# Medea — Metamorphoses character guide

> Medea in Metamorphoses by Ovid.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Youth Medea

**First appearance:** 0070-death-of-pelias

## Snapshot

The sorceress who betrays her father and homeland for Jason, then punishes his betrayal with a vengeance that spares no one.

## Who they are

Medea is a king's daughter and a skilled enchantress who falls for the foreign hero Jason and helps him win the golden fleece, abandoning her family to sail away with him. When Jason later marries Glauce, Medea's love curdles into methodical revenge: she destroys the bride, her father, and her own children. Her story is the poem's darkest study of passion, betrayal, and the terrifying logic of a woman who has nothing left to lose.

## Relationships

### [Echo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters/echo)

_psychological_

Echo and Medea are linked by themes of obsession and manipulation, though not directly interacting.

### [Jason](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters/jason)

_romantic_

Jason marries Medea after she helps him, but he later abandons her, turning love to bitter rivalry.

### [Venus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters/venus)

_psychological_

Venus manipulates Medea's emotions to aid Jason, using her as a tool of divine will.

### [Io](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters/io)

_social_

Io and Medea are both victims of divine and human cruelty, but not directly connected.

### [Io](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters/io)

_social_

Io and Medea are both victims of divine and human cruelty, but not directly connected.

### [Venus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters/venus)

_psychological_

Venus manipulates Medea's emotions to aid Jason, using her as a tool of divine will.

## In the story

### [Book VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/book-vii)

Enchantress who aids Jason, restores Aeson, and tricks Pelias's daughters into murdering their father.

### [Story of Medea and Jason](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/story-of-medea-and-jason)

The Colchian princess and sorceress who falls in love with Jason, helps him overcome trials, and flees with him.

### [Old Aeson Restored to Youth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/old-aeson-restored-to-youth)

The enchantress who restores Aeson to youth using powerful magic and rituals.

### [Death of Pelias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/death-of-pelias)

Feigns a quarrel with Jason, deceives Pelias' daughters, performs the fatal operation on Pelias, and later murders her children and Glauce before escaping on a dragon chariot.

### [Story of Aegeus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/story-of-aegeus)

Flees from Corinth to Athens, marries Aegeus, and attempts to poison Theseus before being driven away.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters/medea
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters