Monday, 29 February 2016

JASON AND MEDEA.

Aeetes, father of Medea, was a King of Colchis (Region in the Southern Caucasus, Eastern Coast of the Black Sea) in Greek mythology, son of the sun-god Helius and the Oceanid Perseis (Oceanus's daughter), brother of Circe and Pasiphae.
Chalciope, sister of Medea and wife of Phrixus, by whom she had 4 sons: Argus, Phrontis, Melas, and Cytisorus. Chalciope expressed great filial devotion and stayed by her father's side, even though he had killed her husband.
Absyrtus, brother of Medea. She took him with her when she fled with Jason and when she was nearly overtaken by her father, she murdered him, cut his body into pieces and strewed them on the road, so that her father might be delayed by gathering the limbs of his child. Tomi was the place where this occurred. Tomy was later renamed to Constant-Iana in honor of Constant-Ia, the half-sister of the Roman Emperor Constant-Ine the Great (247-337). The city was founded around 600 BC and is located in the Do-Bruja Region of Romania, the oldest continuously inhabited capital city in the region, on the Black Sea Coast.
Medea's role began after Jason came from Iol-Cus to Colchis, to claim his inheritance and throne by retrieving the Golden Fleece. Ancient Iol-Cus is believed to be located in modern-day nearby Dim-Ini, where a Mycen-Aean palace was excavated recently.
Aeson was rightful king of Iol-Cus, but his half-brother Pelias usurped the throne. Peleas sent Jason and his Argonauts to look for the Golden Fleece. The ship Argo sailed from Iol-Cus with 50 demigods and princes under Jason's leadership. Their mission was to reach Colchis in Aea at the Eastern Seaboard of the Black Sea and reclaim and bring back the Golden Fleece as a Symbol of the Opening of New Trade Routes.
Medea fell in love with him and promised to help him, but only on the "condition" that if he succeeded, he would take her with him and marry her. Jason "agreed." Aeetes, Medea's father, promised to give him  the Fleece, but only if he could perform "certain tasks." First, Jason had to plough a field with fire-breathing oxen that he had to yoke himself. Medea gave him an unguent with which to "anoint himself" and "his weapons," to protect him from  the Bulls' Fiery Breath. Next, Jason had to sow the teeth of a dragon in the ploughed field. The teeth sprouted into an army of warriors. Jason was forewarned by Medea, and knew that throwing a rock into the crowd they were not be able to determine who did it. The rock created a suspicious mind among them. The soldiers attacked and killed each other. Finally, Jason had to kill the sleepless dragon that guarded the Fleece. Medea put the beast to sleep with her narcotic herbs. Jason took the Fleece and sailed away with Medea, as he had promised. Medea distracted her father by killing her brother, knowing that her father would stop to retrieve the dismembered body for a proper burial. Medea and Jason stopped on her aunt Circe's Island so that she could be cleansed after the murder of her own brother, relieving her of blame for the deed.
Jason and Medea had 5 sons :Alcimedes, Thessalus, Tisander, Mermeros, and Pheres, and a daughter Eriopis. They were married happily for 10 years in Corinth.
Jason then abandoned Medea for the king's daughter Glauce. Medea took her revenge by sending Glauce a dress and golden coronet, covered in poison resulting in the death of both the princess and the king Creon when he went to save her. Two of her sons, Mermeros and Pheres, helped her and were murdered by Corinthians for their crime. Medea continued her revenge murdering her two children Tisander and Alcimenes. Only one son, Thessalus, survivied. She left Corinth and flew to Athens in a golden flying chariot driven by dragons sent by her grandfather Helious, god of the sun, to the Iranian Plateau and lived among the Aryans, who then changed their name to the Medes.

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