Once he finishes his quest, she abandons her native home of Colchis and flees westwards with Jason, where they eventually settle in Corinth and marry.

Herodotus in his Histories mentions that she ended up leaving Athens and settling in the Iranian plateau among the Aryans, who subsequently changed their name to the Medes.

[4] Medea is a direct descendant of the sun god Helios (son of the Titan Hyperion and Titaness Theia) through her father King Aeëtes of Colchis.

"[7] No matter the number of children, Medea eventually leaves Jason in Corinth, and marries the King of Athens (Aegeus) and bears him a son.

[11] Medea is first introduced in Greek Mythology after Jason came from Iolcus to Colchis in an attempt to claim his inheritance and throne by retrieving the Golden Fleece.

In the most complete surviving account, the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, Hera convinced Aphrodite or Eros to cast a spell on Medea so that she would fall in love with Jason and promise her skills to help him.

To aid him in this, Medea gave him an unguent, called the "Charm of Prometheus", to anoint himself and his weapons, to protect them from the bulls' fiery breath.

[12] Knowing that the Argonaut's journey back home would be just as perilous and deadly without divine intervention, Hera requested the help of Thetis.

[14] However, in the Argonautica, Medea and Jason stopped on her aunt Circe's private isle of Aiaia so that she could be cleansed after murdering her brother, relieving her of blame for the deed.

On the way back to Thessaly, Medea prophesied that Euphemus, the helmsman of Jason's ship, the Argo, would one day rule over all of Libya.

According to Apollodorus, Talos was slain either when Medea drove him mad with drugs, deceived him that she would make him immortal by removing the nail, or was killed by Poeas's arrow.

[16] In the Argonautica, Medea hypnotized him from the Argo, driving him mad so that he dislodged the nail, ichor flowed from the wound, and he bled to death.

Medea understood the impact this had on Jason and was able to invigorate him by withdrawing the blood from Aeson's body, infused it with certain herbs, and returning it to his veins.

Afterward, she left Corinth and flew to Athens in a golden chariot driven by dragons sent by her grandfather, Helios, god of the sun.

Just like these gods, Medea "interrupts and puts a stop to the violent action of the human being on the lower level" and "justifies her savage revenge on the grounds that she has been treated with disrespect and mockery" so that she "takes measures and gives orders for the burial of the dead, prophesies the future," and "announces the foundation of a cult.

"[29] This deliberate murder of her children by Medea appears to be Euripides's invention, although some scholars believe Neophron created this alternate tradition.

[31] Pausanias, writing in the late 2nd century CE, records five different versions of what happened to Medea's children after reporting that he has seen a monument for them while traveling in Corinth.

[32] Fleeing from Jason, Medea made her way to Thebes, where she healed Heracles (the former Argonaut) from the curse of Hera (that led him to slay his sons).

Determined to preserve her own son's inheritance, Medea convinced her husband that Theseus was an imposter, making him a threat and that he needed to be disposed of.

As Medea handed Theseus a cup of poison, Aegeus recognized the young man's sword as his own, which he had left behind many years previously for his newborn son as soon as he came of age.

Knocking the cup from Medea's hand, Aegeus embraced Theseus as his own.Medea returned to Colchis and found that Aeëtes had been deposed by his brother Perses, which prompted her to kill her uncle and restore the kingdom to her father.

In fact, in the analysis of Greek tragedy made by Sarah Iles Johnston, the revenge of Medea serves "as a means of reasserting her identity and ensuring that her enemies pay for their betrayal".

In a society where women had limited means for justice, Medea's revenge takes the form of balance--however harsh--which is calculated in righting the books.

Deborah Boedeker writes about different images and symbolism Euripides used in his play to evoke responses from his original Athenian audience.

[36] The Nurse, one of the characters, gives descriptions of Medea in the prologue, highlighting comparisons to great forces of nature and different animals.

Euripides, more than all other tragedians, has predicted many of the horrors that occur in the modern world, showing both the glory and the monstrosity of the oppressed turned oppressor.

"[37] Although not the first depiction of Medea, the Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes gives a fuller description of events that lead up to Euripides's play, mainly surrounding Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece.

Jason would never have been successful on his quest without Medea's help, something that is pointed out and referenced many times in ancient texts and contemporary scholarly work.

[41] A mortal with divine ancestry—Medea is the granddaughter of Helios—she seems to kill without consequence, suggesting that she acts as an agent of divine force (similar to Nemesis) and, as-such, is immune from vengeance that typically comes to mortals who commit injustice: After Medea kills her brother, Absyrtus, she, Jason, and the others stop at her aunt Circe's island, Aeaea, to be absolved of the crime.

[42] In his book The Happiness Hypothesis, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt quotes Medea talking about her struggle between her love to Jason and obligation to her father, as an example for "The divided Self" and the conflict between Id and Superego: "I am dragged along by a strange new force.