ABSTRACT
Giving access to the latest critical thinking on the subject, Medea is a comprehensive guide to sources that paints a vivid portrait of the Greek sorceress Medea, famed in myth for the murder of her children after she is banished from her own home and replaced by a new wife. Emma Griffiths brings into focus previously unexplored themes of the Medea myth, and provides an incisive introduction to the story and its history.
Studying Medea’s ‘everywoman’ status – one that has caused many intricacies of her tale to be overlooked – Griffiths places the story in ancient and modern context and reveals fascinating insights into ancient Greece and its ideology, the importance of life, the role of women and the position of the outsider.
In clear, user-friendly terms, the book situates the myth within analytical frameworks such as psychoanalysis, and Griffiths highlights Medea’s position in current classical study as well as her lasting appeal.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |26 pages
Why Medea?
chapter |8 pages
Introducing Medea
chapter |16 pages
Mythology and Sources
part |73 pages
Key Themes
chapter |12 pages
Origins, folktale and Structuralism
chapter |18 pages
Witchcraft, Children and Divinity
chapter |12 pages
Ethnicity, Gender and Philosophy
chapter |14 pages
Euripides' Version of Myth
chapter |15 pages
Myth About Myth: From Greece to Rome
part |19 pages
After Greece and Rome