How Medea drew on The Iliad
A documented line of influence: Euripides demonstrably engaged Homer’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
The Iliad
Homer · c. 750 BCE
Ancient GreeceThe influenced
Medea
Euripides · 431 BCE
Ancient GreeceRelevance
7/10
On Medea’s page
- Medea's honor-driven rage is built on the heroic code of Achilles in the Iliad — the hero who cannot endure a slight or the threat of being laughed at
- Euripides deliberately invokes that epic temper, then twists it: where Achilles relents and gives back Hector's corpse, Medea will not let Jason bury their sons
- Reading the Iliad first lets you hear the Achillean note in everything Medea says about honor and vengeance
On The Iliad’s page
- Achilles' heroic temper outlived Homer's battlefield — Bernard Knox and later scholars trace it straight into Euripides's Medea
- The man who cannot bear a slight, who fears mockery above all and turns his fury on friend and enemy alike: that is the Iliadic code, transplanted into a woman
- Euripides even inverts it — where Achilles finally returns Hector's body, Medea refuses Jason the burial of their sons