Description:
The story of Medea, a maligned and misunderstood woman of Greek mythology, from one of Britain's foremost classicists
Mothers who kill their children are universally abhorred but perennially fascinating. In this book, the award-winning scholar Edith Hall explores the possibility that Medea, mythology's archetypal murderous mother, could be based on a historical figure who migrated to Greece in the late Bronze Age.
Medea has appeared in countless works of art--plays, operas, musicals, ballets, movies, poems, paintings, sculptures, and novels--but until now no one has written a biography of her. Through meticulous research and fast-paced narrative, Hall brings new life to Medea's story, from her lonely childhood on the shores of the Black Sea through her dramatic escape with Jason and the Argonauts, the murders and attempted palace coup in Thessaly, her deadly revenge in Corinth, and her final exile in Athens.
In reframing a figure long reduced to villainy, Hall restores Medea's humanity, illuminating a woman pushed to extremes by betrayal and displacement--a brilliant, embattled outsider navigating the violent patriarchies of the ancient Mediterranean.
Review Quotes: "An impressive, innovative blend of storytelling and cultural history. Drawing on her encyclopedic knowledge of ancient sources and modern retellings, and her own travels to the sites of Medea's adventures, Hall gives a compelling account of antiquity's most provocative heroine and her rich, ongoing legacy."--Sheila Murnaghan, translator of Medea
"Serial killer or tragic heroine? Or both? Edith Hall's 'biography' of this mythical figure both touches all the relevant intellectual bases and tugs at all the relevant heartstrings. Eccentric it may be to attempt such a project of recuperation, but Professor Hall accomplishes it magnificently with all her customary unequalled insight and panache."--Paul Cartledge, author of Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece "A rousing journey through Medea's story that gleams in the telling, Edith Hall's Medea provides a detailed and invigorating biography of one of Greek myth's most famous women; the accompanying essays offer insights on why Medea matters, from one of tragedy's great scholars."--Emily Hauser, author of Penelope's Bones