Binding Spell: The Merging of Orpheus and Medea in the Argonautica

Suzanne Lye (University of California, Los Angeles)

In the Argonautica, Apollonius of Rhodes uses Orpheus and Medea to symbolize the initial encounter and subsequent synthesis of Greek and non-Greek identities. R.J. Clare in The Path of the Argo (2002) has suggested that Orpheus represents order and Medea chaos through her chthonic associations. I contend, however, that both characters have chthonic associations and that they represent different types of order. Although I agree with Clare that Orpheus represents a kind of Greek order through his associations with Hesiodic and Empedoclean cosmogonies, I nevertheless show that Orpheus, being a Thracian (so not completely Greek), and his magic are just as chthonic in their associations as Medea and her magic. I look at select scenes focusing on the effects of their magic to demonstrate that Orpheus and Medea have complementary functions and that the two are aspects of the same figure used by Apollonius to represent the initial separation and final convergence of Greek and non-Greek concepts of order. “Chthonic” in the poem, as my argument makes clear, is not a simple cipher for chaos or non-Greek, but a complex analogue for varying degrees along a spectrum, with Orpheus at one end and Medea at the other. Each character represents their respective proximity to Greek culture through their different supernatural powers (Orpheus - music and ritual, Medea - incantation and magic). They affect both living beings and inanimate objects to promote order in the universe of the poem.

Orpheus and Medea counterbalance each other as magical helpers of Jason. Orpheus’ music and ritual magic dominate the first half of the poem, Medea’s witchcraft the final two books. I show that in books 1 and 2, Orpheus’ magic functions as the propitiatory, as well as apotropaic, response to violence. Just as in the initial departure episode where Orpheus famously casts a spell with his music to avert a potentially violent encounter among the Argonauts (1.460-518), I argue that in the Cyzicus episode Orpheus’ magic is an equivalent propitiatory response to the heinous violence that has taken place when the Argonauts inadvertently kill their host, the king of the Doliones (1.961-1077). Likewise, I argue that Orpheus’ musical celebration of Polydeuces’ victory over Amycus, king of the Bebrycians, also functions as another propitiatory act that atones for the violent slaughter of the Bebrycians (2.1-163). In both cases the defeat of the king is linked to the annihilation of chthonic entities occupying the region.

In the last two books, Orpheus in his function as averter and propitiator is gradually replaced by Medea as her deployment of magic in the poem moves from being indirect in book 3 to direct in book 4. In the Colchian episode she merely instructs Jason how to use the magical potion to protect himself, and in the Circe episode (4.662-752), she manipulates the situation so that her aunt Circe uses magic to purify Jason and herself for Apsyrtus’ murder. It is not until Medea marries Jason on Drepane that she uses magic herself. After her marriage, Medea uses her magic to defeat Talos, the last remnant of chthonic order (4.1638-1688). Moreover, while Medea is gradually acquiring an active role as Jason’s magical helper, Orpheus’ capacity in the same role is waning.

Some of Orpheus’ last moments as a prominent presence in the poem are in the Sirens episode, where he overpowers the enchanting song of the Sirens by the loudness of his music (4.885-919), and at the marriage of Jason and Medea, where his music is a key component of the ceremony that ultimately averts a battle between the Colchians and Argonauts (4.1128-1164). His disappearance as a magical figure coincides with the elevation of Medea’s magical role. In the end, their separate identities and roles overlap with Medea becoming as Greek as she possibly can (through her marriage to Jason and practice of Greek rituals) and ultimately assuming Orpheus’ role as magical helper in the narrative. What Apollonius implies by all this, I suggest, is that the non-Greek chthonic order which is associated with Medea, must somehow be incorporated into a holistic, Argonautic cosmogony, one that accommodates both Greek and non-Greek perspectives. As their roles intertwine in the poem, Orpheus becomes Medea and Medea Orpheus. By the end of the Argonautica, the two figures represent a new convergence of Greek and non-Greek cultures, a hybrid which is emblematic of Apollonius’ own poem and multicultural world.