Reading Classics, Chronologically Through the Ages discussion

Medea is the princess of Colchis, and she helps Jason, leader of the Argonauts, to steal the golden fleece from her father, the King. Euripides's tragedy deals with the aftermath: Jason betrays Medea by deserting her for another, and Medea takes her revenge...

So I recently picked up Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes again to re-read the myth about the Golden Fleece. I just needed some context.

Also, I suddenly realized that Apollonius didn't write The Argonautica until ~280 BCE....which I thought was interesting. For some reason I always thought that The Argonautica was the source of the Golden Fleece story. But, it seems that, like so many other stories in ancient times, it already existed orally for a very long time. It would have had to, for Euripides's Medea to exist earlier in time.

I am reading Mythology by Edith Hamilton, too--and I am loving it! Just had to say that... LOL!

I also assumed the Argonautica was older! (But thinking it over, if it were older than the Iliad and Odyssey, I bet that would have made it more famous than it is now.) I mean, until a few weeks ago, I didn't even know that there was such a thing as the Argonautica. I assumed Jason's story was just a famous tale, like the ones told about Perseus and Theseus.

Is it just me, or did the dragon-pulled chariot at the end seem like a textbook Deus ex Machina technique? Also, it seems very silly to my modern mind, but I wonder if the theater-goers of Euripides's day perceived the Deus ex Machina technique differently, especially since it was a technique made famous in those days and was, perhaps, not so cliché to them?

Yes--it's textbook for sure! From what I've read, Euripides loved to use it so often that some people argue that he invented it. LOL! I think this very scene is often used as a textbook example of what deus ex machina is.