Medea of
mythic infamy was an Eastern princess, priestess and powerful sorceress, from Colchis,
in the Caucasus. Classical playwright Euripides, described her as a lioness
with a loud heart that surges like the tide. She forsook family and homeland
for the love of Greek hero Jason, who sailed the Argo to Colchis, for the famous Golden Fleece. Medea—despised by the Greeks as
a barbarian, and eventually abandoned by Jason for a younger Greek princess—exacted a
terrible revenge.
Medea Poem (anon)
Princess,
priestess, and sorceress,
Yet a
wild barbarian too,
You
worshipped your Greek hero, Jason,
And
for him your own brother you slew.
You
stole him the great golden fleece,
And
you fled from your own wild shore,
Sailing
far to the western isles,
As his
wife now, forever more.
But
you, in the kingdoms of Greece,
Were a
witch, an outcast, a stranger;
His
love for you – despite children- waned,
And
you could not avert the danger.
For
Jason, ambitious and fickle,
Fell
in love with a Greek king's daughter,
And
you, with the heart of a lioness,
Now
contemplated slaughter.
With
poison you doctored a robe,
That
you sent to your Jason's new bride.
The princess wore it – and so
The princess wore it – and so
In
the torments of fire she died.
