Medea
4 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Medea. All 4 are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)
An enchantress, daughter of the king of Colchis, who fell in love with Jason when he_came to that country, and enabled him to slay the sleepless dragon that guarded the golden fleece . She fled from Colchis with Jason who made her his wife, and from whom she exacted a pledge never to love another woman. Her young brother, having been found on board the ship they sailed in, she tore him in pieces and flung him into the sea. She accompanied Jason to Greece , where she was looked on as a barbarian, but having conciliated King Peleus who was now a very old man, she induced him to try to regain youth by bathing in a magic cauldron of which she was to prepare the contents. So great was his faith in her powers, that the old man unhesitatingly plunged into her cauldron and was boiled alive. Her reason for this frightful act of cruelty was to hasten the succession to the throne of Jason, who in due course would have succeeded Peleus; but now the Greeks would have none of either him or Medea, and he was forced to leave Iolcos. Growing tired of the formidable enchantress to whom he had bound himself, Jason sought to contract an alliance with Glauce, a young princess. Dissembling her real intentions, Medea feigned friendship with the bride-elect and sent her as a wedding present a garment, which as soon as Glauce put it on, caused her to die in the greatest agony. She-Medeaparted from Jason; having murdered her two children by him, she fled from Corinth in her car drawn by dragons, to Athens, where she married Argeus, by whom she had a son, Medus. But the discovery of an attempt on the life of Theseus, forced her to leave Athens. Accompanied by her son, she returned to Colchis, and restored her father to the throne, of which he had been deprived by his own brother Perses. A great amount of literature has been written around Medea: Euripides, Ennius, Aeschylus, and later, Thomas Corneille having made her the theme of tragedies. (See Greece.)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a celebrated magi cian of classic fable, daughter of Æetes, King of Colchis, and the niece of Circe. When Jason came to Colchis in quest of the golden fleece, Medea became enamored of him, and it was to her arts that the Argonauts owed their preservation. Medea had an interview with her lover in the temple of Hecate, where they bound themselves by the most solemn oaths and promised eternal fidelity. No sooner had Jason overcome all the difficulties which Æetes had placed in his way than Medea embarked with the conquerors for Greece. To stop the pursuit of her father, she tore to pieces her brother Absyrtus, and left his mangled limbs in the pass through which Æetes was to travel. Her conduct to the daughter of Pelias , and her refusal to bring Pelias to life after they boiled his flesh in a caldron , greatly irritated the people of Iolchos, and Medea, with her husband, fled to Corinth. Here they lived for 10 years; but the love of Jason for Glauce, the king's daughter, soon interrupted their mutual harmony, and Medea was divorced. Medea revenged the infidelity of Jason by causing the death of Glauce and the destruction of her family. This act was followed by another more atrocious. Medea killed two of her children in their father's presence, and when he attempted to punish fled through the air upon a chariot nish the barbarity, she drawn by winged dragons. From Corinth Medea went to Athens, where she married King Ægeus.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A celebrated magician, daughter of Aeetes, king of Colchis, and niece of Circe . When Jason came to Colchis in quest of the Golden Fleece , Medea fell in love with him, and they exchanged oaths of fidelity; and when he had overcome all the difficulties which he had to encounter, Medea embarked with him for Greece. She lived in Corinth with her husband Jason for ten years, with much conjugal happiness, when he became enamored of Glauce, daughter of Creon, king of Corinth.. To avenge herself on Jason she caused the destruction of Glauce, and killed her two children in his presence.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
me-de'a. See Jason
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The myth itself has not moved: the events these accounts relate in 1900, 1920 and 1921 are still the events told by Apollonius, Euripides and Ovid. What has shifted is standing and interpretation. Euripides' play, which took third prize when it was staged at Athens in 431 BC, is now among the most frequently performed Greek tragedies, and since the later twentieth century Medea has been read as a study of exile, foreignness and a woman's revenge rather than simply as "a celebrated magician" (Collier's, 1921); scholars also now stress that Euripides may have been the one to make her the killer of her own children, earlier versions blaming the Corinthians. Two small corrections: the ancient claim that the Medes renamed themselves for Medea is folk etymology, and the Occultism entry's "King Peleus" boiled in the cauldron should be Pelias, uncle of Jason.
Written for this edition, 2026.