Good Morning,

As we all know, Euripides' "Medea" is in great part about the relation between Jason and Medea: He cheats on her and she doesn't appreciate it. A problematic relationship. Now, for the pleasure of my class, I had decided to explore the genealogic relation of Jason and Medea; by trying to innocently satisfy my curiosity, I uncovered an other HUGE problem in Medea and Jason's relationship (and doing so, a huge problem in the way greek gods pair-up in between themselves). Indeed, we already know Medea gets to ride on her pimped-out and dragon-fueled flying chariot because she is the grand-daughter of Helios; god of the sun. Those who know a little more myhtology and/or have read the story of golden fleece might also know that Jason, husband of Medea, is the son of Aeson. I don't think anyone knows any further details so I will take over from here ( if you get lost, please follow the attached map).

Helios was the son of Hyperion and Theia, two of the twelve titans (they are thus brother and sister). Hyperion and Theia count, among their siblings, Oceanus and Tethys who together had three children. One of these was Klymene, father of Epimetheus, father of Pyrrha, mother of Hellen, mother of Aeolus, father of Salmoneus. Salmoneus' daughter married twice and one of her sons with Cretheus was Aeson, father of Jason.

Now, you're probably completely lost, that's ok. The important thing that should have been remarked though is that we went down more than we went up. To make this clear, I will go down one generation at a time. First, there is the twelve Titans, then a generation with Helios on one side and Klymene on the other. Then we have the generation of Medea's parent and of Epimetheus. After that, we have Medea on one side and Pyrrha on the other. Where is Jason ? Six generations down.

If after all this you're still not getting it, get ready; Medea is six generations older than Jason. Medea could be the age of Jason's great-great-great-great-grand-mother.

Do we still blame Jason for the attraction of younger flesh ?

Ps: if my map is not clear, Medea is the red dot at the bottom of the left root and Jason is the one at the bottom of the right root.