File:Alfons_Mucha_-_Medea.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Written by
- Euripides
- Chorus
- Corinthian Women
- Characters
- Medea , Nurse, Tutor, Aegeus , Creon , Jason , Messenger, Medea's two children
- Date premiered
- 431 BC
- Place premiered
- Athens
- Original language
- Ancient Greek
- Genre
- Tragedy
- Setting
- Before Medea's house in Corinth
via Wikipedia infobox
~30 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Medea (Ancient Greek: Μήδεια, Mēdeia) is a tragedy based on a myth, written by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. It was first performed in 431 BC as part of a trilogy, the other plays of which have not survived. Its plot centers on the actions of Medea, a former princess of the kingdom of Colchis and the wife of Jason. She finds her position in the world threatened as Jason leaves her for a princess of Corinth and takes vengeance on him by murdering his new wife, her father-in-law, and her own two sons. She then escapes to Athens to start a new life.
Euripides's play has been retold and reinterpreted for centuries. Playwrights across the world have explored it in a variety of ways, offering political, psychoanalytical, feminist, and many other original readings of Medea, Jason, and the core themes of the play.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Medea” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.