Abstract:

Medea based on mythological story of Argonauts was a tragedy written in Ancient Greek by Euripides, and in time of the Roman Empire it was re-written by Seneca. In this tragedy it was told a woman killing her two sons to avenge herself against her husband, why he cheated on his wife. Being “a good wife and a good mother” as an anti-hero in the Roman society was idealized for women, Medea, the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, was reiterated this idealized Roman woman with words of Seneca, and gave all Roman women some guidance by an image based on how a Roman woman should not be. In this respect, readers can’t find Medea as a passionate woman in Seneca’s text, but as a pure devil character, and misdeed is often described as something belonged to her personality. In this context, Medea as a historical text of Seneca enables to understand the perception codes about outsiders in Greco-Roman culture.

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