#iolcus

[beatricecenci]

George William Joy (Irish, 1844-1925)

Laodamia

[galusandmalus]

It’s no surprise Neoparasite is the ultimate evil when his unbroken male line of ancestors have all been diabolical:

Achilles - Committed war crimes for fun, then fucked over the Achaean army because he didn’t get to rape Briseis, his pettiness in turn got his boyfriend killed, then he committed more war crimes.

Peleus - Killed his half-brother because daddy loved him more. Raped Thetis according to a multiple sources.

Telamon - Not directly related to Neoparasite but he's Peleus's brother and just as evil. Also killed his half-brother along with Peleus. Was terrible to Hesione and Teucer (who is somehow the best man born into this family tree).

Aeacus - Bad enough father that two of his sons killed his favorite. Raped Psamathe the Nereid (Peleus must get it from him) who was in the form of a seal.

I don’t even need to get started on Zeus, Cronus, & Uranus but that makes 7 generations of men who did awful things, starting from Uranus down to Neoparasite himself (I hope Molossus turned out better with Andromache and Helenus's influence)

Molassus, honestly, from what I've seen, turned out WAAAY better. The only conflict he ever gets into turns out weirdly amicably with his brother wanting to be in charge, and him just... leaving to build a new society. not even like dramatic lmao.

I mean it makes sense, I dunno how old he is, but he clearly empathizes with his mother in Euripides and is treated as a bastard. With what Pelaeus is ignoring him and talking about his bloodline ending, you gotta wonder if he is even really accepted as a son. Oh man, Peleaus and Telemon are probably worse than you think. They sacked Iolcus and dismembered a woman. The thetis thign is weird since Euripides does have them get back together. I guess it depends on whoever's interpretation, cuz sea gods DO just end up wrestling in general. Tho fuck it the whole iolcus thing is enough for me to call him a bad dude I guess it goes either way. Id say telemon is worse cuz, I mean there's never any romantic diolgoue found about him and hesione at all dude just sucks. shit dad too.

Honestly, Achilles and his kids, while definitely tragic, it's the fact that neither became good men that is the most tragic part. Because they DO have moments of empathy, and actions of kindness, and then they stop. it's interesting there's almost a thing about their children being worse, the degradation of the heroes, from Perseus to Theseus and then to Achilles. But then the children of the last line are clearly far better men. Hyllus, demophon, mollassus, orestes.

Damn, achilles lived his entire life without saving a single person. Medea, Heracles, and Theseus they've saved at least one person. But not Achilles.

[the-goddess-of-annoying]

[ilions-end]

Did you know that Jason, Odysseus, and Sinon are cousins?

it all makes sense now

[awnrii]

do you have any Epic ships?

yeah the Argo, the ship built with the help of the gods that Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcus to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece.

in all seriousness i like odypen a lot! i also think polycrew is really funny

[spineless-lobster]

EEEEEEEE Okay so if you’re like me and closely examining every single thing on each of the arcana cards, you’ve probably wondered who all these kiddos are that chiron’s got with him

I’m sure most of us have gathered that the one getting head pats is achilles, considering he’s got curly blond hair, wearing green and holding a spear. But who are the others? And whose baby is that???

Well wonder no more! Hopefully! If I’m right! Because a quick look at a short list of chiron’s apprentices on wikipedia has provided me answers! (This ended up being incredibly long-winded I apologize in advance)

Let’s start at the bottom from left to right. On the far left we a boy draped in blue and holding a staff, a bronze snake wrapped around it. If you know anything about the origin of medical symbols you’ll know that this is asclepius and his famous rod (ha) that, at some point in history, got mistaken for hermes’ caduceus. Thus that’s why it’s the caduceus and not the rod of asclepius we see on hospitals and stuff. But I digress!

Asclepius is the god of medicine and the son of apollo, who was trained in the art of medicine by chiron. So it makes sense why he’s here!

In the middle we have a boy clad in red and wearing golden laurels. I believe that this could be jason of argonaut fame. Long story short, jason’s uncle pelias overthrew his half-brother aeson (jason’s father) and killed all his descendants. Alcimede, jason’s mother, saved her newborn son by having the nursemaids cry over him as if her were stillborn. She then managed to sneak away and give jason to chiron, who raised and trained him. Eventually jason does who whole golden fleece thing and becomes the king of iolcus, though he and medea were quickly exiled afterwards.

On the far right we see a boy clearing purple with deer antlers on his head. If you’re a big artemis fan like me you’ll recognize this guy pretty easily. This is actaeon, a theban hero trained by chiron who’s most famous for earning the wrath of artemis. While out hunting one day he came across the goddess and her nymphs bathing, instead of minding his damn business he decides to peep on her. Rightfully enraged, artemis curses him and forbade him from speaking another word, lest he be transformed. Upon hearing his hunting party he calls out (in some versions he tries whistling for his dogs) and he transforms into a stag. His hunting party finds him, and, seeing a stag in his place, his own dogs tear him a part and kill him.

FINALLY, we have the newborn baby chiron is holding. Now, chiron does have a few children of his own, so it’s possible it could be any one of them. But I think instead it’s a lad named medus, or polyxenus, or medeus it really depends. He’s the son of jason and medea, and like his father, he was also trained by chiron. But honestly that baby could be anyone lmao

Oh god I yapped on for more than I should have WHOOPS 😭 I hope you all enjoyed this quick mythology lesson lol

[whencyclopedia]

Alcestis

Alcestis was the mythical queen of Thessaly, wife of King Admetus, who came to personify the devoted, selfless, woman and wife in ancient Greece. While the story of Admetus' courtship of Alcestis was widely told, she is best known for her devotion to her husband in taking his place in death and her return to life through the intervention of the hero Herakles (better known as Hercules). There are two versions of Alcestis' story, one from the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus (1st/2nd century CE) in which Hercules plays no part at all, but thanks to the playwright Euripides (480-406 BCE) and his play Alcestis (written 438 BCE), the version featuring Hercules is the better known.

Although the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus was compiled after Euripides, the stories it contains are considered much older. The story in which Alcestis is returned to life by Persephone, therefore, probably pre-dates Euripides' play and he reworked the story for greater dramatic effect and, of course, to capitalize on the popularity of the hero Hercules who, by Euripides' time, would have been a significant draw at the box office.

Alcestis & Admetus

Both versions begin the same way and emphasize the importance of loyalty, love, and kindness. Once upon a time there lived a gentle king named Admetus who ruled over a small kingdom in Thessaly. He knew each of his subjects by name and so, one night when a stranger appeared at his door begging for food, he knew the man must be from a foreign land but welcomed him into his home anyway. He fed and clothed the stranger and asked him his name, but the man would give no answer other than to ask Admetus if he could be the king's slave. Admetus had no need for another slave but, recognizing the man was in distress, took him on as shepherd for his flocks.

The stranger stayed with Admetus for a year and a day and then revealed himself as the god Apollo. He had been sent to earth by Zeus as punishment and could not return to the realm of the gods until he had served a mortal as a slave for a year. Apollo thanked Admetus for his kindness and offered him any gift he desired, but Admetus said he had all he needed and required nothing for what he had done. Apollo told him he would return to help him whenever he needed anything in the future and then vanished.

Not long after this, Admetus fell in love with the princess Alcestis of the neighboring city of Iolcus. Alcestis was kind and beautiful and had many suitors but only wanted to marry Admetus. Her father Pelias, however, refused Admetus' request for her hand and stipulated that the only way he would give his daughter to him would be if he rode into the city in a chariot pulled by a lion and a wild boar.

Admetus was despondent over this situation until he remembered the promise of Apollo. He called on the god who appeared, wrestled a lion and a boar into submission, and yoked them to a golden chariot. Admetus then drove the chariot to Iolcus, and Pelias had no choice but to give him Alcestis in marriage. Apollo was among the wedding guests and gave Admetus an unusual gift: a kind of immortality. Apollo told them how he made a deal with the Fates who governed all so that, if ever Admetus became sick to the point of death, he might be well again if someone else would volunteer to die in his place.

The couple lived happily together for many years and their court was famous for their lavish parties but then, one day, Admetus fell ill and the doctors said he would not recover. The people of his court remembered the gift of Apollo and each felt that someone should give their life to save so kind and good a king, but no one wanted to do so themselves. Admetus' parents were old and so it was thought that one of them would volunteer but, even though they had only a short time left on the earth, they refused to surrender it. None of the court, nor any of Admetus' family, nor any of his subjects would take the king's place on his death bed - but Alcestis did.

At this point the two stories diverge. In the older version, Alcestis agrees to take her husband's place and dies. Her spirit is led down into the underworld by Thanatos (death) and presented to Queen Persephone. Persephone asks who this soul is who has come willingly to her realm, and Thanatos explains to her the situation. Persephone is so moved by the story of Alcestis' love and devotion to her husband that she orders Thanatos to return the queen to life. Alcestis and Admetus then live happily ever after.

Continue reading...

[rightwheretheyleftme]

Compiling every ancient source where Medea doesn’t kill her children

Disclaimer: I’m not doing this to delegitimize Euripides’ play, only to bring attention to alternative tellings of the story

Scholia to Euripides’ Medea 9.1-11 (C1st A.D)

“There’s a story from the philosophers that is much repeated—one Parmeniskos also offers—that Euripides changed the murder of the children to Medea because he accepted five talents from the Korinthians. [He claims] that the children of Medea were killed by the Korinthians because they were angry over her ruling the city and they wanted there to be an end of her ruling in Korinth, because it was her paternal [right]. For this reason he changed the [responsibility] to Medea. Hippus presents [accounts] about her residency in Korinth, as does Hellanikos. Eumelos and Simonides report that Medeia ruled Korinth. In his work called On Isthmian Affairs, Mousaios reports that Medeia was immortal, and he explains this also in his work on The Festivals of Hera Akraia.”

264.1-11

“Parmeniskos writes the following for this line: “Because the Korinthian women did not want to be ruled by a barbaric, potion-pouring woman, they conspired against her and [planned] to kill her children, seven boys and seven girls. [Euripides says that she only had two]. They fled, pursued, into the temple of Hera Akraia and they stayed there. But even then the Korinthians did not hold back: they slaughtered all of them at the altar. Then a plague fell over the city, and many bodies were perishing because of a sickness. They received an oracle that the god must be propitiated for the hunt of Medeia’s children. This is why each year during the appointed time seven girls and boys from the noblest families return to the precinct of the goddess and appease their rage—and the anger of the goddess on their behalf—with sacrifices.””

Pausanias, Description of Greece, book 2, chapter 3 (C2nd A.D.)

“As you go along another road from the market-place, which leads to Sicyon, you can see on the right of the road a temple and bronze image of Apollo, and a little farther on a well called the Well of Glauce. Into this they say she threw herself in the belief that the water would be a cure for the drugs of Medea. Above this well has been built what is called the Odeum (Music Hall), beside which is the tomb of Medea's children. Their names were Mermerus and Pheres, and they are said to have been stoned to death by the Corinthians owing to the gifts which legend says they brought to Glauce.

[7] But as their death was violent and illegal, the young babies of the Corinthians were destroyed by them until, at the command of the oracle, yearly sacrifices were established in their honor and a figure of Terror was set up. This figure still exists, being the likeness of a woman frightful to look upon but after Corinth was laid waste by the Romans and the old Corinthians were wiped out, the new settlers broke the custom of offering those sacrifices to the sons of Medea, nor do their children cut their hair for them or wear black clothes.

[8] On the occasion referred to Medea went to Athens and married Aegeus, but subsequently she was detected plotting against Theseus and fled from Athens also; coming to the land then called Aria she caused its inhabitants to be named after her Medes. The son, whom she brought with her in her flight to the Arii, they say she had by Aegeus, and that his name was Medus. Hellanicus, however, calls him Polyxenus and says that his father was Jason.

[9] The Greeks have an epic poem called Naupactia. In this Jason is represented as having removed his home after the death of Pelias from Iolcus to Corcyra, and Mermerus, the elder of his children, to have been killed by a lioness while hunting on the mainland opposite. Of Pheres is recorded nothing. But Cinaethon of Lacedaemon, another writer of pedigrees in verse, said that Jason's children by Medea were a son Medeus and a daughter Eriopis; he too, however, gives no further information about these children.

[10] Eumelus said that Helius (Sun) gave the Asopian land to Aloeus and Epliyraea to Aeetes. When Aeetes was departing for Colchis he entrusted his land to Bunus, the son of Hermes and Alcidamea, and when Bunus died Epopeus the son of Aloeus extended his kingdom to include the Ephyraeans. Afterwards, when Corinthus, the son of Marathon, died childless, the Corinthians sent for Medea from Iolcus and bestowed upon her the kingdom.

[11] Through her Jason was king in Corinth, and Medea, as her children were born, carried each to the sanctuary of Hera and concealed them, doing so in the belief that so they would be immortal. At last she learned that her hopes were vain, and at the same time she was detected by Jason. When she begged for pardon he refused it, and sailed away to Iolcus. For these reasons Medea too departed, and handed over the kingdom to Sisyphus.”

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca (C2nd A.D.)

“Another tradition is that on her flight she left behind her children, who were still infants, setting them as suppliants on the altar of Hera of the Height; but the Corinthians removed them and wounded them to death.”

Semi-relevant bonus:

Scholia to Pindar’s Olympian 13.74g. (C4th-C5th A.D)

"Medea is mentioned because she lived in Corinth and ended a famine that afflicted the Corinthians by sacrificing to Demeter and the Lemnian nymphs. There Zeus fell in love with her, but Medea did not yield, avoiding the anger of Hera. Therefore, Hera promised to make her children immortal. After their deaths, the Corinthians honored them, calling them 'μιξοβαρβάρους' [mixed-barbarians]."

To conclude, some scholarly wisdom:

“Some scholars have argued that Euripides was the first to make Medea directly responsible for killing her children in an act of revenge for Jason’s infidelity, an issue discussed by McDermott (1989, 9–24). Others, such as Michelini (1987), have argued that the innovation in this respect came from an earlier playwright, Neophron, and that Euripides was following a new variant rather than inventing it.”- Medea, Emma Griffiths

P.S: I’m not a classicist, if you know of any source that I’ve missed, please let me know!

[blue-lotus333]

Children of Autolycus

Anticlea - Queen of the Cephallenians, mother of Odysseus & Ctimene.

Polymede - Queen of Iolcus, mother of Jason.

Neaera - Mother of Hippothous

Aesimus - Father of Sinon

[johaerys-writes]

WIP Wednesday

I have been working on As Fate Would Have It, so here's a sneak peek from the next chapter!! We have some Thetis POV, and sort of an intro into the next arc of the story 👁👁

The nymphs’ tittering laughter echoes lightly across the beach like windchimes. Few of the oceanids are strangers to the Trojan shores—the Dardanelle straits are rich with fish, and the Trojans generous with their sacrifices—and many of them have seen Priam's sons and daughters first-hand. They know of Hector's piousness and his famed skill with spear and sword, and of his brother Paris' love of wine and women.

“Helen, Zeus' daughter, is known the world over for her beauty and her glib tongue,” Cymothoe says, her usually placid blue eyes dark like stormy seas now, “but young Paris must have grown to be handsomer and glibber still to have been able to convince her to leave behind her husband's bed and her daughter. I hear she's but a baby in the cradle.”

“Ah, but he wasn’t acting alone, my lady," Hermes says with a knowing smile. "It was—"

"Aphrodite," Thetis finishes quietly for him. "Aphrodite acted for him."

The nereid's laughter and excited chatter dies down as they all turn to stare at her. Thetis has been silent all along, frozen and numb as she listened to Hermes’ tidings, but now the words rise like waves to her lips. 

“Lady Hera, queen of the gods, and the wise Athena offered that boy power, wisdom and riches beyond counting," she continues, "but it had been Lady Aphrodite of the white sea foam that promised him Helen’s hand. Is that not so, Lord Hermes?”

The god’s winged foot, which had been tapping impatiently on the sand all the while they have been talking, now stops its ceaseless motion. His flashing coal-black eyes focus on her in a hawk-like stare. “Quite right, my lady, quite right!” he exclaims. “I shouldn’t be surprised that you know this; after all, it was at your very own wedding that the seeds of strife were first planted among the goddesses.” 

The reminder brings bitter memories to her. Thetis had been but a young goddess then, but already Zeus and Poseidon had been clamouring for years for her hand. When goddess Themis of the white hands had delivered to her the prophecy—that she would bring forth a son, of strength mightier than his father—all attempts at courting her or claiming her by force had swiftly been abandoned. No god, no man wanted a child whose fame would come to eclipse their own. 

All but one.

How small and unassuming he had seemed to her when he had arrived to the shore she dwelt, with carriages filled to the brim with precious gifts, all the wealth he had gathered after sacking the city of Iolcus. A king of men in his own right, but of modest fame, from a small kingdom. But he was favoured by Zeus, and that alone had been enough for Peleus Aeacides to summon the courage to ask for her hand. 

Thrice she had refused him, and thrice he had returned, each time bearing gifts more rare and priceless than the last. And when Zeus, the king of the gods, had made it clear that she had no other choice but to submit to the man's advances, only then had Thetis finally accepted.

The wedding had been an extravagant affair, with every god, nymph and lesser spirit bringing gifts and paying their respects, wishing them every happiness—everyone, except for Eris, goddess of strife, who never received her invitation. She had been the one to plant discord among the three goddesses, and disagreements such as these never reach a happy ending. Not for anyone.

“Menelaus," Hermes continues, "much distressed by his queen's abduction, has already sought counsel with his brother Agamemnon. Night and day they have been talking, rumour has it, and not a few of those nights have been spent with the king of Sparta crying on his poor brother's shoulder," he adds with a mocking little laugh. "But not all of this time has been spent lamenting. Atreides are a proud and stubborn folk. It is said they are preparing—” 

“War,” Thetis whispers. “A war unlike anything mortals or gods have witnessed before.”

Silence falls among the sisters. They all look at each other uneasily, the full magnitude of the situation now dawning on them. After all, they all have sons and daughters, either in Greece or Troy, that might get caught in the crossfire. The waves fall quiet, not even the sea birds along the rocks making a sound.

Hermes clears his throat. 

“Yes. Well. You are not wrong about that,” the god says, evidently miffed that Thetis stole from him the pleasure of breaking the big news to them for the second time.

Tagging forth to (no pressure): @baejax-the-great @rowanisawriter @darlingpoppet @hekateinhell @babyrdie @glossc1 @supernova3space @tragediegh @iiktend to share some art or writing you're working on, as well as anyone else who'd like to grab a tag and do this!

[beatricecenci]

Bartolomeo Guidobono (Italian, 1654-1709)

Medea ringiovanisce Esone

[galusandmalus]

underrated Medea information in Bibliotheca Historica

Book by Diodorus Siculus

 "Medea, the tale goes on, fashioning a hollow image of Artemis secreted in it drugs of diverse natures, and as for herself, she anointed her hair with certain potent ointments and made it grey, and filled her face and body so full of wrinkles that all who looked upon her thought that she was surely an old woman." "and showing herself to the king, she amazed those who gazed upon her, and they thought that a kind of Providence of the gods had transformed her old age into a maiden's youth and striking beauty" "Also, by means of certain drugs, Medea caused shapes of the dragons to appear"  "made her way safely to Heracles in Thebes. Her reason for doing so was that Heracles had acted as a mediator in connection with the agreements​ which had been entered into in the land of the Colchians and had promised to come to her aid if she should ever find them violated" "Thessalus, they say, who had escaped being murdered by his mother, was reared as a youth in Corinth and then removed to Iolcus, which was the native land of Jason; and finding on his arrival that Acastus, the son of Pelias, had recently died, he took over the throne which belonged to him by inheritance and called the people who were subject to himself Thessalians after his own name." "Now as for Medea, he says, on finding upon her arrival in Thebes that Heracles was possessed of a frenzy of madness and had slain his sons,​ she restored him to health by means of drugs. But since Eurystheus was pressing Heracles with his commands,​ she despaired of receiving any aid from him at the moment and sought refuge in Athens with Aegeus," "but certain writers give the account that, when her person was demanded by Hippotes, the son of Creon, she was granted a trial and cleared of the charges he raised against her."

[mythologer]

JASÃO E O VELO DE OURO.

" Na mitologia grega, o Velocino de Ouro é o velo do carneiro alado de lã dourada, que era mantido na Cólquida. O velo é um símbolo de autoridade e realeza.

Ele figura na história do herói Jasão e sua tripulação de Argonautas, que partiram em busca do velo por ordem do rei Pélias, a fim de colocar Jasão por direito no trono de Iolcus na Tessália. Com a ajuda de Medeia, eles adquirem o Velocino de Ouro. A história é de grande antiguidade e era corrente na época de Homero (século VIII aC)."

[community-gardenss]

uh lets see if Medea has any other surviving sons... what do you think of Thessalus, the last king of Iolcus?

honestly there's a LOT less information about Thessalus, especially compared to Medus. I'm fairly certain he's only truly mentioned in a single bit of Diodoros Siculus' bibliotheca historica. So any thoughts I have about him are less about his character and more about my own interpretation I guess.

I think it's interesting that he's sort of narratively the opposite to Medus, dealing with his father's line rather than Medus with his mother's. As well as the idea that he succeeds where Jason failed in regaining control of his father's homeland, the land which is his by birthright. Especially since his return to iolcus is generally quite peacefull, the old ruler dead and the throne waiting for him. It sort of feels like he takes a more stereotypically Greek role where Medus follows his mother in her 'foreign' values. But even then, his story isn't one of revenge against his mother for what she did to his brothers, which is interesting to me. It feels like Thessalus and Medus both break the cycle of tragedy their parents existed under by refusing to seek vengeance against them. Medus in refusing to seek out his father, and Thessalus in refusing to seek out his mother.

Logically the stories of both Thessalus and Medus existed as one way to explain the origin of Thessaly and Medes but there's at least a little bit of interesting info to think about there in the margins.

[fleurbleedinghearts]

Diodorus Siculus, the source that claims Medea's mother is Hekate, also notes that Medea's son Thessalus moved to the region of Thessaly after surviving his mother's filicide

but here's a fun little piece of information about Thessaly from another source, Propertius:

"Brimo [Hekate], who as legend tells, by the waters of Boebeis [lake in Thessaly] laid her virgin body at Mercurius' [Hermes'] side."

Boebeis lake is located at Iolcus, the kingdom Thessalus, Hermes and Hekate’s first shared descendant through Jason being a great grandson of Hermes and Medea being a daughter of Hekate, becomes the king of.

Jason and Medea named their son after the region where their ancestors first f-ed (probably not intentionally but it's hilarious in hindsight)

[writingamongther0ses]

Dedicated to Hera

Summary: Jason is Hera's favorite hero and Medea's husband. When Creon offers his daughter's hand in marriage, Jason decides to go down the path his patron would prefer.

AO3/Ko-Fi

-_-

The palace of Corinth was buzzing.

For ten years, a hero had lived in their city. Jason the Argonaut, captain of the Argos, was known far and wide for his many deeds in his quest to rescue the Golden Fleece. It helped that he was handsome, with a charming smile and golden curls that resembled the Fleece that had won him such fame.

For ten years, a witch had lived in their city. Medea the witch, foreigner, was known far and wide for her many deeds in her quest to carve a path of destruction and chaos. It helped that she was beautiful, with an angular face and dark eyes that resembled the magic she used to ruin Jason's life in his home kingdom.

King Creon preferred the former. So did his daughter, Glauce.

So he had invited Jason for dinner. It wasn't the first time he had invited the hero over, but today was special.

Today was the day...

"Absolutely not."

Today was apparently the day Jason rejected his offer.

"Excuse me?" Creon said, sitting up on his couch. The hall had gone quiet, eager to hear what the wonderful hero would say to the king's offer. "You're...refusing?"

Jason sat up as well, his charming smile gone from his face. "Yes," he said. "Let me be honest, Creon-" Everyone flinched at the lack of title, of decorum. Jason slipped up sometimes, something he chalked up to living in the mountains and living on a giant ship for most of his life, but this was personal. "I would not have accepted your invitation if I knew you were going to make me cheat on my wife."

"Cheating?" He scoffed. "I would hardly call it cheating. I would call it thinking of your future." Medea had already gotten Jason banished from Iolcus, taking away his rightful throne. Jason's marriage to Glauce would grant him another throne. If he stayed married to the witch, the hero would drown. "Besides, I very much doubt you're actually married to that thing."

"Actually, I am married to her," Jason's eyes darkened. "In the eyes of Hera, she is my wife, and I will bade you to treat her with the respect she deserves."

Creon only saw a flash of purple before his daughter rushed up from the doorway she was hiding in, hoping to perhaps watch her engagement. Instead, she gripped her purple dress with white knuckles. "Jason, please. Think of your future," Her words were delicately sweet, and Creon's chest warmed. Any man would fold to sweet words and shiny, about to cry, eyes. "My father and I just want what's best for you-"

"And what about you?"

"...What about me?"

Jason leaned away from Glauche, staring her down. Creon had seen that look in soldiers' eyes before, figuring out how to best attack the enemy. "Aphrodite made Medea and I fall in love. Hera witnessed our union. Hera, beyond that, is my patron and the goddess of marriage." Glauce reached out, but he only let her slender fingers stroke his hand before he pulled away. "By leaving Medea and marrying you, I would be entrapping you in a cursed marriage. Hera is not fond of those who break their oaths." A cold breeze whistled through the hall as if to make a point.

Glauce somehow dared to speak, going, "But-"

"Think of what is best for you, princess, and forget this offer." Jason stood before Creon could figure out what to say next, to try and figure out how to make the offer sweeter. "Goodnight, King Creon, and Princess Glauce. I apologize for leaving so soon, but it is Tisander's birthday, and I skipped the celebrations."

He turned and marched out.

The servants would later whisper that Medea, the witch and wife, was waiting for him at the doorway to the palace, a warm smile across her face and a warm embrace waiting for Jason.

According to them, she had never looked more beautiful.