Robert. ''Greek Mythology''. London: Penguin Books 1981.

* Grimal, Pierre. ''Larousse World Mythology''. New Jersey: Chartwheel Books Inc. 1973.

* Willcock, Malcolm M. ''A Companion to the Iliad''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 1976.

----
[[Category:World Literature]]

Poseidon

2005-04-29T22:24:23Z

Hvyas:

Poseidon is god of the sea, earthquake, and horses. He is son of Cronus and Rhea. He is brother of [[Zeus]] and Hades. He is generally calm, when provoked he can be very merciless. Along with Apollo, he built the wall of Troy for King Laomedon. When Laomedon refused to pay them for their labors, Poseidon sent a sea monster to threaten the city. Laomedon consulted to the hero Heracles and promised his famous horses if he would kill the sea monster for him. However, breaking his promise to Laomedon, Heracles led an expedition against Troy. Still distressed from the being deceived at the hands of an earlier Trojan King, Poseidon favored the Achaean side of the war.

Poseiden

2005-04-29T22:07:45Z

Hvyas:

'''God Of The Sea'''

He is the son of Kronos and Rheia, brother of Zeus, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera. Poseidon is one of the six original Olympians. When Kronos had been defeated by his three sons they divided the
universe amongst themselves. [[Zeus]] kept the heavens, Hades kept the underworld, and Poseidon took
the seas, and they left the Earth and Mt. Olympus as common ground (March 331).

Poseidon is an awsome and powerful god, associated with many of the elemental forces of nature
(Willis 137). He is also called the earth shaker and the earth encircler, pounds and shakes the earth and sea with his wrath and only answers to [[Zeus]] (Poseidon). He is the master of the sea, and
he has filled it with many creatures that he created. It is also worth noting that even though Poseidon is master of the sea, his most famous creation was the horse.

'''Poseidon in The Odyssey'''

Poseidon was Odysseus' greatest obstacle to returning home. It all started when Odysseus blinds Poseidon's son, [[Polyphemos]]. Of course, if Odysseus had not insulted [[Polyphemos]] after he blinded him, Poseidon may have just let it go. After Odysseus blinds and insults [[Polyphemos]], Poseidon takes out his anger on Odysseus and his family.

Poseidon does not kill Odysseus, but he keeps diverting him away from home, and therfore keeps him away from his happiness.
In fact it takes 10 years for Odysseus to overcome the obstacles that Poseidon puts in his way and make his way home. Poseidon is stubborn in holding a grudge, but not entirely unreasonable. When he decides to bury the island of Scheria under a mountain in retaliation for the assistance the Phaeacians gave to Odysseus and his men in getting home, he gives way to [[Zeus]]’s persuasion and satisfies himself with turning their ship into stone as it sails back into the Phaeacian harbor.

Work Cited

Unknown Author "''Poseidon''" 22 Feb 2005 http://www.messagenet.com/myths/bios/poseidon.html

Willis, Roy. ''World Mythology The Illustrated Guide.'' London: Duncan Baird Publishers, 1993

March, Jenny. ''Dictonary of Classical Mythology.'' London: Cassell, 1998

Ceram, C.W. ''Gods, Graves and Scholars.'' New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967

The Odyssey

2005-04-29T20:30:06Z

Hvyas: /* Works Cited */

[[Image:Chagall-odyssey.jpg|thumb|The Odyssey, by Chagall]] [[Homer]]’s [[The Odyssey|Odyssey]] is a ''nostos'', or an [[Epic Poetry | epic]] of return, and asks can one come home again, especially after years of bloody war? In fact, an odyssey is now meant generally as a long journey home, much like Odysseus’ after the fall of Troy. The [[The Odyssey|Odyssey]] attempts to remake order after the chaos of war. [[Odysseus]], a young man when [[Agamemnon]] and [[Menelaos]] recruited him for the campaign against Ilium, is now a middle-aged survivor and veteran of that war who must be smarter than the champion Achilles and the leader [[Agamemnon]] in order to return home and set his lands in order. War almost seems easy in the light of [[Odysseus]]’ journey — at least in war, he knew his enemies. Enemies during peacetime wear many masks; [[Odysseus]] must do the same if he is to survive.

== Summary ==
The ''Odyssey''’s action is spread over twenty-four books, generally half before Odysseus returns home, and half after. For a synopsis of each book, see [[The Odyssey Summary]].

== List of Characters ==
===Human Beings===
* [[Telemakhos]]
* [[Odysseus]]
* [[Penelope]]
* [[Nestor]]
* [[Helen]]
* [[Lotus-eaters]]

=== The Women of the ''Odyssey''===
* [[Circe]]
* [[Clytemnestra]]
* [[Kalypso]]
* [[Helen]]
* [[Penelope]]

=== The Supernatural Beings of the ''Odyssey'' ===
* [[Athena]]
* [[Circe]]
* [[Kalypso]]
* [[Polyphemos]]
* [[Poseiden]]
* [[Zeus]]

== The ''Odyssey'' in History ==

== Internal Links ==
* [[Homer]]
* The [[Odyssey: Questions for Consideration]]

== Commentaries ==
* [http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Odysseus.html Odysseus] — A background on the ''Odyssey'' and Odysseus
* [http://www.davidclaudon.com/odyssey/questions.html A Study Guide by David Claudon]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000167.shtml Myth and the Odyssey]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000314.shtml The Odyssey: General Notes]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000313.shtml The Telemachiad] (books 1-4 of the Odyssey)
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000038.shtml Odysseus and the Poet]: Notes on Book VIII
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000316.shtml The Odyssey: Notes on Book IX]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000317.shtml The Odyssey: Notes on Book X]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000215.shtml Poor Confusing Elpenor]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000318.shtml The Odyssey: Notes on Book XI]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000318.shtml The Odyssey: The Lessons of Hell] (more on Books XI and XII)
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000319.shtml The Odyssey: Odysseus’ Return]

== Suggested Reading ==
== Works Cited ==

* Grimal, Pierre. ''Larousse World Mythology''. New Jersey: Chartwheel Books Inc. 1973.

[[Category:World Literature|Odyssey]]

The Odyssey

2005-04-29T20:29:29Z

Hvyas:

Polyphemos

2005-04-29T20:26:13Z

Hvyas:

Polyphemos is son of [[Poseidon]] and a Cyclopes, a one-eyed giant. He lives in an island of Sicily. He is presented as a member of a race who does not have any laws and does not acknowledge the gods. In ''Homer'', Polyphemos is portrayed as a savage giant, who eats humans beings raw, and washes them down with either milk or wine. In ''Odyssey'', he briefly captures [[Odysseus]] and his men. With the help of [[Odysseus]]' tricky mind, they get the giant drunk, blind him and finally succeed in escaping from his cave.

Poseiden

2005-04-29T20:00:49Z

Hvyas:

'''God Of The Sea'''

He is the son of Kronos and Rheia, brother of Zeus, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera. Poseidon is one of the six original Olympians. When Kronos had been defeated by his three sons they divided the
universe amongst themselves. [[Zeus]] kept the heavens, Hades kept the underworld, and Poseidon took
the seas, and they left the Earth and Mt. Olympus as common ground (March 331).

Poseidon is an awsome and powerful god, associated with many of the elemental forces of nature
(Willis 137). He is also called the earth shaker and the earth encircler, pounds and shakes the earth and sea with his wrath and only answers to [[Zeus]] (Poseidon). He is the master of the sea, and
he has filled it with many creatures that he created. It is also worth noting that even though Poseidon is master of the sea, his most famous creation was the horse.

'''Poseidon in The Odyssey'''

Poseidon was Odysseus' greatest obstacle to returning home. It all started when Odysseus blinds Poseidon's son, [[Polyphemos]]. Of course, if Odysseus had not insulted [[Polyphemos]] after he blinded him, Poseidon may have just let it go. After Odysseus blinds and insults [[Polyphemos]], Poseidon takes out his anger on Odysseus and his family.

Poseidon does not kill Odysseus, but he keeps diverting him away from home, and therfore keeps him away from his happiness.
In fact it takes 10 years for Odysseus to overcome the obstacles that Poseidon puts in his way and make his way home.

Work Cited

Unknown Author "''Poseidon''" 22 Feb 2005 http://www.messagenet.com/myths/bios/poseidon.html

Willis, Roy. ''World Mythology The Illustrated Guide.'' London: Duncan Baird Publishers, 1993

March, Jenny. ''Dictonary of Classical Mythology.'' London: Cassell, 1998

The Odyssey

2005-04-29T19:55:58Z

Hvyas: /* The Supernatural Beings of the ''Odyssey'' */

The Odyssey

2005-04-29T19:54:37Z

Hvyas: /* List of Characters */

[[Image:Chagall-odyssey.jpg|thumb|The Odyssey, by Chagall]] [[Homer]]’s [[The Odyssey|Odyssey]] is a ''nostos'', or an [[Epic Poetry | epic]] of return, and asks can one come home again, especially after years of bloody war? In fact, an odyssey is now meant generally as a long journey home, much like Odysseus’ after the fall of Troy. The [[The Odyssey|Odyssey]] attempts to remake order after the chaos of war. [[Odysseus]], a young man when [[Agamemnon]] and [[Menelaos]] recruited him for the campaign against Ilium, is now a middle-aged survivor and veteran of that war who must be smarter than the champion Achilles and the leader [[Agamemnon]] in order to return home and set his lands in order. War almost seems easy in the light of [[Odysseus]]’ journey — at least in war, he knew his enemies. Enemies during peacetime wear many masks; [[Odysseus]] must do the same if he is to survive.

== Summary ==
The ''Odyssey''’s action is spread over twenty-four books, generally half before Odysseus returns home, and half after. For a synopsis of each book, see [[The Odyssey Summary]].

== List of Characters ==
===Human Beings===
* [[Telemakhos]]
* [[Odysseus]]
* [[Penelope]]
* [[Nestor]]
* [[Helen]]
* [[Lotus-eaters]]

=== The Women of the ''Odyssey''===
* [[Circe]]
* [[Clytemnestra]]
* [[Kalypso]]
* [[Helen]]
* [[Penelope]]

=== The Supernatural Beings of the ''Odyssey'' ===
* [[Athena]]
* [[Circe]]
* [[Kalypso]]
* [[Polyphemus]]
* [[Poseiden]]
* [[Zeus]]

== The ''Odyssey'' in History ==

== Internal Links ==
* [[Homer]]
* The [[Odyssey: Questions for Consideration]]

== Commentaries ==
* [http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Odysseus.html Odysseus] — A background on the ''Odyssey'' and Odysseus
* [http://www.davidclaudon.com/odyssey/questions.html A Study Guide by David Claudon]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000167.shtml Myth and the Odyssey]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000314.shtml The Odyssey: General Notes]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000313.shtml The Telemachiad] (books 1-4 of the Odyssey)
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000038.shtml Odysseus and the Poet]: Notes on Book VIII
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000316.shtml The Odyssey: Notes on Book IX]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000317.shtml The Odyssey: Notes on Book X]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000215.shtml Poor Confusing Elpenor]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000318.shtml The Odyssey: Notes on Book XI]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000318.shtml The Odyssey: The Lessons of Hell] (more on Books XI and XII)
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000319.shtml The Odyssey: Odysseus’ Return]

== Suggested Reading ==

[[Category:World Literature|Odyssey]]

Poseiden

2005-04-29T19:51:14Z

Hvyas:

'''God Of The Sea'''

He is the son of Kronos and Rheia, brother of Zeus, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera. Poseidon is one of the six original Olympians. When Kronos had been defeated by his three sons they divided the
universe amongst themselves. [[Zeus]] kept the heavens, Hades kept the underworld, and Poseidon took
the seas, and they left the Earth and Mt. Olympus as common ground (March 331).

Poseidon is an awsome and powerful god, associated with many of the elemental forces of nature
(Willis 137). He is also called the earth shaker and the earth encircler, pounds and shakes the earth and sea with his wrath and only answers to [[Zeus]] (Poseidon). He is the master of the sea, and
he has filled it with many creatures that he created. It is also worth noting that even though Poseidon is master of the sea, his most famous creation was the horse.

'''Poseidon in The Odyssey'''

Poseidon was Odysseus' greatest obstacle to returning home. It all started when Odysseus blinds Poseidon's son, Polyphemos. Of course, if Odysseus had not insulted Polyphemos after he blinded him, Poseidon may have just let it go. After Odysseus blinds and insults Polyphemos, Poseidon takes out his anger on Odysseus and his family.

Poseidon does not kill Odysseus, but he keeps diverting him away from home, and therfore keeps him away from his happiness.
In fact it takes 10 years for Odysseus to overcome the obstacles that Poseidon puts in his way and make his way home.

Work Cited

Unknown Author "''Poseidon''" 22 Feb 2005 http://www.messagenet.com/myths/bios/poseidon.html

Willis, Roy. ''World Mythology The Illustrated Guide.'' London: Duncan Baird Publishers, 1993

March, Jenny. ''Dictonary of Classical Mythology.'' London: Cassell, 1998

Poseiden

2005-04-29T19:43:01Z

Hvyas:

'''God Of The Sea'''

He is the son of Kronos and Rheia, brother of Zeus, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera. Poseidon is one of the six original Olympians. When Kronos had been defeated by his three sons they divided the
universe amongst themselves. [[Zeus]] kept the heavens, Hades kept the underworld, and Poseidon took
the seas, and they left the Earth and Mt. Olympus as common ground (March 331).

Poseidon is an awsome and powerful god, associated with many of the elemental forces of nature
(Willis 137). He is also called the earth shaker and the earth encircler, pounds and shakes the earth and sea with his wrath and only answers to [[Zeus]] (Poseidon). He is the master of the sea, and
he has filled it with many creatures that he created. It is also worth noting that even though Poseidon is master of the sea, his most famous creation was the horse.

'''Poseidon in The Odyssey'''

Poseidon was Odysseus' greatest obstacle to returning home. It all started when Odysseus blinds Poseidon's son, Polyphemos. Of course, if Odysseus had not insulted Polyphemos after he blinded him Poseidon may have just let it go. After Odysseus blinds and insults Polyphemos, Poseidon takes out his anger on Odysseus and his family.

Poseidon does not kill Odyssues, but he keeps diverting him away from home, and therfore keeps him away from his happiness.
In fact it takes 10 years for Oddsseus to overcome the obsticles that Poseidon puts in his way and make his way home.

Work Cited

Unknown Author "''Poseidon''" 22 Feb 2005 http://www.messagenet.com/myths/bios/poseidon.html

Willis, Roy. ''World Mythology The Illustrated Guide.'' London: Duncan Baird Publishers, 1993

March, Jenny. ''Dictonary of Classical Mythology.'' London: Cassell, 1998

Medea

2005-04-21T05:00:32Z

Hvyas: /* Characters */

== Summary ==

[[Image:MedeaChariot.jpeg|thumb|Medea’s Chariot]]The play [[Medea]] begins in turmoil and escalates until the tragic end. Medea tells the story of passion that transforms from love to hate. Consumed with a passionate rage, Medea seeks to avenge her husband [[Jason]] who has wronged her. Jason has left Medea and taken a new wife, the daughter of king [[Kreon]] and a Greek.

The play opens outside the house of Medea and Jason in [[Corinth]]. The Nurse tells the sorrows of Medea and how Jason has abandoned Medea after all she has done for him. The Nurse is afraid Medea will harm someone close to her. Medea’s heart is full of violence especially for Jason and the children. Medea is overwhelmed with grief that is manifesting as jealousy and rage.

The Tutor appears with Medea two young children who have been outside playing. Medea’s children are oblivious to the resentment their mother is beginning to feel toward them. The Nurse warns the children to stay out of their mother’s sight. The Tutor is the bearer of bad news. The Tutor has heard rumors that Medea and her children will be exiled from Corinth. The Nurse is sympathetic to ''Medea’s'' plight while the Tutor is blasé.

The [[Chorus]] of Corinthian women arrives to check on Medea. The Chorus hears Medea’s cries and curses from inside the house. The Chorus asks the Nurse to go see if Medea will come outside so they can console her.

A distraught Medea enters the courtyard and delivers a poignant speech on the sufferings and indignations of women in an oppressively man’s world. Medea points out to the Chorus being a woman is even worst for her because she is a foreigner without a family or a home. The Chorus sympathizes with Medea. Medea despises Jason for taking another wife, and condemns Jason, his new bride, and king Kreon. Medea makes the Chorus promise if she finds a way to revenge Jason, they will remain silent. The Chorus gives Medea a vow of silence agreeing Medea is right to seek revenge.

Medea has been blatantly lamenting her disgruntlements. ''Medea’s'' condemnations have come to the attention of king Kreon. King Kreon enters and exiles Medea and her children because he is afraid of Medea. Using her children, Medea appeals to king Kreon on a paternal level and asks for one more day for the sake of the children so she can get her affairs in order. King Kreon reluctantly agrees and allows Medea to stay in Corinth one more day convinced she could not do the evil he fears in one day.

The Chorus pities Medea but Medea assures them one day is all she needs to avenge Jason faithlessness. When considering how to kill her enemies, Medea rules out swords or fire because that would mean close contact with the victims and she may get caught giving her enemies a reason to laugh at her. Being humiliated is one of Medea greatest fears and motivates her to lash out to save face. Medea decides to use poison. A conniving manipulator Medea schemes to poison Jason, his new bride, and king Kreon. Medea is determined no one especially a man will mistreat her and live to tell about it.

Jason visits Medea. Similar to Kreon when he visited Medea, Jason immediately chastises Medea for her behavior and blames her for her own exile. Medea calls Jason a coward and reminds him of all she has done for him in the name of love. Medea is instrumental in assisting Jason in obtaining the Golden Fleece. Medea betrays her father, murders her brother, an exile from her homeland, and orchestrates the death of Pelias … all for a man who has snubbed her. Jason tries to convince Medea he married king Kreon daughter for her and their children sake. Marrying into prosperity will benefit them all. Jason argues Medea has benefited from their marriage more than he. Jason took Medea away from a barbaric, lawless land. Medea is very popular living among the Greeks. ''Medea’s'' cleverness is admired in Corinth whereas in [[Colchis]] cleverness is not revered. Also, the children need royal siblings to protect them. Medea and Jason continue to argue. Medea feels Jason should have been man enough to tell her he has taken a new bride. Jason believes Medea is too irrational to handle the news of his bride and her behavior now reflects he was correct in his assumption. Jason offers Medea contacts with his friends that will help her once she and the kids are exiled from Corinth. Fiercely pride Medea refuses to take anything from Jason who betrayed her.

By chance Medea’s friend king [[Aigeus]] of [[Athens]] visits. Medea envisions a safe haven for escape. Medea tells Aigeus of Jason’s treachery and her pending exile. Medea beseeches Aigeus for asylum in Athens. King Aigeus unaware of Medea’s murderous intentions offers Medea sanctuary in return for her offer of drugs that will end his childlessness. However, king Aigeus gives Medea one condition for sanctuary, Medea must come to Athens on her own will. Aigeus swears an oath to all the gods at Medea appeal that he will not turn her over to her enemies no matter what. Reassured Medea sets her scheme for vengeance in motion. Medea tells the Chorus of her plans.

Medea’s scheme of murder is coming together. Medea has a safe haven once the murders are complete. As her scheme unfolds, Medea realizes she must also murder her own children to completely avenge Jason’s dishonor. Medea wants to hurt Jason deeply and she cannot risk anyone who does not love her children hurting them. The Chorus begs Medea to reconsider murdering her children. Medea says, ”No compromise is possible” (803).

Medea sends for Jason. Medea uses an assuaging attitude with Jason. Medea apologizes for her angry and tells Jason he is right to have married king Kreon’s daughter. Medea pretends to be submissive like Jason expects a good wife to be. After “''kissing up''” to Jason, Medea sends her children along with Jason and the Tutor to the bride with gifts of a poison woven dress and a golden diadem.

The Tutor returns with the children and tells Medea the royal princess will let the children stay in Corinth. The Tutor is baffled by Medea’s melancholy behavior. Medea exhibits tenderness and cold-heartedness as she cries and talks to her children preparing herself to murder them. When Medea’s children smile at her she considers relinquishing her murderous scheme. The fury Medea feels at being betrayed by Jason conquers her resolve. Medea is compelled to finish what has already been started.

Medea anxiously waits for news from the palace. The [[Messenger]] enters surprise Medea is hanging around. The Messenger tells Medea to run. The Messenger brings news that the royal princess and king Kreon are dead. Medea glories in the details as the Messenger tells her of the anguish deaths. Jason’s bride and king Kreon die an awful, torturous death with suffering as well. The golden diadem burst into flames sitting upon the royal princess head burning her body and the woven dress sloughs the flesh from her bones. As king Kreon cradles his daughter dead body the poison consumes him as the poisonous woven dress adhered to his flesh.

Jason returns looking for his children to protect them from the angry Corinthian mob after he finds out his new bride and father-in-law have been murdered by Medea. The Chorus tells Jason his children have been murdered by their mother’s hand. Jason is appalled and looks for Medea. Medea has hung around to gloat. Medea appears above the place in a chariot drawn by dragons provided by her grandfather, [[Helios]], the sun god. The children bodies are on the chariot. Jason begs for the children’s bodies, but Medea cynically laughs at him refusing to give his the honor of burying the children dead bodies. Jason desperately wants to kiss his dead children and bury them, but Medea refuses to give him the satisfaction. Jason insults Medea by telling her a Greek woman would never do the things she has done. Medea and Jason blame each other for the children’s death. Medea prophesies Jason’s death. Medea and Jason argue violently as the play comes to an end. The Chorus closes the play reflecting on capricious nature of gods’ will. Medea succeeds in revenge and Jason is lonely and tormented. Jason has lost his financial security, his status, and children to carry on his name. Jason is left without distinction. and Medea’s revenge is achieved.

== Themes and Motifs ==
=== Right Message, Wrong Messenger ===

Euripides’ Medea, was the first in a series of plays in which vivid, powerful women appeared on the Euripidean stage. It was produced in the year that the Peloponnesian War began, and sought to play on the low morale of the public to restore the female sex in positions of social influence and power. Throughout the centuries it has been regarded as one of the most powerful of the Greek tragedies, and also one in which the theme of women was more important than most. It is in this play that Euripides could either restore or condemn the female populace in society (Pelling).

Euripides questions many social norms of the period, but he uses a female such as Medea to convey his message. While Medea has no legal rights, she is the sorceress’ grandchild of the Sun God and therefore able to articulately explain her actions and passionately act on her plans. She is initially able to gain the sympathy and support of the Corinthian women for her plight by passionately pleading her case to the public at large. Medea’s passionate arguments fly in the face of the Greek tradition that only the male has the ability and right to lucid, rational argument. Jason although regarded as civilized by Greek society, is by contrast weak, compromised and cowardly. Medea also challenges ancient Greek society’s decree that the greatest glory for a woman was to bear children, provide sex and to fulfill the demands of her husband (Rassidakis 220-226). From the first compelling moments of this one-act play the audience is drawn into contradictions confronting Medea: to challenge injustice and betrayal or accommodate to it and the financial security and comfort it could bring (Pucci). Traditional behavior of women was a very important aspect of this play, and portraying Medea as both similar and different to fellow womankind allowed the audience to make judgment on the role of women as they knew it. Medea recurrently assaulted fundamental and sacred values and that gave the play much of its power and allowed Euripides to most persuasively portray her as an incarnation of disorder. Could any male audience possibly start to respect any woman that could crush basic human order? Euripides did not himself condemn Medea. Rather, he gave the audience a choice on whether to accept her character and actions. However by implication he is associating a breakdown in human order as being due to the wickedness in such a woman. Yet associating such a drastic event with women would imply that they had the power to be so destructive, and that was not an option of the times - especially when a war had just broken out, and unity was of great importance (McDermott).

In the tragedy Medea, Euripides fails to rehabilitate the female sex. He chooses a semi-divine, foreign sorceress to voice the appeals of ordinary Athenian wives. She is a woman capable of murder, manipulation and deception, and she has no sense of remorse. In choosing her, Euripides appears to be sending out mixed signals concerning women. Her concerns are those that apply to the majority of women at the time, and an audience would no doubt have understood these; yet Medea deals with them in a way that is abhorrent for a woman of fifth-century Athens (Easterling). She invokes both pathos and disgust, and, for a male audience, she would encourage distrust and continuing ‘imprisonment’ and lower social status for women. Although Euripides may well have believed in promoting womankind, it would have been difficult to put this idea across to the male audience of the day, and that may be why he is unable to make any significant advances in the Medea. He had the right message, but used the wrong messenger (Strauss 237-270).

=== Xenophobia ===

Euripides’s Medea explores the tensions which existed between citizens and foreigners and Greece’s subsequent Xenophobia. In the play, Medea represents the non-citizen who completely lacked legal and social rights. Not only is she far from the comforts of her native land, but also, as both a woman and a foreigner, she is viewed as a “poor creature” (643), below the level of a human being.

As Doctor Gerry Lucas pointed out in his lecture, marriage was a citizen’s contract, meaning Medea had no legal hold on Jason and could not take any form of official recourse. The Nurse laments that “…she has discovered by her sufferings/ What it means to one not to have lost one’s own country” (643). The Nurse is making a deliberate comparison to Jason, who as a male citizen enjoyed legal protection and political activity. Medea, a female non-citizen, is left without a voice or support. Her lack of institutional support led to the necessity that she herself administer Jason’s punishment.

Jason most aptly expresses the Xenophobic snobbery inherent in such disparity between citizen and foreigner. As he explains to Medea the advantages of living in a ‘civilized’ culture he insists that “…instead of living among barbarians/ You inhabit a Greek land and understand our ways/ How to live by law instead of the sweet will of force” (653.) Such ethnocentric attitudes were both stemmed from and perpetuated by the lack of citizen’s rights. According to Wikipedia, women and foreigners were unable to vote and therefore could not create public policy that would help eradicate Ancient Greece’s sexism and xenophobia.

===Feminist Concerns===

Euripides wrote ''Medea'' in 431 B.C. (640). Greek mythology shows us how Greeks, at that time, had firm beliefs on how women should behave themselves and the values they should hold. The perceived submissive behavior of women begins the very moment a wife arrives in her husband’s home (O’Higgins 104). A woman is supposed to provide heirs to the man (O’Higgins 104).

An Athenian perception pertaining to a “good woman” was that a woman be loyal to her husband and children (Sourvinou-Inwood 254). The most common characteristics of a good woman would be goodness, self-control and the fact that she was devoted to her husband and children (Sourvinou-Inwood 254). A good woman would reflect the culture’s established values and provide a look into the culture itself. A bad woman would be the opposite of the positive norm. In the beginning of ''Medea'', she portrays herself as a good woman. She was devoted to Jason and loved him so much that she felt as though she could not survive without him. When the nurse is talking in the beginning she states that “poor Medea is slighted, and cries aloud on the vows they made to each other, the right hands clasped in eternal promise (643).” Even though the play begins as seeing Medea as a normal, possibly good woman, she has already shown signs of abnormality in her behavior for a woman at that time. Medea is already showing signs of hatefulness towards her children. “I hate you, children of a hateful mother (645).” Medea is already showing behavior that women would not dare show in this time.

Medea could be seen as a heroine for women who do not want to be confined to the role of the “producer of legitimate offspring (McDonald 303).” By killing her children, she separates herself independently from her husband and the general patriarchy (McDonald 304). Even though at this time, husband’s were expected to be with other women, Medea feels as though her family rights were violated. Medea was also different in this aspect. She didn’t believe that and felt vengeful. The ultimate punishment for Jason, was to violently take his heirs from him. Medea’s anger turned into aggressive action, which can make her into a symbol for women (McDonald 304).

Throughout the play, Medea was more or less an ordinary woman portrayed as a bad woman. However, she could be the victim of male power and just seemed very out of the ordinary for the role of females at this time (Sourvinou-Inwood 258). She ended up being a version of a very bad woman, by killing her son’s and wreaking havoc on Jason and male power (Sourvinou-Inwood 258).

The idea explored in this play possibly suggests that women like Medea “use the weapons of the weak, which are both deceitful and violent and hurt men where they are vulnerable to women (Sourvinou-Inwood 261).” The play suggests that normal philosophy is not perfect and easy and if things go wrong men also suffer.

== Historical Context ==

Greek tragic playwright, Euripides was born in Athens circa 480 BCE. He is credited with authoring at least 80 plays, 19 of which have survived until modern times. Several of his tragedies feature very strong female characters, including ''The Trojan Women'' and ''Medea''. He died at the court of the Macedonian king in 406 BCE. His work gained a greater popularity after his death than it had received during his lifetime (Crystal 317).

''Medea'' was first produced in Athens in 431 BCE. The earliest works in which Medea first appeared, such as the ''Building of the Argo'' and the ''Journey of Jason to the Cochians'' by Ehpimenides of Crete are only fragments, but her story seems to be an old and popular one (Johnston 3). From at least the early fifth century B.C., Medea was seen as a complex figure. Medea exhibited an extraordinary range of behavior and was different from most other figures in Greek myth(Johnston 6). According to legislation passed, twenty years earlier, a foreign woman could not legally marry an Athenian male. Any children begotten through such a union would not be considered legitimate heirs in the eyes of the law (Vandiver 217-16). In the late fifth century, after Euripides production of ''Medea'', everyone began to emphasize Medea’s role as a foreigner within the Greek Society (Johnston 8). Medea also began to challenge thoughts of what drove humans to inhuman behavior (Johnston 10).

Medea has moved to the forefront in the twentieth century. She forces us today to look into the depths of our own souls (Johnston 17). Even though Medea was first produced in 431 B.C. she is still shown today as a “barbarian woman” and shows us the crime of infanticide existed even in Euripides time period.

== Characters ==
* [[Jason]]

* Medea

* [[Kreon]]

Medea is the princess of the Isle of Colchis(642). Medea is a sorceress, skilled in magic, and is renowned for her cleverness. Medea comes from a prestigious lineage. Medea is the daughter of king Aeetes and Idyia. Medea is also the granddaughter of the sun god Helios and the niece of Circe who is also known as a sorceress. Medea admires and is a protégé of goddess Hecate a patron of witchcraft.

Medea falls in love with a man named [[Jason]] when he reached the land of Colchis in pursuit of the [[Golden Fleece]].(642) Medea falls in love with Jason, helps him steal the Golden Fleece from her own country and leaves with him.(642) She eventually marries Jason and has children with him as they have moved to live in exile in Corinth.(643)

Medea learns that Jason plans to marry the King of Corinth’s daughter. (643) She learns he has intentions of marrying her and leaving Medea and the kids to fend for themselves.(647) Kreon, King of Corinth, hears of Medea’s anger with Jason and the king’s daughter.(648) Kreon approaches Medea and sentences her to exile.(648)

Nothing like a woman scorned as Medea in her angered state plans for the demise of her husband, his new bride to be, and her father.(658) Medea first covers her base by finding a safe place to live in exile. (656) King Aigeus, King of Athens, agrees that if she can find her way to his doorstep she can stay forever and be safe.(656)

Now Medea plans the way to kill Jason’s bride to be and anyone who touches her.(658) She plans to poison two bridal gifts for Jason’s new bride and have the children hand deliver them to her.(659) Jason falls for the plan and takes the children to his bride to be where she receives her gifts and puts them on falling to her death.(664) The children return to Medea where she kills them right before Jason returns to find out what dastardly deed she has done.(669) Medea escapes Corinth with her dead children on a dragon drawn chariot given to her by Helios, her father’s father to protect her from her enemies.(670) She escapes to live in Athens and Jason never sees his children again.(670)

== Commentaries ==
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000320.shtml Euripides' ''Medea'': Patriarchal Terrorism]]

== External Links ==
* [http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/medea.html Medea]

== Works Cited ==
* “Athenian Democracy.” 2005. Wikipedia. 8 April 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracy#Citizenship_in_Athens>.
* Buxon, Richard. ''The Complete World of Greek Mythology''. NY: Thames & Hudson. 2004.
* Crystal, David. ''The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia.'' Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. New York. 1995.
* Easterling, P.E. “The Infanticide in Euripides’ ''Medea''.” ''YCS'' 25, 1977.
* Ferguson, John.'' A Companion to Greek Tragedy''. TX: University of Texas Press. 1972.
* Graves, Robert. ''Greek Myths''. NY: Penguin Books. 1981.
* Grimal, Pierre. ''Larousse World Mythology''. New Jersey: Chartwheel Books Inc. 1973.
* Lattimore, Richard. ''The Poetry of Greek Tragedy.'' MD: John Hopkins Press. 1958.
* McDermott, Emily A. Euripedes’ Medea: The Incarnation of Disorder. University Park, PA. 1989.
* Melchinger, Siegfried. ''Sophocles''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co. 1974. 35-42.
* Pelling, Christopher. ''Greek Tragedy and the Historian''. Oxford, 1997.
* Pucci, Pietro. ''The Violence of Pity in Euripides’ Medea''. Cornell University, 1980.
* Ober, Josiah and Strauss, Barry. “Drama, Political Rhetoric, and Discourse of Athenian Democracy.” ''Drama in Its Social Context''. Ed. Winkler, John J. Athenian. Princeton, 1990.
* O’Higgins, Dolores M., Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane, Johnston, Sarah Iles, and McDonald, Marianne. ''Medea: Essays on Medea in Myth, Literature, Philosophy, and Art.'' Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.
* Rassidakis, Kristina. “The origins of love, hate, and retaliation in Euripides tragedy ''Medea'': a psychodynamic approach.” ''Changes: International Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy'' 15, 1997.
* Vandiver, Elizabeth. ''Greek Tragedy''. The Teaching Company. Course # 217. Lectures 1-24.

[[Category:World Literature]]

Medea

2005-04-21T04:58:55Z

Hvyas: /* Characters */

== Summary ==

[[Image:MedeaChariot.jpeg|thumb|Medea’s Chariot]]The play [[Medea]] begins in turmoil and escalates until the tragic end. Medea tells the story of passion that transforms from love to hate. Consumed with a passionate rage, Medea seeks to avenge her husband [[Jason]] who has wronged her. Jason has left Medea and taken a new wife, the daughter of king [[Kreon]] and a Greek.

The play opens outside the house of Medea and Jason in [[Corinth]]. The Nurse tells the sorrows of Medea and how Jason has abandoned Medea after all she has done for him. The Nurse is afraid Medea will harm someone close to her. Medea’s heart is full of violence especially for Jason and the children. Medea is overwhelmed with grief that is manifesting as jealousy and rage.

The Tutor appears with Medea two young children who have been outside playing. Medea’s children are oblivious to the resentment their mother is beginning to feel toward them. The Nurse warns the children to stay out of their mother’s sight. The Tutor is the bearer of bad news. The Tutor has heard rumors that Medea and her children will be exiled from Corinth. The Nurse is sympathetic to ''Medea’s'' plight while the Tutor is blasé.

The [[Chorus]] of Corinthian women arrives to check on Medea. The Chorus hears Medea’s cries and curses from inside the house. The Chorus asks the Nurse to go see if Medea will come outside so they can console her.

A distraught Medea enters the courtyard and delivers a poignant speech on the sufferings and indignations of women in an oppressively man’s world. Medea points out to the Chorus being a woman is even worst for her because she is a foreigner without a family or a home. The Chorus sympathizes with Medea. Medea despises Jason for taking another wife, and condemns Jason, his new bride, and king Kreon. Medea makes the Chorus promise if she finds a way to revenge Jason, they will remain silent. The Chorus gives Medea a vow of silence agreeing Medea is right to seek revenge.

Medea has been blatantly lamenting her disgruntlements. ''Medea’s'' condemnations have come to the attention of king Kreon. King Kreon enters and exiles Medea and her children because he is afraid of Medea. Using her children, Medea appeals to king Kreon on a paternal level and asks for one more day for the sake of the children so she can get her affairs in order. King Kreon reluctantly agrees and allows Medea to stay in Corinth one more day convinced she could not do the evil he fears in one day.

The Chorus pities Medea but Medea assures them one day is all she needs to avenge Jason faithlessness. When considering how to kill her enemies, Medea rules out swords or fire because that would mean close contact with the victims and she may get caught giving her enemies a reason to laugh at her. Being humiliated is one of Medea greatest fears and motivates her to lash out to save face. Medea decides to use poison. A conniving manipulator Medea schemes to poison Jason, his new bride, and king Kreon. Medea is determined no one especially a man will mistreat her and live to tell about it.

Jason visits Medea. Similar to Kreon when he visited Medea, Jason immediately chastises Medea for her behavior and blames her for her own exile. Medea calls Jason a coward and reminds him of all she has done for him in the name of love. Medea is instrumental in assisting Jason in obtaining the Golden Fleece. Medea betrays her father, murders her brother, an exile from her homeland, and orchestrates the death of Pelias … all for a man who has snubbed her. Jason tries to convince Medea he married king Kreon daughter for her and their children sake. Marrying into prosperity will benefit them all. Jason argues Medea has benefited from their marriage more than he. Jason took Medea away from a barbaric, lawless land. Medea is very popular living among the Greeks. ''Medea’s'' cleverness is admired in Corinth whereas in [[Colchis]] cleverness is not revered. Also, the children need royal siblings to protect them. Medea and Jason continue to argue. Medea feels Jason should have been man enough to tell her he has taken a new bride. Jason believes Medea is too irrational to handle the news of his bride and her behavior now reflects he was correct in his assumption. Jason offers Medea contacts with his friends that will help her once she and the kids are exiled from Corinth. Fiercely pride Medea refuses to take anything from Jason who betrayed her.

By chance Medea’s friend king [[Aigeus]] of [[Athens]] visits. Medea envisions a safe haven for escape. Medea tells Aigeus of Jason’s treachery and her pending exile. Medea beseeches Aigeus for asylum in Athens. King Aigeus unaware of Medea’s murderous intentions offers Medea sanctuary in return for her offer of drugs that will end his childlessness. However, king Aigeus gives Medea one condition for sanctuary, Medea must come to Athens on her own will. Aigeus swears an oath to all the gods at Medea appeal that he will not turn her over to her enemies no matter what. Reassured Medea sets her scheme for vengeance in motion. Medea tells the Chorus of her plans.

Medea’s scheme of murder is coming together. Medea has a safe haven once the murders are complete. As her scheme unfolds, Medea realizes she must also murder her own children to completely avenge Jason’s dishonor. Medea wants to hurt Jason deeply and she cannot risk anyone who does not love her children hurting them. The Chorus begs Medea to reconsider murdering her children. Medea says, ”No compromise is possible” (803).

Medea sends for Jason. Medea uses an assuaging attitude with Jason. Medea apologizes for her angry and tells Jason he is right to have married king Kreon’s daughter. Medea pretends to be submissive like Jason expects a good wife to be. After “''kissing up''” to Jason, Medea sends her children along with Jason and the Tutor to the bride with gifts of a poison woven dress and a golden diadem.

The Tutor returns with the children and tells Medea the royal princess will let the children stay in Corinth. The Tutor is baffled by Medea’s melancholy behavior. Medea exhibits tenderness and cold-heartedness as she cries and talks to her children preparing herself to murder them. When Medea’s children smile at her she considers relinquishing her murderous scheme. The fury Medea feels at being betrayed by Jason conquers her resolve. Medea is compelled to finish what has already been started.

Medea anxiously waits for news from the palace. The [[Messenger]] enters surprise Medea is hanging around. The Messenger tells Medea to run. The Messenger brings news that the royal princess and king Kreon are dead. Medea glories in the details as the Messenger tells her of the anguish deaths. Jason’s bride and king Kreon die an awful, torturous death with suffering as well. The golden diadem burst into flames sitting upon the royal princess head burning her body and the woven dress sloughs the flesh from her bones. As king Kreon cradles his daughter dead body the poison consumes him as the poisonous woven dress adhered to his flesh.

Jason returns looking for his children to protect them from the angry Corinthian mob after he finds out his new bride and father-in-law have been murdered by Medea. The Chorus tells Jason his children have been murdered by their mother’s hand. Jason is appalled and looks for Medea. Medea has hung around to gloat. Medea appears above the place in a chariot drawn by dragons provided by her grandfather, [[Helios]], the sun god. The children bodies are on the chariot. Jason begs for the children’s bodies, but Medea cynically laughs at him refusing to give his the honor of burying the children dead bodies. Jason desperately wants to kiss his dead children and bury them, but Medea refuses to give him the satisfaction. Jason insults Medea by telling her a Greek woman would never do the things she has done. Medea and Jason blame each other for the children’s death. Medea prophesies Jason’s death. Medea and Jason argue violently as the play comes to an end. The Chorus closes the play reflecting on capricious nature of gods’ will. Medea succeeds in revenge and Jason is lonely and tormented. Jason has lost his financial security, his status, and children to carry on his name. Jason is left without distinction. and Medea’s revenge is achieved.

== Themes and Motifs ==
=== Right Message, Wrong Messenger ===

Euripides’ Medea, was the first in a series of plays in which vivid, powerful women appeared on the Euripidean stage. It was produced in the year that the Peloponnesian War began, and sought to play on the low morale of the public to restore the female sex in positions of social influence and power. Throughout the centuries it has been regarded as one of the most powerful of the Greek tragedies, and also one in which the theme of women was more important than most. It is in this play that Euripides could either restore or condemn the female populace in society (Pelling).

Euripides questions many social norms of the period, but he uses a female such as Medea to convey his message. While Medea has no legal rights, she is the sorceress’ grandchild of the Sun God and therefore able to articulately explain her actions and passionately act on her plans. She is initially able to gain the sympathy and support of the Corinthian women for her plight by passionately pleading her case to the public at large. Medea’s passionate arguments fly in the face of the Greek tradition that only the male has the ability and right to lucid, rational argument. Jason although regarded as civilized by Greek society, is by contrast weak, compromised and cowardly. Medea also challenges ancient Greek society’s decree that the greatest glory for a woman was to bear children, provide sex and to fulfill the demands of her husband (Rassidakis 220-226). From the first compelling moments of this one-act play the audience is drawn into contradictions confronting Medea: to challenge injustice and betrayal or accommodate to it and the financial security and comfort it could bring (Pucci). Traditional behavior of women was a very important aspect of this play, and portraying Medea as both similar and different to fellow womankind allowed the audience to make judgment on the role of women as they knew it. Medea recurrently assaulted fundamental and sacred values and that gave the play much of its power and allowed Euripides to most persuasively portray her as an incarnation of disorder. Could any male audience possibly start to respect any woman that could crush basic human order? Euripides did not himself condemn Medea. Rather, he gave the audience a choice on whether to accept her character and actions. However by implication he is associating a breakdown in human order as being due to the wickedness in such a woman. Yet associating such a drastic event with women would imply that they had the power to be so destructive, and that was not an option of the times - especially when a war had just broken out, and unity was of great importance (McDermott).

In the tragedy Medea, Euripides fails to rehabilitate the female sex. He chooses a semi-divine, foreign sorceress to voice the appeals of ordinary Athenian wives. She is a woman capable of murder, manipulation and deception, and she has no sense of remorse. In choosing her, Euripides appears to be sending out mixed signals concerning women. Her concerns are those that apply to the majority of women at the time, and an audience would no doubt have understood these; yet Medea deals with them in a way that is abhorrent for a woman of fifth-century Athens (Easterling). She invokes both pathos and disgust, and, for a male audience, she would encourage distrust and continuing ‘imprisonment’ and lower social status for women. Although Euripides may well have believed in promoting womankind, it would have been difficult to put this idea across to the male audience of the day, and that may be why he is unable to make any significant advances in the Medea. He had the right message, but used the wrong messenger (Strauss 237-270).

=== Xenophobia ===

Euripides’s Medea explores the tensions which existed between citizens and foreigners and Greece’s subsequent Xenophobia. In the play, Medea represents the non-citizen who completely lacked legal and social rights. Not only is she far from the comforts of her native land, but also, as both a woman and a foreigner, she is viewed as a “poor creature” (643), below the level of a human being.

As Doctor Gerry Lucas pointed out in his lecture, marriage was a citizen’s contract, meaning Medea had no legal hold on Jason and could not take any form of official recourse. The Nurse laments that “…she has discovered by her sufferings/ What it means to one not to have lost one’s own country” (643). The Nurse is making a deliberate comparison to Jason, who as a male citizen enjoyed legal protection and political activity. Medea, a female non-citizen, is left without a voice or support. Her lack of institutional support led to the necessity that she herself administer Jason’s punishment.

Jason most aptly expresses the Xenophobic snobbery inherent in such disparity between citizen and foreigner. As he explains to Medea the advantages of living in a ‘civilized’ culture he insists that “…instead of living among barbarians/ You inhabit a Greek land and understand our ways/ How to live by law instead of the sweet will of force” (653.) Such ethnocentric attitudes were both stemmed from and perpetuated by the lack of citizen’s rights. According to Wikipedia, women and foreigners were unable to vote and therefore could not create public policy that would help eradicate Ancient Greece’s sexism and xenophobia.

===Feminist Concerns===

Euripides wrote ''Medea'' in 431 B.C. (640). Greek mythology shows us how Greeks, at that time, had firm beliefs on how women should behave themselves and the values they should hold. The perceived submissive behavior of women begins the very moment a wife arrives in her husband’s home (O’Higgins 104). A woman is supposed to provide heirs to the man (O’Higgins 104).

An Athenian perception pertaining to a “good woman” was that a woman be loyal to her husband and children (Sourvinou-Inwood 254). The most common characteristics of a good woman would be goodness, self-control and the fact that she was devoted to her husband and children (Sourvinou-Inwood 254). A good woman would reflect the culture’s established values and provide a look into the culture itself. A bad woman would be the opposite of the positive norm. In the beginning of ''Medea'', she portrays herself as a good woman. She was devoted to Jason and loved him so much that she felt as though she could not survive without him. When the nurse is talking in the beginning she states that “poor Medea is slighted, and cries aloud on the vows they made to each other, the right hands clasped in eternal promise (643).” Even though the play begins as seeing Medea as a normal, possibly good woman, she has already shown signs of abnormality in her behavior for a woman at that time. Medea is already showing signs of hatefulness towards her children. “I hate you, children of a hateful mother (645).” Medea is already showing behavior that women would not dare show in this time.

Medea could be seen as a heroine for women who do not want to be confined to the role of the “producer of legitimate offspring (McDonald 303).” By killing her children, she separates herself independently from her husband and the general patriarchy (McDonald 304). Even though at this time, husband’s were expected to be with other women, Medea feels as though her family rights were violated. Medea was also different in this aspect. She didn’t believe that and felt vengeful. The ultimate punishment for Jason, was to violently take his heirs from him. Medea’s anger turned into aggressive action, which can make her into a symbol for women (McDonald 304).

Throughout the play, Medea was more or less an ordinary woman portrayed as a bad woman. However, she could be the victim of male power and just seemed very out of the ordinary for the role of females at this time (Sourvinou-Inwood 258). She ended up being a version of a very bad woman, by killing her son’s and wreaking havoc on Jason and male power (Sourvinou-Inwood 258).

The idea explored in this play possibly suggests that women like Medea “use the weapons of the weak, which are both deceitful and violent and hurt men where they are vulnerable to women (Sourvinou-Inwood 261).” The play suggests that normal philosophy is not perfect and easy and if things go wrong men also suffer.

== Historical Context ==

Greek tragic playwright, Euripides was born in Athens circa 480 BCE. He is credited with authoring at least 80 plays, 19 of which have survived until modern times. Several of his tragedies feature very strong female characters, including ''The Trojan Women'' and ''Medea''. He died at the court of the Macedonian king in 406 BCE. His work gained a greater popularity after his death than it had received during his lifetime (Crystal 317).

''Medea'' was first produced in Athens in 431 BCE. The earliest works in which Medea first appeared, such as the ''Building of the Argo'' and the ''Journey of Jason to the Cochians'' by Ehpimenides of Crete are only fragments, but her story seems to be an old and popular one (Johnston 3). From at least the early fifth century B.C., Medea was seen as a complex figure. Medea exhibited an extraordinary range of behavior and was different from most other figures in Greek myth(Johnston 6). According to legislation passed, twenty years earlier, a foreign woman could not legally marry an Athenian male. Any children begotten through such a union would not be considered legitimate heirs in the eyes of the law (Vandiver 217-16). In the late fifth century, after Euripides production of ''Medea'', everyone began to emphasize Medea’s role as a foreigner within the Greek Society (Johnston 8). Medea also began to challenge thoughts of what drove humans to inhuman behavior (Johnston 10).

Medea has moved to the forefront in the twentieth century. She forces us today to look into the depths of our own souls (Johnston 17). Even though Medea was first produced in 431 B.C. she is still shown today as a “barbarian woman” and shows us the crime of infanticide existed even in Euripides time period.

== Characters ==
* [[Jason]]

* Medea

* [[Kreon]]

Medea is the princess of the Isle of Colchis(642). Medea is a sorceress, skilled in magic, and is renowned for her cleverness. Medea comes from a prestigious lineage. Medea is the daughter of king Aeetes and Idyia. Medea is also the granddaughter of the sun god Helios and the niece of Circe who is also known as a sorceress. Medea admires and is a protégé of goddess Hecate a patron of witchcraft.

Medea falls in love with a man named [[Jason]] when he reached the land of Colchis in pursuit of the Golden Fleece.(642) Medea falls in love with Jason, helps him steal the [[Golden Fleece]] from her own country and leaves with him.(642) She eventually marries Jason and has children with him as they have moved to live in exile in Corinth.(643)

Medea learns that Jason plans to marry the King of Corinth’s daughter. (643) She learns he has intentions of marrying her and leaving Medea and the kids to fend for themselves.(647) Kreon, King of Corinth, hears of Medea’s anger with Jason and the king’s daughter.(648) Kreon approaches Medea and sentences her to exile.(648)

Nothing like a woman scorned as Medea in her angered state plans for the demise of her husband, his new bride to be, and her father.(658) Medea first covers her base by finding a safe place to live in exile. (656) King Aigeus, King of Athens, agrees that if she can find her way to his doorstep she can stay forever and be safe.(656)

Now Medea plans the way to kill Jason’s bride to be and anyone who touches her.(658) She plans to poison two bridal gifts for Jason’s new bride and have the children hand deliver them to her.(659) Jason falls for the plan and takes the children to his bride to be where she receives her gifts and puts them on falling to her death.(664) The children return to Medea where she kills them right before Jason returns to find out what dastardly deed she has done.(669) Medea escapes Corinth with her dead children on a dragon drawn chariot given to her by Helios, her father’s father to protect her from her enemies.(670) She escapes to live in Athens and Jason never sees his children again.(670)

== Commentaries ==
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000320.shtml Euripides' ''Medea'': Patriarchal Terrorism]]

== External Links ==
* [http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/medea.html Medea]

== Works Cited ==
* “Athenian Democracy.” 2005. Wikipedia. 8 April 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracy#Citizenship_in_Athens>.
* Buxon, Richard. ''The Complete World of Greek Mythology''. NY: Thames & Hudson. 2004.
* Crystal, David. ''The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia.'' Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. New York. 1995.
* Easterling, P.E. “The Infanticide in Euripides’ ''Medea''.” ''YCS'' 25, 1977.
* Ferguson, John.'' A Companion to Greek Tragedy''. TX: University of Texas Press. 1972.
* Graves, Robert. ''Greek Myths''. NY: Penguin Books. 1981.
* Grimal, Pierre. ''Larousse World Mythology''. New Jersey: Chartwheel Books Inc. 1973.
* Lattimore, Richard. ''The Poetry of Greek Tragedy.'' MD: John Hopkins Press. 1958.
* McDermott, Emily A. Euripedes’ Medea: The Incarnation of Disorder. University Park, PA. 1989.
* Melchinger, Siegfried. ''Sophocles''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co. 1974. 35-42.
* Pelling, Christopher. ''Greek Tragedy and the Historian''. Oxford, 1997.
* Pucci, Pietro. ''The Violence of Pity in Euripides’ Medea''. Cornell University, 1980.
* Ober, Josiah and Strauss, Barry. “Drama, Political Rhetoric, and Discourse of Athenian Democracy.” ''Drama in Its Social Context''. Ed. Winkler, John J. Athenian. Princeton, 1990.
* O’Higgins, Dolores M., Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane, Johnston, Sarah Iles, and McDonald, Marianne. ''Medea: Essays on Medea in Myth, Literature, Philosophy, and Art.'' Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.
* Rassidakis, Kristina. “The origins of love, hate, and retaliation in Euripides tragedy ''Medea'': a psychodynamic approach.” ''Changes: International Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy'' 15, 1997.
* Vandiver, Elizabeth. ''Greek Tragedy''. The Teaching Company. Course # 217. Lectures 1-24.

[[Category:World Literature]]

Priam

2005-04-21T04:45:32Z

Hvyas:

Priam is son of Laomedon and husband of [[Hecuba]]. Priam is king of Troy at the time of the Achaean expedition against the city. In ''Iliad'', [[Homer]] has portrayed him as a kindly older gentleman, courteous to everyone and trying to do his best despite his age and weakened condition. Priam’s treatment towards [[Helen]] is very compassionate, although he has fully right to despise her for what she had brought upon him and his city. He treats Helen like his favorite daughter and refuses to let others maltreat her, at least in his presence. Homer has presented something very tragic about Priam’s character. Priam mourns for his dead children, especially [[Hector]], the greatest and best-loved of all. He never seems to surrender his dignity, even when he is in the most heart-tearing situation where, in order to recover Hector’s body, he is a guest in the home of the man who killed his son. Priam knows, or at least suspects, the upcoming fall of his city to the Achaeans. In the end, Priam is killed by [[Achilles]]’ son, Neoptolemus during the sack of Troy.

Hecuba

2005-04-21T04:39:45Z

Hvyas:

Hecuba is the Queen of [[Troy]] and the mother of Hector, [[Paris]], and Cassandra among others. Hecuba is the daughter of Dymas and wife of [[Priam]]. When Troy falls, she is given to [[Odysseus]] as a prize and has to watch as her daughter, Polyxena, is sacrificed at the tomb of [[Achilles]]. She is also the central character in two surviving plays of [[Euripides]], the ''Hecuba'', which is undated, and ''The Trojan Women'' (415 BC).

The Iliad

2005-04-21T04:12:18Z

Hvyas: /* Works Cited */

[[Image:Achilles-chiron.jpg|thumb|Achilles and Chiron the Centaur]] The ''Iliad'' (a song about Ilium, or Troy) along with its companion [[Epic Poetry|epic]] the [[Odyssey]] form the foundation of ancient Greek culture and address the extremes of human experience through war and peace. Both [[Epic Poetry|epic]] are primary, or oral, [[Epic Poetry|epic]] that draw on an enormous wealth of cultural stories in unified structures that we attribute to the poet [[Homer]], in eighth century B.C.E. The [[Epic Poetry|epic]] are written in an unsentimental style: the ''Iliad'' depicts the ambivalence of war in meticulously accurate details. Both the nightmare of war and its excitement find expression in the ''Iliad'', just as the [[Odyssey]]’s pages quest for a home, or a peace that seems hard-won after the devastation of war.

==The Epic Theme==
As the narrator states first thing: the subject of the ''Iliad'' is the rage of [[Achilles]] and the consequences of that rage for both the Achaeans and the Trojans. War effects not only the men who fight the battles, but also the women and children whose lives are then shaped by its outcome. War represents the worst and, ironically, the best of humanity: ugly brutality and terrible beauty. We both pity with [[Hector]] and sympathize with [[Achilles]]; neither side of the war holds all of our sentiments. The final outcome of the war, then, becomes truly tragic: only one culture can continue while the other is destroyed or enslaved.

The brutality of [[Achilles]] and its consequences are most evident in Book XXII of the ''Iliad''. [[Achilles]]’ rage blinds him to anything but the death of [[Hector]], the Trojan champion that kills [[Patroclus]]. Replete with [[Epic Poetry|epic]] [[simile|similes]] of the hunt, book twenty-two illustrates [[Hector]]’s own reluctance to do what he sees as his duty to face [[Achilles]], yet thinks only of himself and what his people might think if he doesn’t face the Greek killing machine (cf. ll. 108-156). [[Hector]]’s resolve is soon shaken as he sees [[Achilles]] closing, bloody rage the only thing that [[Achilles]] sees. [[Hector]] flees, but is soon tricked by [[Athena]] into stopping to face [[Achilles]], perhaps a commentary on [[Hector]]’s need for companionship and [[Achilles]]’ desire for only personal vengeance and renown. [[Hector]] is mercilessly murdered in front of Troy’s walls, like a fawn at the jaws of a lion.

The death of [[Hector]], then, is given a final cultural context from [[Hector]]’s widow [[Andromache]]. She now sees the demise of Troy, but personally she sees no future for their son [[Astyanax]]. The death of the father, then, is a weighty metaphor for the Trojans: the order that they secured will soon be rendered useless by the barbarity of war; the father’s death leads to the destruction of social order. This theme will be taken up in the [[Odyssey]] as well: what is the responsibility of the son for maintaining order in the absence or death of the father? As [[Andromache]] sees no future for [[Astyanax]], life does continue even after the carnage of war, yet a new order is imposed on the losers — those who escape death. This theme of continuity is also addressed by [[Virgil]] in his [[Aeneid]].

Is war, then, a necessary component of human life? Just because it has been historically up until this point, are we to be like [[Achilles]] who could not hear reason through his bloody thoughts: “No truce / till one or the other falls and gluts with blood” (XXII.313-14)? When do we decide that war is better than order?

== Summary ==
In book one of the ''Iliad'', we discover that because of [[Agamemnon]]’s refusal to relinquish Chryseis, [[Apollo]] has rained a plague upon the Achaean forces. Because he is eventually challenged by [[Achilles]] — who represents the wishes of the rest of the men — [[Agamemnon]] decides to claim Achilles’ prize (a girl named Briseis) to reassert his authority and put Achilles in his place for his challenge. Achilles shows cunning and restraint — qualities that are usually associated with [[Odysseus]] — in his argument with [[Agamemnon]], while the latter rages and rails like a wounded child. Yet, when [[Agamemnon]]’s men take Briseis, [[Achilles]], also child-like, begins to pout by his ships, cries to his mother, and refuses to play the war game anymore. This final decision precipitates the death of many Achaeans, including Achilles’ friend [[Patroclus]]. Achilles’ resulting rage ends with the death of [[Hector]] in book twenty-two, and Achilles’ own apocryphal death under the bow of [[Paris]] before the war’s end. See more in [[The Iliad Summary]].

== Characters ==
The ''Iliad''’s participants are the nobility of both cultures, or the ''aristoi'': “the best people.” They are the hereditary holders of wealth and power, and their decisions effect all of the culture. For example, [[Agamemnon]]’s decision to infuriate [[Achilles]] at the outset of the ''Iliad'' has lasting effects on the Greek warriors during the last weeks of the Trojan War. Like most [[Epic Poetry|epic]], of which the ''Iliad'' is really the definitive example, the action begins [[in medias res]], a few weeks before the end of a ten-year campaign, with all of the [[Epic Poetry|epic]]’s traditional accouterments. The ''Iliad'' poses questions, as will the [[Odyssey]], about the nature of political order and what humans must do to maintain that vision and structure. The initial contention in the ''Iliad'' is between the Greek champion [[Achilles]] and the Greek commander [[Agamemnon]]. Who has the stronger claim to right: [[Agamemnon]] who has the hereditary position, or [[Achilles]], the one with merit? Ultimately does it matter? When swords are drawn, reason becomes irrelevant.

=== Achaeans ===
* [[Achilles]]
* [[Agamemnon]]
* [[Ajax]]
* [[Menaleus]]
* [[Nestor]]
* [[Odysseus]]
* [[Patroclus]]

=== Trojans ===
* [[Hector]]
* [[Hecuba]]
* [[Helen]]
* [[Paris]]
* [[Priam]]

=== The Gods ===
* [[Apollo]]
* [[Athena]]
* [[Hera]]
* [[Poseidon]]
* [[Thetis]]
* [[Zeus]]
* [[The Humaness of Iliad's Gods]]

== Internal Links ==
* [[Homer]]
* [[The Iliad Summary]]

== External Links ==

* [http://library.thinkquest.org/19300/data/homer.htm Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000312.shtml The Iliad: Rage and War]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000503.shtml Hector: Family Man, but Hero First]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000456.shtml Fighting Beyond Their Fates]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000297.shtml Friendship and Two Epics]

== Suggested Reading ==
== Works Cited ==

* Ceram, C.W. ''Gods, Graves, and Scholars''. New York: Alfred A. knopf 1967.

* Grimal, Pierre. ''Larousse World Mythology''. New Jersey: Chartwheel Books Inc. 1973.

* Willcock, Malcolm M. ''A Companion to the Iliad''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 1976.

----
[[Category:World Literature]]

The Iliad

2005-04-21T04:02:35Z

Hvyas: /* Works Cited */

[[Image:Achilles-chiron.jpg|thumb|Achilles and Chiron the Centaur]] The ''Iliad'' (a song about Ilium, or Troy) along with its companion [[Epic Poetry|epic]] the [[Odyssey]] form the foundation of ancient Greek culture and address the extremes of human experience through war and peace. Both [[Epic Poetry|epic]] are primary, or oral, [[Epic Poetry|epic]] that draw on an enormous wealth of cultural stories in unified structures that we attribute to the poet [[Homer]], in eighth century B.C.E. The [[Epic Poetry|epic]] are written in an unsentimental style: the ''Iliad'' depicts the ambivalence of war in meticulously accurate details. Both the nightmare of war and its excitement find expression in the ''Iliad'', just as the [[Odyssey]]’s pages quest for a home, or a peace that seems hard-won after the devastation of war.

==The Epic Theme==
As the narrator states first thing: the subject of the ''Iliad'' is the rage of [[Achilles]] and the consequences of that rage for both the Achaeans and the Trojans. War effects not only the men who fight the battles, but also the women and children whose lives are then shaped by its outcome. War represents the worst and, ironically, the best of humanity: ugly brutality and terrible beauty. We both pity with [[Hector]] and sympathize with [[Achilles]]; neither side of the war holds all of our sentiments. The final outcome of the war, then, becomes truly tragic: only one culture can continue while the other is destroyed or enslaved.

The brutality of [[Achilles]] and its consequences are most evident in Book XXII of the ''Iliad''. [[Achilles]]’ rage blinds him to anything but the death of [[Hector]], the Trojan champion that kills [[Patroclus]]. Replete with [[Epic Poetry|epic]] [[simile|similes]] of the hunt, book twenty-two illustrates [[Hector]]’s own reluctance to do what he sees as his duty to face [[Achilles]], yet thinks only of himself and what his people might think if he doesn’t face the Greek killing machine (cf. ll. 108-156). [[Hector]]’s resolve is soon shaken as he sees [[Achilles]] closing, bloody rage the only thing that [[Achilles]] sees. [[Hector]] flees, but is soon tricked by [[Athena]] into stopping to face [[Achilles]], perhaps a commentary on [[Hector]]’s need for companionship and [[Achilles]]’ desire for only personal vengeance and renown. [[Hector]] is mercilessly murdered in front of Troy’s walls, like a fawn at the jaws of a lion.

The death of [[Hector]], then, is given a final cultural context from [[Hector]]’s widow [[Andromache]]. She now sees the demise of Troy, but personally she sees no future for their son [[Astyanax]]. The death of the father, then, is a weighty metaphor for the Trojans: the order that they secured will soon be rendered useless by the barbarity of war; the father’s death leads to the destruction of social order. This theme will be taken up in the [[Odyssey]] as well: what is the responsibility of the son for maintaining order in the absence or death of the father? As [[Andromache]] sees no future for [[Astyanax]], life does continue even after the carnage of war, yet a new order is imposed on the losers — those who escape death. This theme of continuity is also addressed by [[Virgil]] in his [[Aeneid]].

Is war, then, a necessary component of human life? Just because it has been historically up until this point, are we to be like [[Achilles]] who could not hear reason through his bloody thoughts: “No truce / till one or the other falls and gluts with blood” (XXII.313-14)? When do we decide that war is better than order?

== Summary ==
In book one of the ''Iliad'', we discover that because of [[Agamemnon]]’s refusal to relinquish Chryseis, [[Apollo]] has rained a plague upon the Achaean forces. Because he is eventually challenged by [[Achilles]] — who represents the wishes of the rest of the men — [[Agamemnon]] decides to claim Achilles’ prize (a girl named Briseis) to reassert his authority and put Achilles in his place for his challenge. Achilles shows cunning and restraint — qualities that are usually associated with [[Odysseus]] — in his argument with [[Agamemnon]], while the latter rages and rails like a wounded child. Yet, when [[Agamemnon]]’s men take Briseis, [[Achilles]], also child-like, begins to pout by his ships, cries to his mother, and refuses to play the war game anymore. This final decision precipitates the death of many Achaeans, including Achilles’ friend [[Patroclus]]. Achilles’ resulting rage ends with the death of [[Hector]] in book twenty-two, and Achilles’ own apocryphal death under the bow of [[Paris]] before the war’s end. See more in [[The Iliad Summary]].

== Characters ==
The ''Iliad''’s participants are the nobility of both cultures, or the ''aristoi'': “the best people.” They are the hereditary holders of wealth and power, and their decisions effect all of the culture. For example, [[Agamemnon]]’s decision to infuriate [[Achilles]] at the outset of the ''Iliad'' has lasting effects on the Greek warriors during the last weeks of the Trojan War. Like most [[Epic Poetry|epic]], of which the ''Iliad'' is really the definitive example, the action begins [[in medias res]], a few weeks before the end of a ten-year campaign, with all of the [[Epic Poetry|epic]]’s traditional accouterments. The ''Iliad'' poses questions, as will the [[Odyssey]], about the nature of political order and what humans must do to maintain that vision and structure. The initial contention in the ''Iliad'' is between the Greek champion [[Achilles]] and the Greek commander [[Agamemnon]]. Who has the stronger claim to right: [[Agamemnon]] who has the hereditary position, or [[Achilles]], the one with merit? Ultimately does it matter? When swords are drawn, reason becomes irrelevant.

=== Achaeans ===
* [[Achilles]]
* [[Agamemnon]]
* [[Ajax]]
* [[Menaleus]]
* [[Nestor]]
* [[Odysseus]]
* [[Patroclus]]

=== Trojans ===
* [[Hector]]
* [[Hecuba]]
* [[Helen]]
* [[Paris]]
* [[Priam]]

=== The Gods ===
* [[Apollo]]
* [[Athena]]
* [[Hera]]
* [[Poseidon]]
* [[Thetis]]
* [[Zeus]]
* [[The Humaness of Iliad's Gods]]

== Internal Links ==
* [[Homer]]
* [[The Iliad Summary]]

== External Links ==

* [http://library.thinkquest.org/19300/data/homer.htm Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000312.shtml The Iliad: Rage and War]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000503.shtml Hector: Family Man, but Hero First]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000456.shtml Fighting Beyond Their Fates]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000297.shtml Friendship and Two Epics]

== Suggested Reading ==
== Works Cited ==

* Ceram, C.W. ''Gods, Graves, and Scholars''. New York: Alfred A. knopf 1967.

* Grimal, Pierre. ''Larousse World Mythology''. New Jersey: Chartwheel Books Inc. 1973.

----
[[Category:World Literature]]

The Iliad

2005-04-21T03:57:05Z

Hvyas:

[[Image:Achilles-chiron.jpg|thumb|Achilles and Chiron the Centaur]] The ''Iliad'' (a song about Ilium, or Troy) along with its companion [[Epic Poetry|epic]] the [[Odyssey]] form the foundation of ancient Greek culture and address the extremes of human experience through war and peace. Both [[Epic Poetry|epic]] are primary, or oral, [[Epic Poetry|epic]] that draw on an enormous wealth of cultural stories in unified structures that we attribute to the poet [[Homer]], in eighth century B.C.E. The [[Epic Poetry|epic]] are written in an unsentimental style: the ''Iliad'' depicts the ambivalence of war in meticulously accurate details. Both the nightmare of war and its excitement find expression in the ''Iliad'', just as the [[Odyssey]]’s pages quest for a home, or a peace that seems hard-won after the devastation of war.

==The Epic Theme==
As the narrator states first thing: the subject of the ''Iliad'' is the rage of [[Achilles]] and the consequences of that rage for both the Achaeans and the Trojans. War effects not only the men who fight the battles, but also the women and children whose lives are then shaped by its outcome. War represents the worst and, ironically, the best of humanity: ugly brutality and terrible beauty. We both pity with [[Hector]] and sympathize with [[Achilles]]; neither side of the war holds all of our sentiments. The final outcome of the war, then, becomes truly tragic: only one culture can continue while the other is destroyed or enslaved.

The brutality of [[Achilles]] and its consequences are most evident in Book XXII of the ''Iliad''. [[Achilles]]’ rage blinds him to anything but the death of [[Hector]], the Trojan champion that kills [[Patroclus]]. Replete with [[Epic Poetry|epic]] [[simile|similes]] of the hunt, book twenty-two illustrates [[Hector]]’s own reluctance to do what he sees as his duty to face [[Achilles]], yet thinks only of himself and what his people might think if he doesn’t face the Greek killing machine (cf. ll. 108-156). [[Hector]]’s resolve is soon shaken as he sees [[Achilles]] closing, bloody rage the only thing that [[Achilles]] sees. [[Hector]] flees, but is soon tricked by [[Athena]] into stopping to face [[Achilles]], perhaps a commentary on [[Hector]]’s need for companionship and [[Achilles]]’ desire for only personal vengeance and renown. [[Hector]] is mercilessly murdered in front of Troy’s walls, like a fawn at the jaws of a lion.

The death of [[Hector]], then, is given a final cultural context from [[Hector]]’s widow [[Andromache]]. She now sees the demise of Troy, but personally she sees no future for their son [[Astyanax]]. The death of the father, then, is a weighty metaphor for the Trojans: the order that they secured will soon be rendered useless by the barbarity of war; the father’s death leads to the destruction of social order. This theme will be taken up in the [[Odyssey]] as well: what is the responsibility of the son for maintaining order in the absence or death of the father? As [[Andromache]] sees no future for [[Astyanax]], life does continue even after the carnage of war, yet a new order is imposed on the losers — those who escape death. This theme of continuity is also addressed by [[Virgil]] in his [[Aeneid]].

Is war, then, a necessary component of human life? Just because it has been historically up until this point, are we to be like [[Achilles]] who could not hear reason through his bloody thoughts: “No truce / till one or the other falls and gluts with blood” (XXII.313-14)? When do we decide that war is better than order?

== Summary ==
In book one of the ''Iliad'', we discover that because of [[Agamemnon]]’s refusal to relinquish Chryseis, [[Apollo]] has rained a plague upon the Achaean forces. Because he is eventually challenged by [[Achilles]] — who represents the wishes of the rest of the men — [[Agamemnon]] decides to claim Achilles’ prize (a girl named Briseis) to reassert his authority and put Achilles in his place for his challenge. Achilles shows cunning and restraint — qualities that are usually associated with [[Odysseus]] — in his argument with [[Agamemnon]], while the latter rages and rails like a wounded child. Yet, when [[Agamemnon]]’s men take Briseis, [[Achilles]], also child-like, begins to pout by his ships, cries to his mother, and refuses to play the war game anymore. This final decision precipitates the death of many Achaeans, including Achilles’ friend [[Patroclus]]. Achilles’ resulting rage ends with the death of [[Hector]] in book twenty-two, and Achilles’ own apocryphal death under the bow of [[Paris]] before the war’s end. See more in [[The Iliad Summary]].

== Characters ==
The ''Iliad''’s participants are the nobility of both cultures, or the ''aristoi'': “the best people.” They are the hereditary holders of wealth and power, and their decisions effect all of the culture. For example, [[Agamemnon]]’s decision to infuriate [[Achilles]] at the outset of the ''Iliad'' has lasting effects on the Greek warriors during the last weeks of the Trojan War. Like most [[Epic Poetry|epic]], of which the ''Iliad'' is really the definitive example, the action begins [[in medias res]], a few weeks before the end of a ten-year campaign, with all of the [[Epic Poetry|epic]]’s traditional accouterments. The ''Iliad'' poses questions, as will the [[Odyssey]], about the nature of political order and what humans must do to maintain that vision and structure. The initial contention in the ''Iliad'' is between the Greek champion [[Achilles]] and the Greek commander [[Agamemnon]]. Who has the stronger claim to right: [[Agamemnon]] who has the hereditary position, or [[Achilles]], the one with merit? Ultimately does it matter? When swords are drawn, reason becomes irrelevant.

=== Achaeans ===
* [[Achilles]]
* [[Agamemnon]]
* [[Ajax]]
* [[Menaleus]]
* [[Nestor]]
* [[Odysseus]]
* [[Patroclus]]

=== Trojans ===
* [[Hector]]
* [[Hecuba]]
* [[Helen]]
* [[Paris]]
* [[Priam]]

=== The Gods ===
* [[Apollo]]
* [[Athena]]
* [[Hera]]
* [[Poseidon]]
* [[Thetis]]
* [[Zeus]]
* [[The Humaness of Iliad's Gods]]

== Internal Links ==
* [[Homer]]
* [[The Iliad Summary]]

== External Links ==

* [http://library.thinkquest.org/19300/data/homer.htm Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000312.shtml The Iliad: Rage and War]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000503.shtml Hector: Family Man, but Hero First]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000456.shtml Fighting Beyond Their Fates]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000297.shtml Friendship and Two Epics]

== Suggested Reading ==
== Works Cited ==
Ceram C.W. ''Gods, Graves, and Scholars''. New York: Alfred A. knopf 1967.

----
[[Category:World Literature]]

Hecuba

2005-04-19T19:48:53Z

Hvyas:

Hecuba is the Queen of Troy and the mother of Hector, Paris, Cassandra and among others. Hecuba is also the daughter of Dymas and wife of [[Priam]]. When Troy falls, she is given to [[Odysseus]] as a prize and has to watch as her Daughter, Polyxena, is sacrificed at the tomb of [[Achilles]]. She is also the central character in two surviving plays of [[Euripedes]], the ''Hecuba'', which is undated, and ''The Trojan Women'' (415 BC).

Priam

2005-04-19T19:38:53Z

Hvyas:

Priam is son of Laomedon and husband of [[Hecuba]]. Priam is king of Troy at the time of the Achaean expedition against the city. In ''Iliad'', [[Homer]] has portrayed him as a kindly older gentleman, courteous to everyone and trying to do his best despite his age and weakened condition. Priam’s treatment towards [[Helen]] is very compassionate, although he has fully right to despise her for what she had brought upon him and his city. He treats [[Helen]] like his favorite daughter and refuses to let others maltreat her, at least in his presence. [[Homer]] has presented something very tragic about Priam’s character. Priam mourns for his dead children, especially [[Hector]], the greatest and best-loved of all. He never seems to surrender his dignity, even when he is in the most heart-tearing situation where, in order to recover Hector’s body, he is a guest in the home of the man who killed Hector. Priam knows or at least suspects the fall of his city Troy to the Achaeans. At the end, Priam gets killed by [[Achilles]]’ son, Neoptolemus during the sack of Troy.

Hera

2005-04-19T19:07:10Z

Hvyas:

Hera is daughter of Cronus and Rhea, sister of [[Zeus]] and also his wife. Hera is goddess of marriage and childbirth. She is known for her jealousy of [[Zeus]] and her intrigues against him and his many human mistresses and illegitimate children. In the ''Iliad,'' Hera is a partisan of the Achaeans for two reasons. One is that main cities of Achaeans are under her protection. Another reason is her anger at the Trojans because of [[Paris]]’ decision to give the golden apple marked “for the fairest” to [[Aphrodite]].

Medea

2005-04-17T21:29:49Z

Hvyas: /* Works Cited */

== Summary ==

[[Image:MedeaChariot.jpeg|thumb|Medea’s Chariot]]The play [[Medea]] begins in turmoil and escalates until the tragic end. ''Medea'' tells the story of passion that transforms from love to hate. Consumed with a passionate rage ''Medea'' seeks to avenge her husband, [[Jason]] who has wronged her. Jason has left ''Medea'' and taken a new wife. To add insult to injury, Jason’s new bride is the daughter of king [[Kreon]] and a Greek.

The play opens outside the house of ''Medea'' and Jason in [[Corinth]]. The [[Nurse]] tells the sorrows of ''Medea'' and how Jason has abandoned ''Medea'' after all she has done for him. The Nurse is afraid ''Medea'' will harm someone close to her. ''Medea’s'' heart is full of violence especially for Jason and the children. ''Medea'' is overwhelmed with grief that is manifesting as jealousy and rage.

The [[Tutor]] appears with ''Medea'' two young children who have been outside playing. ''Medea’s'' children are oblivious to the resentment their mother is beginning to feel towards them. The Nurse warns the children to stay out of their mother’s sight. The Tutor is the bearer of bad news. The Tutor has heard rumors that ''Medea'' and her children will be exiled from Corinth. The Nurse is sympathetic to ''Medea’s'' plight while the Tutor is blasé.

The [[Chorus]] of Corinthian women arrives to check on ''Medea''. The Chorus hears ''Medea'' cries and curses from inside the house. The Chorus asks the Nurse to go see if ''Medea'' will come outside so they can console her.

A distraught ''Medea'' enters the courtyard and delivers a poignant speech on the sufferings and indignations of women in an oppressively man’s world. ''Medea'' points out to the Chorus being a woman is even worst for her because she is a foreigner without a family or a home. The Chorus sympathizes with ''Medea''. ''Medea'' despises Jason for taking another wife, and condemns Jason, his new bride, and king Kreon. ''Medea'' makes the Chorus promise if she finds a way to revenge Jason, they will remain silent. The Chorus gives ''Medea'' a vow of silence agreeing ''Medea'' is right to seek revenge.

''Medea'' has been blatantly lamenting her disgruntlements. ''Medea’s'' condemnations have come to the attention of king Kreon. King Kreon enters and exiles ''Medea'' and her children because he is afraid of ''Medea''. Using her children, ''Medea'' appeals to king Kreon on a paternal level and asks for one more day for the sake of the children so she can get her affairs in order. King Kreon reluctantly agrees and allows ''Medea'' to stay in Corinth one more day convinced she could not do the evil he fears in one day.

The Chorus pities ''Medea'' but ''Medea'' assures them one day is all she needs to avenge Jason faithlessness. When considering how to kill her enemies, ''Medea'' rules out swords or fire because that would mean close contact with the victims and she may get caught giving her enemies a reason to laugh at her. Being humiliated is one of ''Medea'' greatest fears and motivates her to lash out to save face. ''Medea'' decides to use poison. A conniving manipulator ''Medea'' schemes to poison Jason, his new bride, and king Kreon. ''Medea'' is determined no one especially a man will mistreat her and live to tell about it.

Jason visits ''Medea''. Similar to Kreon when he visited ''Medea'', Jason immediately chastises ''Medea'' for her behavior and blames her for her own exile. ''Medea'' calls Jason a coward and reminds him of all she has done for him in the name of love. ''Medea'' is instrumental in assisting Jason in obtaining the Golden Fleece. ''Medea'' betrays her father, murders her brother, an exile from her homeland, and orchestrates the death of Pelias … all for a man who has snubbed her. Jason tries to convince ''Medea'' he married king Kreon daughter for her and their children sake. Marrying into prosperity will benefit them all. Jason argues ''Medea'' has benefited from their marriage more than he. Jason took ''Medea'' away from a barbaric, lawless land. ''Medea'' is very popular living among the Greeks. ''Medea’s'' cleverness is admired in Corinth whereas in [[Colchis]] cleverness is not revered. Also, the children need royal siblings to protect them. ''Medea'' and Jason continue to argue. ''Medea'' feels Jason should have been man enough to tell her he has taken a new bride. Jason believes ''Medea'' is too irrational to handle the news of his bride and her behavior now reflects he was correct in his assumption. Jason offers ''Medea'' contacts with his friends that will help her once she and the kids are exiled from Corinth. Fiercely pride ''Medea'' refuses to take anything from Jason who betrayed her.

By chance ''Medea’s'' friend king [[Aigeus]] of [[Athens]] visits. ''Medea'' envisions a safe haven for escape. ''Medea'' tells Aigeus of Jason’s treachery and her pending exile. ''Medea'' beseeches Aigeus for asylum in Athens. King Aigeus unaware of ''Medea’s'' murderous intentions offers ''Medea'' sanctuary in return for her offer of drugs that will end his childlessness. However, king Aigeus gives Medea one condition for sanctuary, ''Medea'' must come to Athens on her own will. Aigeus swears an oath to all the gods at ''Medea'' appeal that he will not turn her over to her enemies no matter what. Reassured ''Medea'' sets her scheme for vengeance in motion. ''Medea'' tells the Chorus of her plans.

''Medea’s'' scheme of murder is coming together. ''Medea'' has a safe haven once the murders are complete. As her scheme unfolds, ''Medea'' realizes she must also murder her own children to completely avenge Jason’s dishonor. ''Medea'' wants to hurt Jason deeply and she cannot risk anyone who does not love her children hurting them. The Chorus begs ''Medea'' to reconsider murdering her children. ''Medea'' says,” No compromise is possible” (803).

''Medea'' sends for Jason. ''Medea'' uses an assuaging attitude with Jason. ''Medea'' apologizes for her angry and tells Jason he is right to have married king Kreon’s daughter. ''Medea'' pretends to be submissive like Jason expects a good wife to be. After “''kissing up''” to Jason, ''Medea'' sends her children along with Jason and the Tutor to the bride with gifts of a poison woven dress and a golden diadem.

The Tutor returns with the children and tells ''Medea'' the royal princess will let the children stay in Corinth. The Tutor is baffled by ''Medea’s'' melancholy behavior. ''Medea'' exhibits tenderness and cold-heartedness as she cries and talks to her children preparing herself to murder them. When ''Medea’s'' children smile at her she considers relinquishing her murderous scheme. The fury ''Medea'' feels at being betrayed by Jason conquers her resolve. ''Medea'' is compelled to finish what has already been started.

''Medea'' anxiously waits for news from the palace. The [[Messenger]] enters surprise ''Medea'' is hanging around. The Messenger tells ''Medea'' to run. The Messenger brings news that the royal princess and king Kreon are dead. ''Medea'' glories in the details as the Messenger tells her of the anguish deaths. Jason’s bride and king Kreon die an awful, torturous death with suffering as well. The golden diadem burst into flames sitting upon the royal princess head burning her body and the woven dress sloughs the flesh from her bones. As king Kreon cradles his daughter dead body the poison consumes him as the poisonous woven dress adhered to his flesh.

Jason returns looking for his children to protect them from the angry Corinthian mob after he finds out his new bride and father-in-law have been murdered by ''Medea''. The Chorus tells Jason his children have been murdered by their mother’s hand. Jason is appalled and looks for ''Medea''. ''Medea'' has hung around to gloat. ''Medea'' appears above the place in a chariot drawn by dragons provided by her grandfather, [[Helios]], the sun god. The children bodies are on the chariot. Jason begs for the children’s bodies, but ''Medea'' cynically laughs at him refusing to give his the honor of burying the children dead bodies. Jason desperately wants to kiss his dead children and bury them, but ''Medea'' refuses to give him the satisfaction. Jason insults ''Medea'' by telling her a Greek woman would never do the things she has done. ''Medea'' and Jason blame each other for the children’s death. ''Medea'' prophesies Jason’s death. ''Medea'' and Jason argue violently as the play comes to an end. The Chorus closes the play reflecting on capricious nature of gods’ will. ''Medea'' succeeds in revenge and Jason is lonely and tormented. Jason has lost his financial security, his status, and children to carry on his name. Jason is left without distinction. ''Medea’s'' avenge is achieved. Passionate love turned to passionate hate.

Additional Reading

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/medea.html

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu

== Themes and Motifs ==
=== Right Message, Wrong Messenger ===

Euripides’ Medea, was the first in a series of plays in which vivid, powerful women appeared on the Euripidean stage. It was produced in the year that the Peloponnesian War began, and sought to play on the low morale of the public to restore the female sex in positions of social influence and power. Throughout the centuries it has been regarded as one of the most powerful of the Greek tragedies, and also one in which the theme of women was more important than most. It is in this play that Euripides could either restore or condemn the female populace in society (Pelling).

Euripides questions many social norms of the period, but he uses a female such as Medea to convey his message. While Medea has no legal rights, she is the sorceress’ grandchild of the Sun God and therefore able to articulately explain her actions and passionately act on her plans. She is initially able to gain the sympathy and support of the Corinthian women for her plight by passionately pleading her case to the public at large. Medea’s passionate arguments fly in the face of the Greek tradition that only the male has the ability and right to lucid, rational argument. Jason although regarded as civilized by Greek society, is by contrast weak, compromised and cowardly. Medea also challenges ancient Greek society’s decree that the greatest glory for a woman was to bear children, provide sex and to fulfill the demands of her husband (Rassidakis 220-226). From the first compelling moments of this one-act play the audience is drawn into contradictions confronting Medea: to challenge injustice and betrayal or accommodate to it and the financial security and comfort it could bring (Pucci). Traditional behavior of women was a very important aspect of this play, and portraying Medea as both similar and different to fellow womankind allowed the audience to make judgment on the role of women as they knew it. Medea recurrently assaulted fundamental and sacred values and that gave the play much of its power and allowed Euripides to most persuasively portray her as an incarnation of disorder. Could any male audience possibly start to respect any woman that could crush basic human order? Euripides did not himself condemn Medea. Rather, he gave the audience a choice on whether to accept her character and actions. However by implication he is associating a breakdown in human order as being due to the wickedness in such a woman. Yet associating such a drastic event with women would imply that they had the power to be so destructive, and that was not an option of the times - especially when a war had just broken out, and unity was of great importance (McDermott).

In the tragedy Medea, Euripides fails to rehabilitate the female sex. He chooses a semi-divine, foreign sorceress to voice the appeals of ordinary Athenian wives. She is a woman capable of murder, manipulation and deception, and she has no sense of remorse. In choosing her, Euripides appears to be sending out mixed signals concerning women. Her concerns are those that apply to the majority of women at the time, and an audience would no doubt have understood these; yet Medea deals with them in a way that is abhorrent for a woman of fifth-century Athens (Easterling). She invokes both pathos and disgust, and, for a male audience, she would encourage distrust and continuing ‘imprisonment’ and lower social status for women. Although Euripides may well have believed in promoting womankind, it would have been difficult to put this idea across to the male audience of the day, and that may be why he is unable to make any significant advances in the Medea. He had the right message, but used the wrong messenger (Strauss 237-270).

=== Xenophobia ===

Euripides’s Medea explores the tensions which existed between citizens and foreigners and Greece’s subsequent Xenophobia. In the play, Medea represents the non-citizen who completely lacked legal and social rights. Not only is she far from the comforts of her native land, but also, as both a woman and a foreigner, she is viewed as a “poor creature” (643), below the level of a human being.

As Doctor Gerry Lucas pointed out in his lecture, marriage was a citizen’s contract, meaning Medea had no legal hold on Jason and could not take any form of official recourse. The Nurse laments that “…she has discovered by her sufferings/ What it means to one not to have lost one’s own country” (643). The Nurse is making a deliberate comparison to Jason, who as a male citizen enjoyed legal protection and political activity. Medea, a female non-citizen, is left without a voice or support. Her lack of institutional support led to the necessity that she herself administer Jason’s punishment.

Jason most aptly expresses the Xenophobic snobbery inherent in such disparity between citizen and foreigner. As he explains to Medea the advantages of living in a ‘civilized’ culture he insists that “…instead of living among barbarians/ You inhabit a Greek land and understand our ways/ How to live by law instead of the sweet will of force” (653.) Such ethnocentric attitudes were both stemmed from and perpetuated by the lack of citizen’s rights. According to Wikipedia, women and foreigners were unable to vote and therefore could not create public policy that would help eradicate Ancient Greece’s sexism and xenophobia.

===Feminist Concerns===

Euripides wrote ''Medea'' in 431 B.C. (640). Greek mythology shows us how Greeks, at that time, had firm beliefs on how women should behave themselves and the values they should hold. The perceived submissive behavior of women begins the very moment a wife arrives in her husband’s home (O’Higgins 104). A woman is supposed to provide heirs to the man (O’Higgins 104).

An Athenian perception pertaining to a “good woman” was that a woman be loyal to her husband and children (Sourvinou-Inwood 254). The most common characteristics of a good woman would be goodness, self-control and the fact that she was devoted to her husband and children (Sourvinou-Inwood 254). A good woman would reflect the culture’s established values and provide a look into the culture itself. A bad woman would be the opposite of the positive norm. In the beginning of ''Medea'', she portrays herself as a good woman. She was devoted to Jason and loved him so much that she felt as though she could not survive without him. When the nurse is talking in the beginning she states that “poor Medea is slighted, and cries aloud on the vows they made to each other, the right hands clasped in eternal promise (643).” Even though the play begins as seeing Medea as a normal, possibly good woman, she has already shown signs of abnormality in her behavior for a woman at that time. Medea is already showing signs of hatefulness towards her children. “I hate you, children of a hateful mother (645).” Medea is already showing behavior that women would not dare show in this time.

Medea could be seen as a heroine for women who do not want to be confined to the role of the “producer of legitimate offspring (McDonald 303).” By killing her children, she separates herself independently from her husband and the general patriarchy (McDonald 304). Even though at this time, husband’s were expected to be with other women, Medea feels as though her family rights were violated. Medea was also different in this aspect. She didn’t believe that and felt vengeful. The ultimate punishment for Jason, was to violently take his heirs from him. Medea’s anger turned into aggressive action, which can make her into a symbol for women (McDonald 304).

Throughout the play, Medea was more or less an ordinary woman portrayed as a bad woman. However, she could be the victim of male power and just seemed very out of the ordinary for the role of females at this time (Sourvinou-Inwood 258). She ended up being a version of a very bad woman, by killing her son’s and wreaking havoc on Jason and male power (Sourvinou-Inwood 258).

The idea explored in this play possibly suggests that women like Medea “use the weapons of the weak, which are both deceitful and violent and hurt men where they are vulnerable to women (Sourvinou-Inwood 261).” The play suggests that normal philosophy is not perfect and easy and if things go wrong men also suffer.

== Historical Context ==

Greek tragic playwright, Euripides was born in Athens circa 480 BCE. He is credited with authoring at least 80 plays, 19 of which have survived until modern times. Several of his tragedies feature very strong female characters, including ''The Trojan Women'' and ''Medea''. He died at the court of the Macedonian king in 406 BCE. His work gained a greater popularity after his death than it had received during his lifetime (Crystal 317).

''Medea'' was first produced in Athens in 431 BCE. The earliest works in which Medea first appeared, such as the ''Building of the Argo'' and the ''Journey of Jason to the Cochians'' by Ehpimenides of Crete are only fragments, but her story seems to be an old and popular one (Johnston 3). From at least the early fifth century B.C., Medea was seen as a complex figure. Medea exhibited an extraordinary range of behavior and was different from most other figures in Greek myth(Johnston 6). According to legislation passed, twenty years earlier, a foreign woman could not legally marry an Athenian male. Any children begotten through such a union would not be considered legitimate heirs in the eyes of the law (Vandiver 217-16). In the late fifth century, after Euripides production of ''Medea'', everyone began to emphasize Medea’s role as a foreigner within the Greek Society (Johnston 8). Medea also began to challenge thoughts of what drove humans to inhuman behavior (Johnston 10).

Medea has moved to the forefront in the twentieth century. She forces us today to look into the depths of our own souls (Johnston 17). Even though Medea was first produced in 431 B.C. she is still shown today as a “barbarian woman” and shows us the crime of infanticide existed even in Euripides time period.

== Characters ==
* [[Jason]]

* [[Medea]]

* [[Kreon]]
''Medea'' is the princess of the Isle of Colchis(642). ''Medea'' is a sorceress, skilled in magic, and is renowned for her cleverness. ''Medea'' comes from a prestigious lineage. Medea is the daughter of king Aeetes and Idyia. ''Medea'' is also the granddaughter of the sun god Helios and the niece of Circe who is also known as a sorceress. ''Medea'' admires and is a protégé of goddess Hecate a patron of witchcraft.

''Medea'' falls in love with a man named [[Jason]] when he reached the land of Colchis in pursuit of the Golden Fleece.(642) ''Medea'' falls in love with Jason, helps him steal the Golden Fleece from her own country and leaves with him.(642) She eventually marries Jason and has children with him as they have moved to live in exile in Corinth.(643)

''Medea'' learns Jason has been dipping his noodle in the King of Corinth’s daughter.(643) She learns he has intentions of marrying her and leaving ''Medea'' and the kids to fend for themselves.(647) Kreon, King of Corinth, hears of ''Medea’s'' anger with Jason and the king’s daughter.(648) Kreon approaches ''Medea'' and sentences her to exile.(648)

Nothing like a woman scorned as ''Medea'' in her angered state plans for the demise of her husband, his new bride to be, and her father.(658) ''Medea'' first covers her base by finding a safe place to live in exile. (656) King Aigeus, King of Athens, agrees that if she can find her way to his doorstep she can stay forever and be safe.(656)

Now ''Medea'' plans the way to kill Jason’s bride to be and anyone who touches her.(658) She plans to poison two bridal gifts for Jason’s new bride and have the children hand deliver them to her.(659) Jason falls for the plan and takes the children to his bride to be where she receives her gifts and puts them on falling to her death.(664) The children return to ''Medea'' where she kills them right before Jason returns to find out what dastardly deed she has done.(669) ''Medea'' escapes Corinth with her dead children on a dragon drawn chariot given to her by Helios, her father’s father to protect her from her enemies.(670) She escapes to live in Athens and Jason never sees his children again.(670)

== Commentaries ==
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000320.shtml Euripides' ''Medea'': Patriarchal Terrorism]]

== External Links ==

== Works Cited ==

Athenian Democracy. 2005. Wikipedia. 8 April 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracy#Citizenship_in_Athens>.

Euripides. ''Medea. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces''. Eds. Lawall, Sarah and Mack, Maynard. 7th. NY: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1999. 642-672.

Ferguson, John.'' A Companion to Greek Tragedy''. TX: University of Texas Press. 1972.

Lattimore, Richard. ''The Poetry of Greek Tragedy.'' MD: John Hopkins Press. 1958.

Rassidakis, Kristina. The origins of love, hate, and retaliation in Euripides tragedy; Medea: a psychodynamic approach. Changes: International Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy 15, 1997.
Pucci, Pietro. The Violence of Pity in Euripides’ Medea. Cornell University, 1980.
Pelling, Christopher. Greek Tragedy and the Historian. Oxford, 1997.
Ober, Josiah and Strauss, Barry. Drama, Political Rhetoric, and Discourse of Athenian Democracy in Winkler, John J. Athenian Drama in Its Social Context. Princeton, 1990.
McDermott, Emily A. Euripedes’ Medea: The Incarnation of Disorder. University Park, PA. 1989.
Easterling, P.E. The Infanticide in Euripides’ Medea. YCS 25, 1977.

O’Higgins, Dolores M., Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane, Johnston, Sarah Iles, and McDonald, Marianne. Medea: Essays on Medea in Myth, Literature, Philosophy, and Art. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.

Buxon, Richard. ''The Complete World of Greek Mythology''. NY: Thames & Hudson. 2004.

Graves, Robert. ''Greek Myths''. NY: Penguin Books. 1981.

Crystal, David. ''The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia.'' Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. New York. 1995.

Vandiver, Elizabeth. ''Greek Tragedy''. The Teaching Company. Course # 217. Lectures 1-24.

Grimal, Pierre. ''Larousse World Mythology''. New Jersey: Chartwheel Books Inc. 1973.

Melchinger, Siegfried. ''Sophocles''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co. 1974. 35-42.

[[Category:World Literature]]

The story of Medea is one of the best known and widely translated Greek tragedies. Euripides starts this tragedy with the nurse telling what has happened up to this point. He opens a new outlook to tragedy by showing Medea as woman and foreigner, which have almost no rights at all, which is out to avenge her husband Jason for leaving her for another woman.

Medea was the daughter of Aeetes, King of Colchis. Medea fell hopelessly in love with Jason, the commander of the Argonauts, who came to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece. In return for Jason’s pledge of everlasting love and to take her back to Greece with him. With Medea’s magic she deceived her father to help Jason obtain the Golden Fleece. Medea and Jason sail from Colchis to return to Greece, but to escape Aeetes; Medea kills her brother, Apsyrtus and scatters his remains over the sea. When Aeetes stops to gathering up the remains of Apsyrtus, Jason and his crew manage to escape.

In Greece Jason finds his parents are killed by Pelias. To avenge the death of his parent, Jason asked Medea to help him with her magic. As always Medea grants his wishes and brings about Pelias’s death by a cunning trick. She tells the daughters of Pelias that they could help their aging father to become young again. Medea cuts up an old sheep and boils it, then says a magic spell and a young lamb jumps from the pot and runs away. This convinces the daughters of Pelias that they could make their father young again. So, Medea gave Pelias a sleeping potion, and the girls began to cut their father up but Medea disappeared without saying the magic spell to bring him back to life, thus causing the daughters to killing their father.

After this Medea and Jason escaped to Corinth, where they had two sons. They were living very happy until Jason fell in love with the daughter of King Creon of Corinth. Jason left Medea and was going to marry the Kings daughter to make more wealth and power for him and his sons. But Medea was devastated, and she mourned for Jason and their life together. Medea was going crazy and crying out of control and people around her home began to hear her and word got back to the king. King Creon was worried about the emotional state that Medea was in and what she could do to him and to his daughter. He told Medea that she had to leave the city and take her children with her. So to get her revenge, Medea kills the daughter with a poisoned robe, which kills the daughter and the King. Soon after their death the messenger comes to Medea kills her to sons so that Jason will have to suffer a long a painful life, without the Kings daughter and his two sons. Medea escapes from Jason by leaving Corinth, flying to Athens in a chariot from Helios.

Bates, Alfred. "The Dram: It's History, Literture and Influence on Civilization", vol 1. 1906

COllier Michael. "The Virginia Quarlerly Review." Charlottesville: 2004.

Chorus

2005-04-17T21:26:11Z

Hvyas:

Chorus helps distinguish differences between classical tragedies and contemporary theater. Chorus has gradually lost its initial significance, However, In the plays of Sophocles, choruses still hold power of expressions, and they usually consisted of elders, the ''Gerousia'', voicing the opinions of people and urging cautions. “Originally the chorus probably consisted of fifty singers standing in a circle in the midst of the audience” (36). The choruses are usually composed of young girls, women, soldiers who simply represent the people, the ''polloi.'' These groups “speak on a level different from that of the hero” (39). Furthermore, the chorus also prepares the audience for what is about to happen. “A premonition of catastrophe or jubilation at the approach of some happy event is contained in the song or can be detected in the movements of the dance” (40). The chorus neither represents the voice of the audience nor of the dramatist but stands between them. One of the most significant function of choruses is to convey the moods of the dramatic situations to the audience.

Epic of Gilgamesh

2005-04-16T23:33:58Z

Hvyas: /* Gilgamesh as Epic */

[[Image:Gilgamesh.jpg|thumb|Gilgamesh]] While composed nearly five thousand years ago (2500-1500 BCE), ''Gilgamesh'' seems very as contemporary in its thematic concerns as it is alien in many of its cultural practices. Many of these themes emerge from a lost mythological tradition and a culture that is equally non-extant, the bonds of friendship, fear of death, and the quest for worldly renown still strike chords with us even in the twenty-first century.

== Historical Context ==

''Gilgamesh'' is a primary epic, composed over a thousand years by cultural stories of the legendary king, Gilgamesh, who is thought to have historically ruled Uruk circa 2700 BCE. The oral stories were probably assembled by a poet and cast into the narrative form of the epic between 2000 and 1600 BCE and finally written on clay tablets in cuneiform during the reign of Assurbanipol in 668-627 BCE.

== Gilgamesh as Epic ==

Can ''Gilgamesh'' be called an Epic? Yes and No.

No, because the term epic is usually applied to exceptionally long poems that are narrated by someone else. ''Gilgamesh'' has three entries that one may consider to be poems. On page 34 ''Gilgamesh'' cries out to the counsellors of Uruk in what I would call a short prayer. On page 43 Ea speaks to Enlil about his misdeeds, the words that are indented have the characteristics of an epic poem. Ea words center on Enlil whose deeds can control the fate of human mankind.

Then again yes, ''Gilgamesh'' could be called a Primary Epic. The story of Gilgamesh has several episodes that are legendary. The first sentence of the story states, "''Gilgamesh'' is a poem of unparalleled antiquity, the first great heroic narrative of world literature" (Norton). A "[[Epic_Poetry#Primary_Epic|primary epic]]" "focuses on the personal concept of heroism, and the self-fulfillment and identity of the individual hero." Gilgamesh was definitely out for self-fulfillment. The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' contains everything we can expect from a great epic literature. It portrays fantastic geographies, exotic characters, exhausting quests, heroic battles with monsters, supernatural beings and natural forces. Most important of all, it is an outstanding story of a great epic hero who is compelled to meet his destiny and who rises to every challenge with courage and determination.

== The Role of Enkidu ==
When the god Anu heard the city of Uruk lamenting the cruelty of their king, he responded by demanding of the goddess of creation: “You made him, O Aruru, now create his equal; let it be as like him as his own reflection, his second self, stormy heart for stormy heart” (19). Thus [[Enkidu]] was created to counterbalance the despotic Gilgamesh: whereas Gilgamesh was two thirds god and one third man, Enkidu was two thirds beast and one third man. Enkidu also acts as a reflection to Gilgamesh in that both must learn what it means to be human. In order to do this, each must distance himself from his animal or godly instincts. As for Enkidu, Jager states that “the wild man who is about to enter the human city must…forego living in a state of absolute unity with a savage and untamed nature.” Enkidu must break the bond between himself and the wilderness in order to be cultured and civilized. Similarly, Jager notes that “The king seeking to humanly inhabit his realm must forego treating that realm as a mere physical extension of himself to which he has completely unrestricted access.” Gilgamesh, like a weaning child, must recognize the break between himself as a ruler and the kingdom he reigns over. Both must learn how to properly inhabit the human realm before they can be considered human.

== Thematic Concerns ==

The [[Epic Poetry | epic]] takes as its primary concern Gilgamesh’s wisdom that he acquires during his journeys and the monuments that he constructs upon his return. Like the Homeric epics, Gilgamesh begins ''in medias res'' during the rule of a wild king, two-thirds god and one-third man. While Gilgamesh is strong and an obvious stud — at least in his own mind, his is cruel and naive, needing to discover what it means to be human if he is to become a good ruler and father.

=== Bonds of Friendship ===

His first lesson is one of friendship through the wild man Enkidu, more of an animal than man. Like all good, lasting friendships, Gilgamesh and Enkidu first attempt to kill each other when the latter comes to Uruk. Fortunately, they do not, yet Gilgamesh does get the slight upper-hand, and they become great friends. Indeed, while there is an implicit suggestion of Gilgamesh’s superiority over Enkidu, something akin most friendships, there is one who is dominant, choosing adventures, making decisions, and directing the ultimate course of the friendship. Gilgamesh, since he is the [[heroic ideal | epic hero]], seems to take this role, perhaps also suggesting the superiority of the cultured and civilized to the animal, or natural. This motif becomes even more apparent in their first adventure.

Strong bonds are usually formed when two people have a common goal, ideal, or interest. As stated in the epic, the gods created Enkidu to try to soften Gilgamesh-make him kinder and gentler. It was as if Homer wanted Gilgamesh to be perceived to be a bad little boy and provide an alter-ego to help Gilgamesh mature. People come in and out of one’s life for a purpose--some to be there for a long time and some for just a moment. Some are there to provide a particular purpose--maybe to teach a certain life’s lesson--and some to change lives forever--maybe a child or a teacher. Their time in one’s life may or may not accomplish its purpose because some are blinded by selfish desires. For Enkidu, his time with Gilgamesh was relatively short, but it was a relationship that Gilgamesh would never forget and which would affect him the rest of his own life. Even though their first meeting was stressful, they became best friends. Early in his existence, Enkidu had lost his physical strength through the trickery of sex with an encounter with a harlot. “It was Gilgamesh that sent a priestess to teach Enkidu the power of civilization, whereas by meeting Enkidu Gilgamesh felt for the first time the need to share and grow, it was through their friendship that Gilgamesh becomes less self-absorbed and most certainly, less lonely (Lishtar).” “Shamhat meets Enkidu at the watering-hole where all the wild animals gather; she offers herself to him and he submits, instantly losing his strength and wildness, but he gains understanding and knowledge. He laments for his lost state (Hooker, Tablet 1)”. Homer seemed to be presenting Enkidu in a more animalistic manner at first and then shows him becoming more human.

When Enkidu first came into the city, Gilgamesh, though not the groom, was about to go in and ravish a new bride. “Enkidu stands in front of the door of the marital chamber and blocks Gilgamesh's way. They fight furiously until Gilgamesh wins the upper hand; Enkidu concedes Gilgamesh's superiority and the two embrace and become devoted friends (Hooker, Tablet 2)”. Some believe that Gilgamesh and Enkidu were lovers, but Lishtar noted that, “…it is not implied in the text that Gilgamesh and Enkidu were lovers in the physical sense. They were though the best friends possible in all worlds, and this is a grace beyond measure (Lishtar)”. This is simply a tale, but ”the modern ideas and interpretations have been applied to it. This is not all bad because it helps relate to this ancient text, but when it comes down to it, it is not likely that this story is about sexuality (''Gilgamesh'').” Many friendships that start off with turmoil, wind up being the closest. Their friendship was genuine. Enkidu does seem to enjoy the camaraderie that he shares with Gilgamesh and when they enter the forest to cut down the cedar tress, he is the one who stands up to Humbaba, the great demon. “Enkidu shouts at Humbaba that the two of them are much stronger than the demon (Hooker, Tablet 5)”. “This is the real meaning of the bond between Enkidu and Gilgamesh, ideal self and bright shadow that stands by wherever we are (Lishtar).” This also occurs in one’s friendships today. One person seems to relish in the glory and the other may be just along for the ride or be the one who gets things done behind the scenes--not everyone wants to be king!

=== Quest for Worldly Renown ===

Now that we are friends, we have to party. Enkidu soon gets bored in Uruk — “I am oppressed by idleness” (23) — and Gilgamesh suggests they go get medieval of some evil: Humbaba. This feat will also prove Gilgamesh a real hero by allowing stories to be told about his great feats of manhood:

: I will set up my name in the place where the names of famous men are written, and where no man’s name is written yet I will raise a monument to the gods.

[[Image:Grendel.jpg|thumb|Humbaba]] While Humbaba lives in the Country of the Living, seemingly quite far from Uruk, and is apparently not an immediate threat to Gilgamesh’s people, this endeavor might seem a bit dubious. Perhaps this is a commentary on what men will do when they are bored: let’s go kill something. When we are at peace, we long for war? Humbaba might also represent a “holdfast,” something that while alive or existing — whether an idea or an actual threat — restricts a culture from developing beyond a certain point. Many such holdfasts pop up in western literature, cf. the dragon in Beowulf for one.

While Gilgamesh and Enkidu are successful in killing Humbaba — through episodes of fainting and friendly gibes — its death suggests more of an ambiguity in their success, as if something precious has been slain all for the pride of man (and I do mean man, here). Notice that when Humbaba is killed, the heroes begin cutting down trees: “They attacked the cedars . . . [and] cleared their roots as far as the banks of the Euphrates” (30). Like Enkidu’s education through the wiles of the harlot, this victory suggests that while the heroes accomplished their great victory, something is irrevocably lost because of their endeavor. Through the harlot, Enkidu forever loses his innocence, but what is lost in the killing of Humbaba is a bit more ambiguous. Perhaps this is an ecological statement about clearing rain forests millennia before we knew what effect that practice would have.

The ambiguity continues in the gods’ reaction to the death of Humbaba and the felling of the cedars: Enkidu must die. OK, maybe it has more to do with Gilgamesh’s arrogant dismissal of Ishtar, but regardless, the Bull of Heaven is sent to punish the heroes and Uruk. Even though the bull is defeated, Enkidu must die which precipitates Gilgamesh’s search for immortality — an escape from death. Notice that while Enkidu lays dying that he curses the city (civilization), the harlot (women that led to the destruction of his innocence), and the trapper (who precipitated the education of Enkidu). Enkidu’s curses further call into question the necessity of civilization and heroic quests: perhaps fame is not worth death.

=== Humbaba ===

"Humbaba whose name is 'Hugeness,' a ferocious giant. Enlil has appointed Humbaba to guard the forest and has armed him in sevenfold terrors, terrible to all flesh is Humbaba. When he roars it is like the torrent of the storm, his breath is like fire, and his jaws are death itself. He guards the cedars so well that when the wild heifer stirs in the forest, though she is sixty leagues distant, he hears her. Humbaba is a great warrior, a battering ram. Humbaba, the watchman of the forest never sleeps." (The Norton Anthology, 23)

Humbaba was also know as Huwawa. Humbaba is a monster in the epic of Gilgamesh who guards the cedar forest in the Lebanon mountains. He is a giant being and is sometimes shown with lion's claws, long hair, and a monstrous, hairy face. Humbaba is killed by the hero Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu who journey to the forest to cut down cedar trees. (http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/gods/explore/humbaba.html, 2005)

=== Escape from Death ===

After Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh rips his clothes from his body and dons animal skins, symbolic of his repudiation of civilization and renown — that which caused the death of his friend. Gilgamesh’s subsequent journey is a psychological descent into his own psyche to discover his own meaning in a life that must end in death. His epic journey is pretty pathetic as far as epic journeys go: full of tantrums and failed tasks, Gilgamesh seems to return to Uruk empty-handed. Yet, he brings the story of his travel and carves it on the bricks that make up the foundation of Uruk, suggesting that civilization is ultimately built on stories: the written text is the key to progress, friendship, and immortality. Gilgamesh, then, becomes a scapegoat: he journeyed to meet Utnapishtim so his people did not have to. Though his journeys proved ostensibly unsuccessful, he returned humanized, ready to accept his place in the world and finally death when it would come.

''Gilgamesh'' leaves us with its moral: Do not abuse power, “deal justly with your servants in the palace, deal justly before the face of the Sun” (46). ''Gilgamesh'' is both “the darkness and the light of mankind” in that he brought suffering, but ultimately brought life to his people in the form of the story. What directions for life are contained within the epic? How many of these myths do we still live with today? These stories represent the good and the bad of humanity. What do we ultimately think of the stories, myths, codes for life that ''Gilgamesh'' ultimately passes on?

== Importance of Food and Drink ==

When we are first introduced to Enkindu, it is when “he was innocent of mankind, he knew nothing of the cultivated land” (19). He also “ate grass in the hills with the gazelle and lurked with wild beasts at the water-holes” (19). Though he is biologically human, he lives like a wild animal. One aspect of his animalism is his eating habits. The food we eat, the ways it is prepared and consumed, and the rituals of hospitality are all forms of culture and civilization. In order for Enkindu to learn to be human, he must learn to eat as one. When the shepherds originally present food to him the text states that, “Enkindu could only suck the milk of wild animals. He fumbled and gaped, at a loss what to do or how he should eat the bread and drink the strong wine” (22). Because he only knows how to eat as an animal, he is an animal.

Immediately after the harlot explains to him the way of human eating, and he consumes the bread and wine like a man, “He rubbed down the matted hair of his body and anointed himself with oil. Enkindu had become a man” (22). His new discovery of human eating has led to his humanization. According to Jager, Enkindu’s “exodus from an older and more primitive and confluent world and his entrance into a human cosmos is marked by a distinctly different way of…eating and drinking.” His new understanding of how humans prepare and eat food has granted him the capacity to act as a man, and therefore be admitted into human civilization. Jager also explains that “Fully human eating begins by domesticating natural grasses, roots and berries and by transforming them into agricultural crops.” Farming shows human advancement and technology. A refined taste for food and drink and an understanding of cultivation reflects cultural appreciation. Now that Enkindu can properly eat human food, he can acknowledge the society which produces it.

== Attitudes Toward Women ==

Gilgamesh's view of women is that of a male chauvinist (according to today’s standards). Not only is he a male chauvinist, but he "is the epitome of a bad ruler: arrogant, oppressive, and brutal." (The Norton Anthology, 17)"His lust leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior's daughter nor the wife of the noble; yet this is the shepherd of the city, wise, comely, and resolute." (The Norton Anthology, 19) The men of Uruk were not happy with his behavior. Even noble Enkidu is upset at the news that Gilgamesh was to take a bride’s virginity before her marriage to her groom.

When Ishtar see Gilgamesh's great beauty she exclaims in glory, "Come to me ''Gilgamesh'', and be my bridegroom; grant me seed of you body, let me be your bride and you shall be my husband."(The Norton Anthology, 30) “She tried to make Gilgamesh her husband, but he refused her and reminded her of her former lovers, whom she mercilessly killed or left injured.” (Lindemans, Micha F. \ “Ishtar” \ www.pantheon.org \ July 25, 2004) He states that he doesn’t just want to be another piece of meat in her escapades of having sex with many men and leaving them. So he declines.

Gilgamesh is a control freak and if he were to marry Ishtar, he would lose that control. Also, Gilgamesh loves virgins and not loose women. This is seen in the opening statments listed above.

As we look at attitudes toward women, we cannot just look at Gilgamesh as an individual but at the whole story. The trapper's son was scared of Enkidu at first. The trapper's son went to Gilgamesh and got a harlot, (loose woman), to take to the watering hole to seduce Enkidu so his peers, the animals, would repel against him.

To humanize Enkidu, the harlot, was sent to seduce him. Enkidu, who ran with the animals and was basically one of them, came upon the harlot at the drinking hole where she exposed her breasts, got naked with him and had sex with him for six days and seven nights. After this, Enkidu had his fill and returned to be with the animals that rejected him and ran off. We hear of Enkidu being weak legged after his sexual escapades and unable to keep up with the animals. (The Norton Anthology, 20)

Women were looked at basically as sexual elements from the beginning of this tale and this has continued throughout time. So, is Gilgamesh really as bad as he was made out to be or is he just the same as some of the men in today's society? Women throughout modern day have used sex to get what they want. This is just an example of how women even back then used sex to get what they desired even if it was for someone else.

== Archetypes in Gilgamesh ==
An archetype in ''Gilgamesh'' was the number seven. The author used this archetype, very deliberately. After taking a closer look at this literary work it was discovered the number seven was used thirty-seven times. (''Norton Anthology'', 18-47) By taking a collaborative view of literary works throughout history it is revealed the continued use of the number seven. The number seven was used 700 times in ''The Bible'' (Harris) and twenty-five times in ''The Qu’ran'' (Sahibzada). There is no mistake about the author’s reference to this particular number based upon its cultural and religious significance. It has become evident the number seven held a sacred or significant meaning. But to better understand the significance of the continued reference to a particular number, one would have to take a closer look at the historical implications.

“Most cultures of the world hold certain numbers to be especially significant, even symbolic, and this is reflected in their religions. In the Abrahamic traditions, which originate in the Middle East, the number seven is of particular importance. Some of its significance stems from the ancient Sumerian and Babylonian civilizations, which identified seven planets and framed seven days of the week around them. Very early among Middle Eastern peoples, seven became known as a "perfect" number, symbolic of completeness and goodness.” (Sahibzada).

It is believed the origin of the number seven was established by the planets that were transformed into deities. The ancient Egyptians had seven original gods; the Phoenicians seven Kabiris; the Persians seven sacred horses of Mithra with seven gates, seven alters, and seven mysteries; the Parsees seven angels opposed by seven demons, seven celestial abodes paralleled by seven lower regions. The seven gods were often represented as one seven-headed deity. The whole heaven was subjected to seven planets; hence, in nearly all the religious systems we find seven heavens. The number seven was also used in demonical religions as well. A contract with the devil had to contain seven paragraphs, was concluded for seven years and signed by the person seven times. (Blavatsky)

Religious peoples were not the only ones to reference this number. There were cultural, architectural, and ceremonial implications as well. The Cherokee Indians regard the number seven as sacred. The ceremonial significance in their culture is captured in their seven ancient ceremonies with the seventh ceremony celebrated every seven years. (Lewis & Kneberg, 175) A few of the ceremonies focus on the number seven. The first moon of spring ceremony is seven days long. The Green Corn ceremony began on the seventh of August. During this ceremony the Chief and his seven councilors fasted while the tribe gathered seven ears of corn, each from a different clan’s field. (Lewis & Kneberg, 176-177) The Cherokee’s also have purification ceremonies in which a person is immersed seven times. (Mooney, 230).

Architecture has also been influenced by the number seven. The famous pagoda of Churingham is surrounded by seven square walls, painted in seven different colors, and in the middle of each wall is a seven storied pyramid. The Buddhist use seven-tier pagoda’s to signify the seven treasures that are the blessings from the seven northern stars. (Blavatsky) Along with the most impressive monuments known to exist, The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/map.html

The military’s 21-gun salute is centered on the number seven. The use of this symbol is traced to early warriors demonstrating peaceful intentions and was used universally. The act varied with time, place, and the weapon being used. Originally warships fired a seven-gun salute. The number seven was probably used because of astrological and Biblical importance. There were seven planets identified and the moon changed phases every seven days. ''The Bible'' states that God rested on the seventh day after Creation, every seventh year was sabbatical and that the seven times seventh year ushered in the Jubilee year. (Headquarters, Military District of Washington)

== Gilgamesh Variations ==

There are many different Gilgamesh interpretations. Some representations of the story have Gilgamesh as an old man. This is incorrect, the reason behind that is whoever wrote that interpretation did not read the original. This is unfortunate because if Gilgamesh was read in the wrong interpretation; a novice reader would not understand one of the major themes of humility throughout Gilgamesh.

== External Links ==

* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000360.shtml The Taming of Nature in Gilgamesh]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000449.shtml Ecological Themes in Gilgamesh]
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000297.shtml Friendship and Two Epics]
* [http://novaonline.nv.cc.va.us/eli/eng251/gilgameshstudy.htm Gilgamesh Study Guide]

[[Category:World Literature]]

== Works Cited ==

* Blavatsky, H. P. “The Number Seven.” ''Theosophist'', (June, 1880.) 12 Feb. 2005 <http://theosophy.org/tlodocs/hpb/NumberSeven.htm>.

* “Gilgamesh.” [http://www.auburn.edu/~lundbmc/#Conclusion Conclusion]. 16 February, 2004.

* Harris, Andrew. “Seven.” (6 July 1999). 12 Feb.2005 http://www.vic.australis.com.au/hazz/number007.html

* Headquarters, Military District of Washington, ''Fact Sheet: Gun Salutes'', May 1969.

* Hooker, Richard. “Mesopotamia – Gilagamesh.” World Civilizations. Washington State University. Updated 6, July 1999. Tablets 1, 2, 5. 16 February, 2005. <http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/GILG.HTM>

* Jager, Bernd. “Eating as natural event and as intersubjective phenomenon: Towards a phenomenology of eating." ''Journal of Phenomenological Psychology.'' Spring 1999, Vol. 30 Issue 1: 66-118. EBSCOhost. GALILEO. 6 Feb. 2005 <http://www.galileo.usg.edu/>.

* Lewis, Thomas M. N. and Madeline Kneberg. “Tribes that Slumber Indians of the Tennessee Region.” Knoxville, Tennessee: The University of Tennessee Press,tenth printing (1994).

* Lishtar. “Gilagamesh and Enkidu – The Soul Siblings.” Gateways to Babylon. Updated 26 August, 1999. 16 February, 2005. <http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/gods/partnerships/gilgaenk1.html>.

* Mooney, James. ''History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees''. Asheville, North Carolina, 1992.

* Sahibzada, Mehnaz. “The Symbolism of the Number Seven in Islamic Culture and Rituals.” 15 Feb. 2005 http://www.wadsworth.com/religion_d/special_features/symbols/islamic.html

* ''The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces''. 7th ed., New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1998.

Medea

2005-04-16T23:27:32Z

Hvyas: /* Works Cited */

== Summary ==

[[Image:MedeaChariot.jpeg|thumb|Medea’s Chariot]]The play [[Medea]] begins in turmoil and escalates until the tragic end. ''Medea'' tells the story of passion that transforms from love to hate. Consumed with a passionate rage ''Medea'' seeks to avenge her husband, [[Jason]] who has wronged her. Jason has left ''Medea'' and taken a new wife. To add insult to injury, Jason’s new bride is the daughter of king [[Kreon]] and a Greek.

The play opens outside the house of ''Medea'' and Jason in [[Corinth]]. The [[Nurse]] tells the sorrows of ''Medea'' and how Jason has abandoned ''Medea'' after all she has done for him. The Nurse is afraid ''Medea'' will harm someone close to her. ''Medea’s'' heart is full of violence especially for Jason and the children. ''Medea'' is overwhelmed with grief that is manifesting as jealousy and rage.

The [[Tutor]] appears with ''Medea'' two young children who have been outside playing. ''Medea’s'' children are oblivious to the resentment their mother is beginning to feel towards them. The Nurse warns the children to stay out of their mother’s sight. The Tutor is the bearer of bad news. The Tutor has heard rumors that ''Medea'' and her children will be exiled from Corinth. The Nurse is sympathetic to ''Medea’s'' plight while the Tutor is blasé.

The [[Chorus]] of Corinthian women arrives to check on ''Medea''. The Chorus hears ''Medea'' cries and curses from inside the house. The Chorus asks the Nurse to go see if ''Medea'' will come outside so they can console her.

A distraught ''Medea'' enters the courtyard and delivers a poignant speech on the sufferings and indignations of women in an oppressively man’s world. ''Medea'' points out to the Chorus being a woman is even worst for her because she is a foreigner without a family or a home. The Chorus sympathizes with ''Medea''. ''Medea'' despises Jason for taking another wife, and condemns Jason, his new bride, and king Kreon. ''Medea'' makes the Chorus promise if she finds a way to revenge Jason, they will remain silent. The Chorus gives ''Medea'' a vow of silence agreeing ''Medea'' is right to seek revenge.

''Medea'' has been blatantly lamenting her disgruntlements. ''Medea’s'' condemnations have come to the attention of king Kreon. King Kreon enters and exiles ''Medea'' and her children because he is afraid of ''Medea''. Using her children, ''Medea'' appeals to king Kreon on a paternal level and asks for one more day for the sake of the children so she can get her affairs in order. King Kreon reluctantly agrees and allows ''Medea'' to stay in Corinth one more day convinced she could not do the evil he fears in one day.

The Chorus pities ''Medea'' but ''Medea'' assures them one day is all she needs to avenge Jason faithlessness. When considering how to kill her enemies, ''Medea'' rules out swords or fire because that would mean close contact with the victims and she may get caught giving her enemies a reason to laugh at her. Being humiliated is one of ''Medea'' greatest fears and motivates her to lash out to save face. ''Medea'' decides to use poison. A conniving manipulator ''Medea'' schemes to poison Jason, his new bride, and king Kreon. ''Medea'' is determined no one especially a man will mistreat her and live to tell about it.

Jason visits ''Medea''. Similar to Kreon when he visited ''Medea'', Jason immediately chastises ''Medea'' for her behavior and blames her for her own exile. ''Medea'' calls Jason a coward and reminds him of all she has done for him in the name of love. ''Medea'' is instrumental in assisting Jason in obtaining the Golden Fleece. ''Medea'' betrays her father, murders her brother, an exile from her homeland, and orchestrates the death of Pelias … all for a man who has snubbed her. Jason tries to convince ''Medea'' he married king Kreon daughter for her and their children sake. Marrying into prosperity will benefit them all. Jason argues ''Medea'' has benefited from their marriage more than he. Jason took ''Medea'' away from a barbaric, lawless land. ''Medea'' is very popular living among the Greeks. ''Medea’s'' cleverness is admired in Corinth whereas in [[Colchis]] cleverness is not revered. Also, the children need royal siblings to protect them. ''Medea'' and Jason continue to argue. ''Medea'' feels Jason should have been man enough to tell her he has taken a new bride. Jason believes ''Medea'' is too irrational to handle the news of his bride and her behavior now reflects he was correct in his assumption. Jason offers ''Medea'' contacts with his friends that will help her once she and the kids are exiled from Corinth. Fiercely pride ''Medea'' refuses to take anything from Jason who betrayed her.

By chance ''Medea’s'' friend king [[Aigeus]] of [[Athens]] visits. ''Medea'' envisions a safe haven for escape. ''Medea'' tells Aigeus of Jason’s treachery and her pending exile. ''Medea'' beseeches Aigeus for asylum in Athens. King Aigeus unaware of ''Medea’s'' murderous intentions offers ''Medea'' sanctuary in return for her offer of drugs that will end his childlessness. However, king Aigeus gives Medea one condition for sanctuary, ''Medea'' must come to Athens on her own will. Aigeus swears an oath to all the gods at ''Medea'' appeal that he will not turn her over to her enemies no matter what. Reassured ''Medea'' sets her scheme for vengeance in motion. ''Medea'' tells the Chorus of her plans.

''Medea’s'' scheme of murder is coming together. ''Medea'' has a safe haven once the murders are complete. As her scheme unfolds, ''Medea'' realizes she must also murder her own children to completely avenge Jason’s dishonor. ''Medea'' wants to hurt Jason deeply and she cannot risk anyone who does not love her children hurting them. The Chorus begs ''Medea'' to reconsider murdering her children. ''Medea'' says,” No compromise is possible” (803).

''Medea'' sends for Jason. ''Medea'' uses an assuaging attitude with Jason. ''Medea'' apologizes for her angry and tells Jason he is right to have married king Kreon’s daughter. ''Medea'' pretends to be submissive like Jason expects a good wife to be. After “''kissing up''” to Jason, ''Medea'' sends her children along with Jason and the Tutor to the bride with gifts of a poison woven dress and a golden diadem.

The Tutor returns with the children and tells ''Medea'' the royal princess will let the children stay in Corinth. The Tutor is baffled by ''Medea’s'' melancholy behavior. ''Medea'' exhibits tenderness and cold-heartedness as she cries and talks to her children preparing herself to murder them. When ''Medea’s'' children smile at her she considers relinquishing her murderous scheme. The fury ''Medea'' feels at being betrayed by Jason conquers her resolve. ''Medea'' is compelled to finish what has already been started.

''Medea'' anxiously waits for news from the palace. The [[Messenger]] enters surprise ''Medea'' is hanging around. The Messenger tells ''Medea'' to run. The Messenger brings news that the royal princess and king Kreon are dead. ''Medea'' glories in the details as the Messenger tells her of the anguish deaths. Jason’s bride and king Kreon die an awful, torturous death with suffering as well. The golden diadem burst into flames sitting upon the royal princess head burning her body and the woven dress sloughs the flesh from her bones. As king Kreon cradles his daughter dead body the poison consumes him as the poisonous woven dress adhered to his flesh.

Jason returns looking for his children to protect them from the angry Corinthian mob after he finds out his new bride and father-in-law have been murdered by ''Medea''. The Chorus tells Jason his children have been murdered by their mother’s hand. Jason is appalled and looks for ''Medea''. ''Medea'' has hung around to gloat. ''Medea'' appears above the place in a chariot drawn by dragons provided by her grandfather, [[Helios]], the sun god. The children bodies are on the chariot. Jason begs for the children’s bodies, but ''Medea'' cynically laughs at him refusing to give his the honor of burying the children dead bodies. Jason desperately wants to kiss his dead children and bury them, but ''Medea'' refuses to give him the satisfaction. Jason insults ''Medea'' by telling her a Greek woman would never do the things she has done. ''Medea'' and Jason blame each other for the children’s death. ''Medea'' prophesies Jason’s death. ''Medea'' and Jason argue violently as the play comes to an end. The Chorus closes the play reflecting on capricious nature of gods’ will. ''Medea'' succeeds in revenge and Jason is lonely and tormented. Jason has lost his financial security, his status, and children to carry on his name. Jason is left without distinction. ''Medea’s'' avenge is achieved. Passionate love turned to passionate hate.

Additional Reading

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/medea.html

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu

== Themes and Motifs ==
=== Right Message, Wrong Messenger ===

Euripides’ Medea, was the first in a series of plays in which vivid, powerful women appeared on the Euripidean stage. It was produced in the year that the Peloponnesian War began, and sought to play on the low morale of the public to restore the female sex in positions of social influence and power. Throughout the centuries it has been regarded as one of the most powerful of the Greek tragedies, and also one in which the theme of women was more important than most. It is in this play that Euripides could either restore or condemn the female populace in society (Pelling).

Euripides questions many social norms of the period, but he uses a female such as Medea to convey his message. While Medea has no legal rights, she is the sorceress’ grandchild of the Sun God and therefore able to articulately explain her actions and passionately act on her plans. She is initially able to gain the sympathy and support of the Corinthian women for her plight by passionately pleading her case to the public at large. Medea’s passionate arguments fly in the face of the Greek tradition that only the male has the ability and right to lucid, rational argument. Jason although regarded as civilized by Greek society, is by contrast weak, compromised and cowardly. Medea also challenges ancient Greek society’s decree that the greatest glory for a woman was to bear children, provide sex and to fulfill the demands of her husband (Rassidakis 220-226). From the first compelling moments of this one-act play the audience is drawn into contradictions confronting Medea: to challenge injustice and betrayal or accommodate to it and the financial security and comfort it could bring (Pucci). Traditional behavior of women was a very important aspect of this play, and portraying Medea as both similar and different to fellow womankind allowed the audience to make judgment on the role of women as they knew it. Medea recurrently assaulted fundamental and sacred values and that gave the play much of its power and allowed Euripides to most persuasively portray her as an incarnation of disorder. Could any male audience possibly start to respect any woman that could crush basic human order? Euripides did not himself condemn Medea. Rather, he gave the audience a choice on whether to accept her character and actions. However by implication he is associating a breakdown in human order as being due to the wickedness in such a woman. Yet associating such a drastic event with women would imply that they had the power to be so destructive, and that was not an option of the times - especially when a war had just broken out, and unity was of great importance (McDermott).

In the tragedy Medea, Euripides fails to rehabilitate the female sex. He chooses a semi-divine, foreign sorceress to voice the appeals of ordinary Athenian wives. She is a woman capable of murder, manipulation and deception, and she has no sense of remorse. In choosing her, Euripides appears to be sending out mixed signals concerning women. Her concerns are those that apply to the majority of women at the time, and an audience would no doubt have understood these; yet Medea deals with them in a way that is abhorrent for a woman of fifth-century Athens (Easterling). She invokes both pathos and disgust, and, for a male audience, she would encourage distrust and continuing ‘imprisonment’ and lower social status for women. Although Euripides may well have believed in promoting womankind, it would have been difficult to put this idea across to the male audience of the day, and that may be why he is unable to make any significant advances in the Medea. He had the right message, but used the wrong messenger (Strauss 237-270).

=== Xenophobia ===

Euripides’s Medea explores the tensions which existed between citizens and foreigners and Greece’s subsequent Xenophobia. In the play, Medea represents the non-citizen who completely lacked legal and social rights. Not only is she far from the comforts of her native land, but also, as both a woman and a foreigner, she is viewed as a “poor creature” (643), below the level of a human being.

As Doctor Gerry Lucas pointed out in his lecture, marriage was a citizen’s contract, meaning Medea had no legal hold on Jason and could not take any form of official recourse. The Nurse laments that “…she has discovered by her sufferings/ What it means to one not to have lost one’s own country” (643). The Nurse is making a deliberate comparison to Jason, who as a male citizen enjoyed legal protection and political activity. Medea, a female non-citizen, is left without a voice or support. Her lack of institutional support led to the necessity that she herself administer Jason’s punishment.

Jason most aptly expresses the Xenophobic snobbery inherent in such disparity between citizen and foreigner. As he explains to Medea the advantages of living in a ‘civilized’ culture he insists that “…instead of living among barbarians/ You inhabit a Greek land and understand our ways/ How to live by law instead of the sweet will of force” (653.) Such ethnocentric attitudes were both stemmed from and perpetuated by the lack of citizen’s rights. According to Wikipedia, women and foreigners were unable to vote and therefore could not create public policy that would help eradicate Ancient Greece’s sexism and xenophobia.

===Feminist Concerns===

Euripides wrote ''Medea'' in 431 B.C. (640). Greek mythology shows us how Greeks, at that time, had firm beliefs on how women should behave themselves and the values they should hold. The perceived submissive behavior of women begins the very moment a wife arrives in her husband’s home (O’Higgins 104). A woman is supposed to provide heirs to the man (O’Higgins 104).

An Athenian perception pertaining to a “good woman” was that a woman be loyal to her husband and children (Sourvinou-Inwood 254). The most common characteristics of a good woman would be goodness, self-control and the fact that she was devoted to her husband and children (Sourvinou-Inwood 254). A good woman would reflect the culture’s established values and provide a look into the culture itself. A bad woman would be the opposite of the positive norm. In the beginning of ''Medea'', she portrays herself as a good woman. She was devoted to Jason and loved him so much that she felt as though she could not survive without him. When the nurse is talking in the beginning she states that “poor Medea is slighted, and cries aloud on the vows they made to each other, the right hands clasped in eternal promise (643).” Even though the play begins as seeing Medea as a normal, possibly good woman, she has already shown signs of abnormality in her behavior for a woman at that time. Medea is already showing signs of hatefulness towards her children. “I hate you, children of a hateful mother (645).” Medea is already showing behavior that women would not dare show in this time.

Medea could be seen as a heroine for women who do not want to be confined to the role of the “producer of legitimate offspring (McDonald 303).” By killing her children, she separates herself independently from her husband and the general patriarchy (McDonald 304). Even though at this time, husband’s were expected to be with other women, Medea feels as though her family rights were violated. Medea was also different in this aspect. She didn’t believe that and felt vengeful. The ultimate punishment for Jason, was to violently take his heirs from him. Medea’s anger turned into aggressive action, which can make her into a symbol for women (McDonald 304).

Throughout the play, Medea was more or less an ordinary woman portrayed as a bad woman. However, she could be the victim of male power and just seemed very out of the ordinary for the role of females at this time (Sourvinou-Inwood 258). She ended up being a version of a very bad woman, by killing her son’s and wreaking havoc on Jason and male power (Sourvinou-Inwood 258).

The idea explored in this play possibly suggests that women like Medea “use the weapons of the weak, which are both deceitful and violent and hurt men where they are vulnerable to women (Sourvinou-Inwood 261).” The play suggests that normal philosophy is not perfect and easy and if things go wrong men also suffer.

== Historical Context ==

Greek tragic playwright, Euripides was born in Athens circa 480 BCE. He is credited with authoring at least 80 plays, 19 of which have survived until modern times. Several of his tragedies feature very strong female characters, including ''The Trojan Women'' and ''Medea''. He died at the court of the Macedonian king in 406 BCE. His work gained a greater popularity after his death than it had received during his lifetime (Crystal 317).

''Medea'' was first produced in Athens in 431 BCE. According to legislation passed, twenty years earlier, a foreign woman could not legally marry an Athenian male. Any children begotten through such a union would not be considered legitimate heirs in the eyes of the law (Vandiver 217-16).

== Characters ==
* [[Jason]]

* [[Medea]]

* [[Kreon]]
''Medea'' is the princess of the Isle of Colchis(642). ''Medea'' is a sorceress, skilled in magic, and is renowned for her cleverness. ''Medea'' comes from a prestigious lineage. Medea is the daughter of king Aeetes and Idyia. ''Medea'' is also the granddaughter of the sun god Helios and the niece of Circe who is also known as a sorceress. ''Medea'' admires and is a protégé of goddess Hecate a patron of witchcraft.

''Medea'' falls in love with a man named [[Jason]] when he reached the land of Colchis in pursuit of the Golden Fleece.(642) ''Medea'' falls in love with Jason, helps him steal the Golden Fleece from her own country and leaves with him.(642) She eventually marries Jason and has children with him as they have moved to live in exile in Corinth.(643)

''Medea'' learns Jason has been dipping his noodle in the King of Corinth’s daughter.(643) She learns he has intentions of marrying her and leaving ''Medea'' and the kids to fend for themselves.(647) Kreon, King of Corinth, hears of ''Medea’s'' anger with Jason and the king’s daughter.(648) Kreon approaches ''Medea'' and sentences her to exile.(648)

Nothing like a woman scorned as ''Medea'' in her angered state plans for the demise of her husband, his new bride to be, and her father.(658) ''Medea'' first covers her base by finding a safe place to live in exile. (656) King Aigeus, King of Athens, agrees that if she can find her way to his doorstep she can stay forever and be safe.(656)

Now ''Medea'' plans the way to kill Jason’s bride to be and anyone who touches her.(658) She plans to poison two bridal gifts for Jason’s new bride and have the children hand deliver them to her.(659) Jason falls for the plan and takes the children to his bride to be where she receives her gifts and puts them on falling to her death.(664) The children return to ''Medea'' where she kills them right before Jason returns to find out what dastardly deed she has done.(669) ''Medea'' escapes Corinth with her dead children on a dragon drawn chariot given to her by Helios, her father’s father to protect her from her enemies.(670) She escapes to live in Athens and Jason never sees his children again.(670)

== Commentaries ==
* [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000320.shtml Euripides' ''Medea'': Patriarchal Terrorism]]

== External Links ==

== Works Cited ==

Athenian Democracy. 2005. Wikipedia. 8 April 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracy#Citizenship_in_Athens>.

Euripides. ''Medea. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces''. Eds. Lawall, Sarah and Mack, Maynard. 7th. NY: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1999. 642-672.

Ferguson, John.'' A Companion to Greek Tragedy''. TX: University of Texas Press. 1972.

Lattimore, Richard. ''The Poetry of Greek Tragedy.'' MD: John Hopkins Press. 1958.

Rassidakis, Kristina. The origins of love, hate, and retaliation in Euripides tragedy; Medea: a psychodynamic approach. Changes: International Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy 15, 1997.
Pucci, Pietro. The Violence of Pity in Euripides’ Medea. Cornell University, 1980.
Pelling, Christopher. Greek Tragedy and the Historian. Oxford, 1997.
Ober, Josiah and Strauss, Barry. Drama, Political Rhetoric, and Discourse of Athenian Democracy in Winkler, John J. Athenian Drama in Its Social Context. Princeton, 1990.
McDermott, Emily A. Euripedes’ Medea: The Incarnation of Disorder. University Park, PA. 1989.
Easterling, P.E. The Infanticide in Euripides’ Medea. YCS 25, 1977.

O’Higgins, Dolores M., Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane, and McDonald, Marianne. Medea: Essays on Medea in Myth, Literature, Philosophy, and Art. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.

Buxon, Richard. ''The Complete World of Greek Mythology''. NY: Thames & Hudson. 2004.

Graves, Robert. ''Greek Myths''. NY: Penguin Books. 1981.

Crystal, David. ''The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia.'' Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. New York. 1995.

Vandiver, Elizabeth. ''Greek Tragedy''. The Teaching Company. Course # 217. Lectures 1-24.

Grimal, Pierre. ''Larousse World Mythology''. New Jersey: Chartwheel Books Inc. 1973.

[[Category:World Literature]]

The story of Medea is one of the best known and widely translated Greek tragedies. Euripides starts this tragedy with the nurse telling what has happened up to this point. He opens a new outlook to tragedy by showing Medea as woman and foreigner, which have almost no rights at all, which is out to avenge her husband Jason for leaving her for another woman.

Medea was the daughter of Aeetes, King of Colchis. Medea fell hopelessly in love with Jason, the commander of the Argonauts, who came to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece. In return for Jason’s pledge of everlasting love and to take her back to Greece with him. With Medea’s magic she deceived her father to help Jason obtain the Golden Fleece. Medea and Jason sail from Colchis to return to Greece, but to escape Aeetes; Medea kills her brother, Apsyrtus and scatters his remains over the sea. When Aeetes stops to gathering up the remains of Apsyrtus, Jason and his crew manage to escape.

In Greece Jason finds his parents are killed by Pelias. To avenge the death of his parent, Jason asked Medea to help him with her magic. As always Medea grants his wishes and brings about Pelias’s death by a cunning trick. She tells the daughters of Pelias that they could help their aging father to become young again. Medea cuts up an old sheep and boils it, then says a magic spell and a young lamb jumps from the pot and runs away. This convinces the daughters of Pelias that they could make their father young again. So, Medea gave Pelias a sleeping potion, and the girls began to cut their father up but Medea disappeared without saying the magic spell to bring him back to life, thus causing the daughters to killing their father.

After this Medea and Jason escaped to Corinth, where they had two sons. They were living very happy until Jason fell in love with the daughter of King Creon of Corinth. Jason left Medea and was going to marry the Kings daughter to make more wealth and power for him and his sons. But Medea was devastated, and she mourned for Jason and their life together. Medea was going crazy and crying out of control and people around her home began to hear her and word got back to the king. King Creon was worried about the emotional state that Medea was in and what she could do to him and to his daughter. He told Medea that she had to leave the city and take her children with her. So to get her revenge, Medea kills the daughter with a poisoned robe, which kills the daughter and the King. Soon after their death the messenger comes to Medea kills her to sons so that Jason will have to suffer a long a painful life, without the Kings daughter and his two sons. Medea escapes from Jason by leaving Corinth, flying to Athens in a chariot from Helios.

Bates, Alfred. "The Dram: It's History, Literture and Influence on Civilization", vol 1. 1906

COllier Michael. "The Virginia Quarlerly Review." Charlottesville: 2004.

Golden Fleece

2005-04-16T23:20:58Z

Hvyas:

The legend of Golden Fleece originated on the wild coast of Thessaly. There a Zeus existed who demanded the sacrifice of young boys. One of these victims, the Greek Phrixus, whom his stepmother Ino wanted to sacrifice.Phrixus was saved through the help of Chrysomallus, the winged golden ram, on whose back Phrixus escaped with his sister Helle across the Black Sea. Helle fell into the sea, known by her name Hellespont, but Phrixus reached Colchis, where he was taken in by king Aeetes. In gratitude Phrixus gave the king the ram’s fleece and Aeetes set a dragon to guard it.