1. Medea in Myth

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, Lucy talks about the character of Medea in Greek myth, and what the original Athenian audience might have thought about the character before she stepped out in Euripides' version in 431 BC. The module also looks at the presentation of Medea after Euripides, including Seneca's version in the 1st Century AD and Pasolini's film in the 1960s.

Course

In this module, we explore Euripides' Medea, a tragedy in which a Medea kills her own children to get back at Jason, who has left her for another woman. The course begins by looking at the myth of Medea and what the Athenian audience might have known about the character of Medea before Euripides' version. The course also looks at key themes in the Medea, including revenge, rhetoric, women, and the gods, as well as tackling the difficult issue of the role of Chorus.

Lecturer

Lucy Jackson is Assistant Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Durham University. Her research interests include Greek drama in the classical period, particularly Greek tragedy and Greek choral performance. Her most recent book is The Chorus of Drama in the Fourth Century BCE (Oxford, 2019).