Medea

Medea is a tragic play written by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. It was composed in 431 BCE as Euripides’s entry for the Dionysia, an important religious festival and theatrical competition in the city of Athens. Though Medea placed third in the competition that year, it has since become one of Euripides’s most popular works, enjoying special attention for its nuanced treatment of revenge and domestic strife and for the complexity of its lead character, the clever witch Medea.

The youngest of the three canonical Greek tragedians (the others being Sophocles and Aeschylus), Euripides is distinguished from his peers for providing a voice to marginalized members of society: women, slaves, and immigrants, who were afforded little protection in the legal and cultural apparatus of Greek society. Medea is no exception. Starring a foreign-born, exiled woman who asserts her power to inspiring (and horrific) effect, Medea both entranced and shocked its ancient audience. Euripides nestles his narrative at a nexus of uncomfortable issues for his time and, perhaps, for our own: the second-class treatment of women, the helpless position of slaves, and the ostracization often faced by immigrants.

Euripides was highly respected in his time for his talent, but needled, too, being too clever and intellectual for his own good.