#medus

This part of Medea’s life is so fascinating to me. It’s essentially the end of her story, so I want to compile the sources that we have about it in chronological order:

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica:

“[…] some indeed, in their desire to win favour with the Athenians, say that she took that Medus whom she bore to Aegeus and got off safe to Colchis; and at that time Aeetes, who had been forcibly driven from the throne by his brother Perses, had regained his kingdom, Medus, Medea's son, having slain Perses; and that afterwards Medus, securing the command of an army, advanced over a large part of Asia which lies above the Pontus and secured possession of Media, which has been named after this Medus.”

Apollodorus’ Bibliotheca:

“So Medea went to Athens, where she married Aigeus, and bore him a son, Medos. Afterwards, however, when she tried to plot against Theseus, she was driven from Athens and went into exile with her son. Medos conquered many of the barbarians, and gave the name Media to the whole territory under his control. He died during an expedition against the Indians. Medea returned to Colchis without being recognized, and finding that Aietes had been deprived of his kingdom by his brother Perses, she killed Perses and restored the throne to her father.”

Hyginus’ Fabulae (my favorite version):

“An oracle told Perses, son of Sol, Aeetes' brother, that he should beware of death from Aeetes' descendants. Medus, following his mother, was brought to him by a storm, and guards seized him and brought him to King Perses. When Medus, son of Aegeus and Medea, saw that he had come into the power of his enemy, he falsely asserted he was Hippotes, son of Creon. The king carefully investigated, and ordered him cast into prison. There sterility and scarcity of crops are said to have occurred. When Medea had come there in her chariot with the yoked dragons, she falsely claimed before the king to be a priestess of Diana. She said she could make atonement for the sterility, and when she heard from the king that Hippotes, son of Creon, was held in custody, thinking he had come to avenge the injury to his father . . . there, unknowingly, she betrayed her son. For she persuaded the king that he was not Hippotes, but Medus, son of Aegeus, sent by his father to dispatch the king, and begged that he be handed over to her to kill, convinced that he was Hippotes. And so when Medus was brought out to pay for his deceit by death, when she saw that things were otherwise than she had thought, she said she wished to talk with him, and gave him a sword, and bade him avenge the wrongs of his grandfather. Medus, at this news, killed Perses, and gained his grandfather's kingdom; from his name he called the country Media.”

Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem:

took me a second to respond to this ask but I DO HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT MEDUS. how did you know.

He is so momma's boy coded I'm sorry. That man is JUST like his mother. They basically came up with the exact same lie to Perses just in reverse. The exact same ruse. As well as the idea that he followed her willingly after her exile from Athens + I'm partial to the interpretation that he named Media after his mother. So to me I read them as having been fairly close !

Age wise. Uhm. There's no untangling anything related to the argonautica to me I'm sorry. The Greek myths have no true timeline and the heroes' ages are elusive and ill-defined by nature. But if I had to guess I would place him as likely being 16-17 at the time of Medea's exile. Still fairly young.

Medus is really interesting to me as a character despite information about him being very. Sparse. In a lot of ways it almost feels like he sort of inverts a lot of the traits of a typical Greek hero. His father is almost entirely irrelevant to his story. He isn't later compelled to take revenge on Aegaeus or kill Theseus for the throne of Athens (think Jason/Pelias or Pelias/Aeson). After he leaves Athens, he's completely uninvolved with his father or his father's line. Instead, his story focuses entirely on his mother's line. He's named after his mother. In a lot of ways he's a hero who's story is entirely defined by his relationship with his mother. Aside from maybe Achilles it's not something I can recall many examples of.

Like. Okay I know I've mentioned in the past that part of what makes Medea's decision to kill her kids compelling to me is the interpretation of her deciding to do it, in part, to spare them from the cycle of tragedy stemming from the glory-seeking, patriarchal society of Greece (They must die/and since they must/I who gave them birth will kill them). Her children are the sons of a hero, and as all sons of a hero are bound to do, they will suffer for their father's glory. Contrasting that with Medus. How his life is so obviously centered on her. It feels like a reversal.

Classicstober Day 5: Chiron (𐀐𐀂𐀫)

Since I'm trying to stay away from direct depictions of the divine, and Chiron is a fully divine son of Cronus, I decided to focus on Chiron's students. From the top and going clockwise they are Medus, Actaeon, Aristaeus, Achilles, Asclepius, and Jason.