Medea Primary Sources

Writings from the ancient world allow us an insight to Greek life and beliefs. Many of the stories we have today show different variations of particular myths. One of such myths is the ones concerning Medea. This essay will explore the different retellings and variations of what happens to Medea once she flees to Athens with the help of Aegeus.

The first source is written by a Greek writer Apollodorus’ library of Greek mythology, which dates to 2nd century BCE . This particular book is a sort of mythological handbook summarising many of the myths relating to someone or something, amalgamating them into a book that shares the myths without the emotive parts. The library of Greek Mythology is generally seen as a good source from the ancient world

Apollodorus’ take on this myth relating to Medea is discussed in many secondary sources. One such modern secondary source is the book Looking at Medea. This books main discussion is the play Medea by Euripides but it diverges briefly into other sources and characters that relate. The particular chapter with this passage focuses on her getting banished from Athens. This source tries its best to make Medea seem more like a victim. Typically this source would be reliable especially for an in depth analysis however you must be wary of the scattered strong opinions throughout. Another secondary source mentioning this work is an online journal called the Text History of the Bibliotheca. This source contains an ancient source written by Photius, a roman religion leader, which talks about Apollodorus’ work. This source exhibits a clear bias about the work. Although he talks about the book as a good source of information he says it in a way that talks down on the Greeks clearly making a point that Romans are superior. Nevertheless the reliability of this source is still good, one should just approach it with caution when using its information. Alternatively