0643ANCIENTMedea

0643ANCIENTMedea_Ibycus

Scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.810ff.

ὅτι δὲ Ἀχιλλεὺς εἰς τὸ Ἠλύσιον πεδίον παραγενόμενος ἔγημε Μήδειαν πρῶτος Ἴβυκος εἴρηκε, μεθ᾿ ὃν Σιμωνίδης [Ibycus and following him Simonides first said that Achilles arrived at the Plain of Elysium and there took Medea to wife" ( Schol. in Ap. Rhod. 4. 814-15a Wendel = Ibyc. fr. 291 Campbell; cf. Simonid. fr. 551 Campbell).]

A scholiast is a commentator who, in antiquity, wrote notes about the poems he was reading. Scholiasts often have access to literature that is now long lost. We always wish we could check their facts.

Ibycus wrote in the 6th Century, 100+ years before Athens' "golden age" authors.

Side-by-side images of Brad Pitt as Achilles in the movie "Troy" and Maria Callas as Medea in a theatrical production

Brad Pitt in Petersen's Troy (2004, Warner Bros.) and Zoe Caldwell as Medea (1982, Films for Humanities and Sciences)

Admittedly the paired picture at left plays up a bias. Zoe Caldwell is shown in her Tony-winning 1982 role as the title character in Euripides' (adapt. by Robinson Jeffers) Medea (PBS; click towatch it). True to Euripides' drama, Medea and Jason are both aging a bit when he decides to take the sweet-young princess of Corinth as his bride. Medea's reaction involves the most horrifying matricide the stage has ever known. The drama works if Medea is a bit "mature".

Opposite is Brad Pitt in Petersen's Troy (2004). Strapping, biceps-laden. High wow-factor. Remember that Achilles' meteoric exit from this life makes the most of his swift-kneed and flowing-haired cachet.

That bias admitted, one might well wonder what Ibycus had in mind when he paired these two in Elysium. We might ask: What's she doing there? or Does he has to sleep with that? or MAYBE: Does pre-Euripides Ibycus actually think more highly of Medea, the princess of Colchis and grand- daughter of Helios? See MythMatters.