This Poison Heart

Within her richly imagined world building, Bayron adapts several figures from Greek mythology, the most notable being Medea, from whom Briseis’s biological family is descended. Medea is a Greek mythological figure who is often portrayed as a sorceress or a witch, and she boasts quite a lofty heritage. She is purported to be the granddaughter of the sun god Helios, the daughter of the King of Colchis, and the niece to the mythological witch Circe, who features in Homer’s Odyssey as a manipulative enchantress. The earliest references to Medea as a mythological figure occur in approximately 700 BCE, when she appears in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts in Hesiod’s Theogony. Various versions of the myth present Medea as a healer, a hypnotist, and a murderer, but she is most well-known from Euripides’ portrayal of her in his famous play Medea, which was first performed in 431 BCE.

In Euripides’ version of the story, Medea is cast in the role of “the woman scorned,” as when her husband, Jason, seeks a different wife, she is driven by vengeance to murder her own children. Other iterations of her character focus on her role as a “helper maiden,” which emphasizes her role in helping Jason to find the fabled Golden Fleece.