Zurab Tsereteli: Medea, Jason and the Argonauts

Zurab Tsereteli: Medea, Jason and the Argonauts - the history of Georgia

Georgian painter and sculptor, Zurab Tsereteli (1934-) is well-known for his giant sculptures and statues, and vivid caricature portraits with out-sized hands and feet – and even lips. However, he has depicted the history of Georgia in his Isoni, Medea, Jason and the Argonauts series, housed in the Zurab Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in Tbilisi.

Medea was the daughter of King Aeetes of Colchis, and wife of Jason. Jason abandons Medea when Creon the King of Corinth offers Jason his daughter Glauce. Medea avenges Jason’s betrayal by killing their children.

Jason and the Argonauts left Greece in a quest for the Golden Fleece. Jason arrived in Colchis (the Black Sea coast of modern-day Georgia). King Aeetes promised to give Jason the Golden Fleece if he could perform three tasks. It was Medea who helped Jason through depression and to accomplish the three task: (1) to plough a field with fire-breathing oxen (Medea gave Jason ointment that protected him from the flames), (2) to sow the teeth of a dragon into the field, which sprouted into an army of warriors (Medea gave him the strategy to defeat the warriors), and (3) to overcome the sleepless dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece (Medea gave him the potion to make the dragon fall asleep).

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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