Medea

Euripides (c. 480-406 BC) lived at the time of the greatest political and economic splendor of Athens, assisted in the construction of the Parthenon and the most beautiful monuments of the Acropolis, and shared with sincere patriotism the pride of democratic Ideals. We have unreliable data about his life. Eighteen tragedies have survived, almost all of them belonging to the author's full maturity. Medea, who was represented in the year 431 a. C., is surely his masterpiece. Jason, the husband of Medea and the father of her children, is about to disown her and marry the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth. Medea, overcome with anger, plans to retaliate without thinking about the consequences. To do this, she pretends to have been convinced by Jason and sends her children with rich gifts for the bride to Creon's palace; but those gifts contain a deadly spell. Medea is thus shown as a passionate woman, angry and enraged by rejection, and plots a crime to consummate her revenge.