Women to be feared Flashcards
When did Medea meet Jason?
When he was was on his quest to find the legendary Golden fleece
Who was Medea the daughter of?
Aites the king of Colchis
Jason and his quest for the golden fleece [4]:
- Jason was promised the throne of Thessaly by his uncle Pelias if he got the golden fleece
- Jason built a ship called the Argo and collected a group of heroes, later known as the Argonauts
- The King of Colchis, Aites, did not want him to get the fleece so he set Jason a challenge
- Jason had to yoke a pair of oxygen to a plough, used them to plough the field and then sowed the field with serpents’ teeth
What would happen once serpent teeth were sown into the earth?
Warriors would spring up from the earth
What were Oxen?
Monstrous beasts of metal that breathed fire
Hera’s involvement in Jason’s quest [3]:
- Jason was one of the favorite mortals of Hera
- She knew the quest for the fleece would be difficult for Jason so she made Aites’ daughter, Medea, fall in love with Jason
- Hera hoped that Medea would help Jason complete the quest with her magical powers
Which Greek epic poet narrated the moment Medea fell in love with Jason ?
Apollonius
The love Eros inspired in Medea was…[2]:
- Overwhelming
- She longed for nothing else but to save Jason’s life
How did Medea help Jason?
[3]:
- She gave Jason a charm that would make him invulnerable and able to complete Aites’ tasks
- She also used a combination of magic, chants and drugs to lull the serpent to sleep
- In return Jason promised to take Medea back to Greece with him and marry her
Why was it a problem that Medea helped Jason?
She was betraying her father and country
What Greek word is Medea’s name derived from?
[2]:
- ‘planner’ or ‘deviser’
- this links to her cunning characteristic
How did Medea slow down the angry Colchians when they chased the Argonauts?
[2]:
- She killed her brother, Apsyrtus and then cut his body into to pieces
- Every time the Colchians got close she would threw a piece of her brother into the water and the Colchians had to stop and search for the piece as they believed in proper burials
When Jason and Medea arrived in Thessaly…
- King Pelias was shocked to see that Jason had acquired the golden fleece and refused to give up the throne
Medea’s plan for the throne of Thessaly [4]:
- She showed the two daughters of king Pelias a magic ritual that could reverse the ageing process
- She demonstrated by cutting up an old ram and then boiled it in a cauldron
- When the girls weren’t looking she replaced the ram with a young lamb, tricking the girls
- The girls tried the ritual on their father, unwittingly killing him in the process
What happened to Medea and Jason after the death of King Pelias? [2]:
- They were driven out of Thessaly by angry townsfolk
- They had to seek refuge in The Greek city of Corinth
Medea’s unpopularity in Corinth [3]:
- Jason and Medea settled down in Corinth and had 2 sons
- Medea had gained an unfavourable status of the barbarian foreigner which meant that Jason was not able to get along with local rulers
- Jason left Medea so that he can improve his status and his new bride was the princess of Corinth called Glauce
Medea’s Revenge [4]:
- Medea sends Glauce a coronet and wedding dress on the day of her wedding
- The dress burns the princess as soon as she puts it on as Medea had cast a poisonous spell on it
- King Creon tries to help his daughter by removing the dress but instead, it burns him to and they both die
- Medea then finally kills her two sons to hurt their father
Cleopatra background [3]:
- She was born around 69 BC and grew up in a royal household
- Her family was the Ptolemies and they had ruled Egypt since the fall of Alexander the Great in 323 BC
- She became ruler in 55 BC
Cleopatra’s sole rule of Egypt [4]:
- A man and a woman should rule together although the woman should be subservient to the man
- Her father Ptolemy died when she was 18 making her younger brother the new male monarch
- Cleopatra took advantage of her brother’s young age and took control
- However, her sole rule was short-lived as she had to flee Egypt in 45 BC as the result of a coup that removed her from power
Cleopatra’s sole rule of Egypt [4]:
- A man and a woman should rule together although the woman should be subservient to the man
- Her father Ptolemy xii died when she was 18 making her younger brother the new male monarch
- Cleopatra took advantage of her brother’s young age and took control
- However, her sole rule was short-lived as she had to flee Egypt in 45 BC as the result of a coup that removed her from power
The Roman civil war [5]:
- It was between to military generals; Julius Caesar and Pompey
- They had been former allies
- After a military defeat, Pompey fled to Alexandria in Egypt
- Pharoah Ptolemy xiii ordered Pompey’s execution in an attempt to win Caesar’s favour
- Caesar was not impressed as he did not wish Pompey’s death only his defeat and so took control of Alexandria
Cleopatra’s opinion on the roman civil war [2]:
- She saw Caesar’s new control of Alexandria as an opportunity to reclaim her throne
- She sought to state her case and make her claim to the Egyptian throne to Caesar himself
Plutarch’s description of how Cleopatra got the throne [4]:
- Cleopatra arranged a meeting with Caesar alone and unnoticed
- Her plan relied on Caesar preferring her over her brother, Ptolemy xiii
- In private she worked her charm uninterrupted
- Caesar later declared that Cleo rule jointly with her brother
Caesar and Cleopatra’s relationship [2]:
- she became his mistress
- They then had a son Ptolemy Caesar (Caesarion)
Ptolemy xiii’s death
He was killed, months after Caesarion’s birth, during a failed attempt to take the throne for himself
Cleopatra’s unpopularity with the Romans [2]:
- She was immediately unpopular as the Romans had an ingrained disdain for monarchs and she insisted on being called ‘queen’
- The people of Rome worried that Cleo’s influence on Caesar would end in radical changes in Rome
Cleopatra’s statue in Rome [4]:
- Ordered by Julius Caesar
- Portrayed Cleopatra as the Egyptian goddess Isis
- It was put in the temple of Venus Genetrix, goddess of motherhood
- This was seen as a radical change to Roman culture as the Romans did not worship rulers
Caesar’s death [3]:
- Happened months after he was elected dictator for life
- He was stabbed to death in the senate house
- Cleopatra returned to Alexandria fearful for her life
Power vacuum in Rome after the assassination [3]:
- 2 men rose to prominence; Mark Antony and Octavian
- They eventually turned on each other
- In 41 BC Antony requested Cleopatra meet him in Tarsus so that she would ally with him in upcoming wars
Cleopatra’s seduction of Antony [4]:
- According to Plutarch Cleo had no intent to ally with him but to seduce him like Caesar
- She succeeded as he spent the winter of 41-40 BC in Egypt
- They married in 36 BC, despite having been married to a roman noblewoman
- This was a scandal as Bigamy was not accepted
Donations of Alexandria [5]:
- This was a public event in 34 BC held by Antony and
Cleopatra - It was a celebration of Antony’s victory over the Parthians
- The fact that it was not held in Rome was seen as proof that Cleopatra convinced Antony to move the centre of the Roman empire to Egypt
- During the celebrations, Antony named Cleopatra the ruler of Cyprus as well as Egypt
- By giving realms to Cleopatra and his children he was essentially betraying Rome
Antony’s Civil war with Octavian [4]:
- In 33 BC relations between the former allies had completely broken down
- Octavian convinced the Senate to declare war on Cleopatra
- The decisive battle of this conflict was the battle of Actium fought off the coast of Greece
- Octavian’s forces fought against Antony and Cleopatra’s fleets
- Antony and Cleopatra retreated to Alexandria as Octavian had won the war
Cleopatra’s death [4]:
- In 30 BC Octavian marched on Alexandria and Antony’s remaining forces became Octavian’s
- Antony killed himself after this
- Cleopatra killed herself shortly after
- It is not known exactly how she killed herself but the most common version is that she allowed an Egyptian asp or Cobra to bite her
