After the murder of Pelias, Jason and Medea, expelled from Iolcus, settled with King Creon in Corinth. Two sons were born to Medea. It seemed that Jason and Medea should have been happy even in a foreign land. But fate did not judge happiness for either Jason or Medea. Jason, captivated by the beauty of Creon's daughter Glauca, betrayed the vows given to Medea in Colchis even when he received the magic ointment from her; he betrayed the one with whose help he accomplished a great feat. He decided to marry Glaucus, and King Creon agreed to give his daughter as a wife to the famous hero.
When Medea learned about Jason's betrayal, despair took possession of her. Medea still loved Jason. As if turned into a soulless stone, Medea sat, immersed in sadness. She did not eat, did not drink, did not listen to words of consolation. Little by little, furious anger took possession of Medea. Medea's indomitable spirit cannot be reconciled. How can she, the daughter of the king of Colchis, bear down, the son of the radiant Helios, so that her enemies triumph over her, so that they mock her! No, Medea is terrible in her anger, her revenge must be terrible in its cruelty. ABOUT! Medea will take revenge on Jason, Glaucus, and her father Creon!
Medea curses everything in furious anger. She curses her children, curses Jason. Medea suffers and prays to the gods to immediately take her life away with a lightning strike. What is left for her life besides revenge? Death is calling Medea, this will be the end of her torment, death will free her from grief. Why did Jason treat her so cruelly, with her, who saved him, helped him by putting the dragon to sleep, to get the Golden Fleece, who, in order to save him, lured her brother into an ambush and killed Pelias for Jason’s sake? Medea calls on Zeus and the goddess of justice Themis to witness how Jason treated her unfairly. Medea's decision to take revenge on Jason becomes stronger and stronger.
But then Creon comes. He announces to Medea that she must leave Corinth immediately. Creon is afraid of Medea, he knows how terrible Medea is in anger, he knows how powerful her spell is; after all, she can destroy both his daughter and himself.
Medea, in order to gain time for revenge, pretends that she obeys Creon, that she recognizes his right to expel her, but asks him only for one thing - to allow her to stay one more day in Corinth. Creon agreed, not suspecting that by doing so he had doomed himself to death; but he threatens Medea that he will put both her and her sons to death if the rays of the rising sun catch Medea in Corinth. Medea knows that she has nothing to fear from execution. Rather, Creon would die; it was not for nothing that she swore by the pale-faced goddess Selene and her patroness Hecate to destroy her enemies. No, not she, but they will not escape execution. Will she, the granddaughter of the god Helios, become the laughing stock of the descendants of Sisyphus and Jason’s bride!/p>
In vain does Jason tell Medea that for her good and for the good of the children he will marry Glaucus, that his sons will find support in their future brothers if the gods send him children from a new marriage. Medea cannot believe the sincerity of Jason’s words, she reproaches Jason for treason and threatens him with the wrath of the gods, she does not want to listen to him. Now she hates Jason, whom she once loved so much, for whom she forgot his father, mother, brother and homeland. Jason leaves angry, followed by ridicule and threats from Medea.
At this time, Aegeus, king of Athens, comes to Corinth, on the way from Delphi to Troisena. He greets Medea in a friendly manner and asks her why she is sad. Medea talks about her grief and begs the king of Athens to give her, an exile forgotten by her husband, shelter in Athens. She promises to help Aegeus with her charms, promises that he will have numerous offspring, and will not remain childless, as until now, if only he will give her shelter. Aegeus vows to give shelter to Medea. He swears by the earth goddess Gaia, Helios, Medea's grandfather, and all the gods of Olympus - not to hand Medea over to her enemies. He sets only one condition for Medea: she herself must come to Athens without his help, since Aegeus does not want to quarrel with the king of Corinth.
Having secured shelter for herself, Medea begins to carry out her planned revenge. She decides not only to destroy Creon and his daughter Glaucus, but also to kill her children, the children of Jason. She sends her maid to fetch Jason. Jason arrives. Medea pretends to be submissive, she pretends that she has come to terms with her fate and with Jason’s decision, and asks him only one thing, that he convince Creon to leave her sons in Corinth. Children also come. Seeing them, Medea cries, she hugs and kisses her sons, she loves them, but the thirst for revenge is stronger than the love for children.
But how to destroy Glaucus and Creon? And so, under the pretext that she seeks to persuade Glaucus to leave her children in Jason’s new house, Medea sends Glavka a gift of precious clothes and a golden crown. It is this gift that brings with it death. As soon as Glauca put on the clothes and crown sent by Medea, the poison with which they were fed penetrated her body; like a copper hoop a crown squeezes her head. The clothes burn her body with fire. Glaucus dies in terrible agony. The father rushes to her aid, he hugs the unfortunate daughter, but the clothes stick to him too. He tries to tear these clothes off his body, but along with them he also tears off pieces of his body. And Creon died from Medea’s gift.
Medea triumphantly hears, standing outside her palace, about the deaths of Creon and Glaucus, but their deaths did not quench Medea’s thirst for revenge: after all, she decided to kill her children in order to make Jason suffer even more. Now Medea is prompted to decide on this murder and the fact that she knows what fate threatens her sons when Creon’s relatives take revenge on them for the crimes of their mother. Medea hurriedly went to the palace and immediately the screams and moans of her sons were heard there. Their own mother killed them. Jason, when Creon and his daughter Glaucus died at the hands of his wife Medea, in fear that Creon’s relatives would kill his sons out of revenge, hurries to his palace. The door to the palace is locked, Jason wants to break it. Suddenly, Medea appears in the air on a chariot drawn by dragons, sent by the god Helios: at her feet lie the sons she killed. Jason is terrified. He begs Medea to leave him at least the bodies of his sons so that he can bury them himself. But Medea does not give him this consolation either and quickly rushes away in a wonderful chariot.
Jason's entire future life was bleak. He could not find refuge anywhere for a long time. One day he passed through the Isthmus, past the place where the Argo ship, which was pulled ashore, stood, dedicated by the Argonauts to the god of the sea, Poseidon. Tired Jason lay down in the shade of the Argo under its stern to rest and fell asleep. When Jason was sleeping peacefully, the stern of the Argo, which had fallen into disrepair, collapsed and buried the sleeping Jason under its rubble.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru