Theatre
Medea
Μήδεια
Euripides · -431
Synopsis
Jason abandons Medea, the foreigner from Colchis who followed him to Corinth, in order to marry the daughter of King Creon, and the king banishes Medea and her two children the same day. She obtains a one-day delay, then confronts in turn Creon, Aegeus, the king of Athens, from whom she wrings a promise of asylum, and Jason himself. She speaks to each of them, and it is through words that she prepares her revenge.
Context
The play, performed in 431 BCE with two other tragedies now lost, was placed third and last in the competition, behind Euphorion, son of Aeschylus, and Sophocles. Older accounts made the Corinthians the murderers of Medea's children, and the scholiasts report a rumour, transmitted by Parmeniscus, that Corinth paid the author five talents to shift the blame. A Medea by Neophron, close to this one, is of disputed priority.
Who it is for
A short tragedy, made of great spoken confrontations, which can be read in one sitting in a bilingual or paperback edition.
Prizes and reception
Placed third and last at its first performance, it has become one of the most frequently revived Greek tragedies, from Seneca to Corneille and well beyond.
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