Ancient Greek theatergoers would have known the tales well. The legendary adventures of Jason and Medea form the backstory to the action in Medea and Mojada.
Photo © and courtesy of Hans Rupprecht Goette Backstory: The Myth of Jason and Medea To understand Mojada, it helps to have a grasp of the story’s ancient roots.Įuripides’ plays were performed in the vast theater of Dionysos, shown in the foreground in this view of the Acropolis. Playwright Luis Alfaro moves Euripides’ ancient story to present-day East L.A., changing settings and names but keeping the essence of its characters intact. The play Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles, being performed at the Getty Villa this fall, is the latest in a series of modern productions and adaptations of the story. And he did not disappoint: Medea’s killing of her children and her escape in the chariot of the sun were apparently invented by the poet himself, his personal contribution to epic legend. was well versed in the legends of Jason and Medea–they wanted to see what the great Euripides would make of them. The Athenian audience who attended the festival of Dionysos to see Euripides’s Medea in 431 B.C. Although it only won third place when it was first performed, it soon became popular, and was one of a set of ten plays by Euripides that were widely known from antiquity through the Middle Ages. Discuss.Probably no other ancient play has been produced in modern times as often as Medea. And the final surprising appearance of the chariot of the sun seems to prove her right’ (Helene Foley). (b) ‘Medea is quite certain that the gods will support her punishment of Jason. How adequate is this as an account of Euripides’ Medea? (a) ‘A bourgeois quarrel between an obtusely selfish man and an over-passionate woman’ (D.W.
Segal (ed.), Oxford Readings in Greek Tragedy (Oxford, 1983) Knox, ‘The Medea of Euripides’, Yale Classical Studies 25 (1977), 193–225. Just, Women in Athenian Law and Life (London, 1989), pp. Foley, ‘Medea’s Divided Self’, Classical Antiquity 8 (1989), 61–85 ≈ Female Acts in Greek Tragedy (Princeton, 2001), Ch. Conacher, Euripidean Drama (Toronto, 1967), Ch. ––––––, Revenge in Attic and Later Tragedy (Berkeley & Los Angeles, 1998), Ch. Burnett, ‘Medea and the tragedy of revenge’ Classical Philology 68 (1973), 1–24 () Allan, Euripides: Medea (London, 2002)Ī.P. Elliott (Oxford University Press, 1969) is more elementary, and has a useful vocabulary. Mastronarde (Cambridge University Press, 2002) Indicative Module Content:Įuripides, Medea, ed. * construct a relevant and analytical essay on the text. * answer questions on specific points in the text * evaluate modern interpretations of the text * translate the text with confidence and accuracy On completion of this module students should be able to:
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