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Medea makes the old ram young again on a red figure vase

Medea makes the old ram young again (Athens, 400s BC)

When Jason and Medea got home with the Golden Fleece, the bad king Pelias still didn’t want to hand over power to his nephew. So Medea thought up a great magic plan to get rid of Pelias. She told Pelias’ daughters she could make him young again with her magic. She would just chop him into pieces and put him in a big cauldron and do her magic, and Pelias would hop out again as a young man.

At first the girls were skeptical of this plan, but Medea convinced them by cutting up an old ram and putting it in the cauldron, and sure enough, a young lamb hopped out. So the girls knew she could do it, and they chopped Pelias up. But this time Medea didn’t do any magic, and Pelias stayed dead. Jason still didn’t get to be king, though. Pelias’ son drove Jason and Medea away as murderers, and in the end they settled down in Corinth.

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More about Medea and Jason

Bibliography and further reading about Jason and the Golden Fleece:

More about Medea
Ancient Greece
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