Medea

Role: sorceress and queen · First appears: Book 2 · Chapter 3

In Book 2, Medea’s gifts to Glauce were carried by her sons Mermerus and Pheres; the Corinthians stoned the boys, and Glauce threw herself into a well, seeking an antidote to Medea’s poison. In Athens, Medea was detected plotting against Theseus and had to flee. Later, when Corinthus died childless, the Corinthians summoned her from Iolcus to receive the kingdom. At Corinth, she enabled Jason to become king and had children with him. Eventually, Jason discovered her hidden children, would not forgive her, and sailed to Iolcus; Medea then left and handed the kingdom to Sisyphus.

At Iolcos, Medea deceived Pelias’s daughters with a promise to make their father young again, then killed him. In the account of her children, Medus is said to have been her son by Ægeus, while Polyxenus is named by Hellanicus as a son of Jason; another account gives Jason and Medea a son, Medeus, and a daughter, Eriopis.