#CIRCE AND MEDEA

#magic #empowerment

 

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Jason arrived in Colchis to retrieve the golden fleece. After seeing the Greek youth, Medea felt aroused because of love and the awareness of a better place to live. He realised and promised to take her only if she helped him overcome the hard tasks that King Aeetes had imposed. Thanks to her potions, he could beat the beasts and take the golden fleece from the golden tree and the princess of Colchis.

 

Being together, some years later Jason abandoned Medea to marry Creusa, the daughter of King Corinth. The magician went mad, since she had betrayed her country for love, she had made Jason’s father younger and had taken revenge on Pelias, who had exiled them to the same land where she was abandoned by the father of her two sons. Using her powers, she attacked Creusa and her palace, she killed her own sons and escaped to Athens, where she got married again.

 

At the same time, twenty-two warriors of Ulysses dropped anchor on the coast of Circe’s island, where wolves, bears and lions welcomed them and showed them around to the palace of Circe. The magician greeted them and served roasted barley grains, honey and pure wine with curd. Immediately after they sipped, the goddess touched their heads with her wand and they were turned into pigs. Only one of them had refused drinking and went to report Ulysses quickly. The god appeared in front of Circe, he avoided the same destiny as his fellow warriors and, after sleeping with her, he made Circe turn them into their human form again.

 

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Summary of the myth of Medea and Jason and the myth of Macareus, Ulysses and Circe from the edition of Fundació Bernat Metge (1932) translated into Catalan by Adela M. Trepat and Anna M. Saavedra.