1.4 Depictions and Portrayals: Mythical Barbarians OCR A Level Classical Civilisation

Amazons standard appearance

Pointed caps, patterned tunic and trousers (horse riding), bow and arrow, half-moon shield; Sometimes with leopard skin, tattoos, other weapons like battle axe

Homer on Amazons

They are "the equals of men"

Girdle of Hippolyte

One of Herakles' labours to take the girdle of the Amazon queen, mission where Theseus also took her sister Antiope who the Amazons attacked Athens to try to recover but accidentally killed her attacking Athens

Red-figure krater of Herakles and the Amazons

6th century BCE; bow and arrow fighting (Herakles with both a club and a bow); an Amazon on the floor being defeated; Herakles mostly naked while they are clothed

Frieze of the Temple of Apollo at Bassae

5th century BCE, Bassae (Peloponnesian); Greeks and Amazons fighting, shows an Amazon defeating a Greek man on part of it

Red-figure kylix of Achilles and Penthesilea

5th century BCE, kylix used at symposia (fascination with Amazons); Achilles standing over Penthesilea killing her, Penthesilea supplication; Amazon on the outside facing forward (striking) with either tattoos or patterned clothes

Red-figure bell-krater of Achilles and Penthesilea

5th century BCE; she is clothed while he is naked, they are at the same eye level and matching poses which suggests some equality however he is the pursuer while she is the pursued; half moon shield

Appeal of the Amazons

To men, desirable maidens; however women also seemed to like them as they are depicted on women's perfume containers and as girls dolls; they were an image of freedom and gender equality

Amazons difference from the Greek women

Nomads, lived outside, sexual freedom, fought

Jason

Modern depiction is that he is unsympathetic, ancient would have been more understanding of him however he still broke an oath to the gods; supposedly wants what was best but Medea suspects he just wants a young, Greek wife; dismissive of women; easily tricked by Medea; blamed for deaths of children by chorus

Creon

Deceived and manipulated by Medea; underestimates Medea by thinking she won't be able to do anything in one day; dies not understanding the poison used on his daughter trying to help her

Aegeus

Swears an oath to protect Medea; she promised him that she would help him conceive with his wife; chorus surprised that he would take a child-killer as it could pollute the city of Athens; understands Medea's side unlike Jason and Creon

Medea family theme

Choral interlude focused on parents anguish; Aegeus wants children; Medea almost wavers because of her love for her children

Medea men and women theme

Jason and Medea clash on ideas of marriage; Medea says marriage is a "plight"; Medea is not trusted because she is a clever woman

Medea gods theme

Both Jason and Medea try to appeal to the gods in their arguments; in the end, Medea appears in her grandfather's (Helios') chariot with gift of prophecy, does she become a god; divine sanction of murder, or is she supposed to be more of an instrument of the gods or a something goddess-like herself the whole time (gods do immoral things)

Euripides' Medea first performance

431 BCE

Medea political context

Athens proud of democracy, so kings (Aegeus and Creon) are weak

Medea gender context

In Athens women could not vote/be elected or divorce their husband; Medea comments on inequality between sexes, saying she would rather fight on the front line 3 children than bear children

Medea as a Barbarian

Jason thinks he did Medea a service by taking her to Greece away from her "primitive" country" and sees Greece as a place of justice and law; use of poisons is 'Barbarian'; "Medea" = Mede, constant reminder of her foreignness; Medea thinks that Jason leaving her because she is foreign; Jason says that no Greek woman would kill her child

Medea as 'non-Barbarian'

Her deception, as Persians were believed to always tell the truth; her magic is never described as foreign; Creon fears Medea for intelligence more than her being foreign; Jason thinks she is 'emotional' and 'irrational' because she is a woman, not because she is barbarian; is her behaviour because she is related to the gods (gods do immoral things)

Sea motif in Medea

Chorus use a sea motif which is a reminder of the distance between Medea's homeland and Grece

Gender and "other"

Medea is a young, intelligent, foreign, woman; Euripides could be using Medea as an outsider as a device to look objectively at Greek marriage (she complains that a woman is powerless, their family have to buy one for her and then she cannot leave and has to have children; on the other hand Medea chose Jason for herself); Medea believes she's speaking for all women

Medea's masculinity

Her anger is heroic and male - "wild bull"; kills children with sword

Medea's femininity

Medea uses manipulation and deceit; poison to kill princess in the end

Medea as barbarian woman

Medea feared for unpredictability, unpredictable because she is a barbarian woman; feared because she is a mystery, in binary opposition a barbarian woman is the opposite of a Greek man