I have read Apollonius' Argonautica in bits and pieces, and now I am rereading it thoroughly and in order, but there is something that has been on my mind for some time.
I'm fascinated by how the sisterly relationship between Medea and Chalciope is treated.
On two occasions, Chalciope is compared to Medea as a maternal figure. The first is in her own words:
Ap. Rhod. Argon. 3. 731-6:
So do I declare myself to be thy sister, and thy daughter too, for thou didst lift me to thy breast when an infant equally with them [sons of Chalciope], as I ever heard from my mother in past days.
And the second is more poetic and more of my own interpretation, but I think it follows the same line:
I go, leaving this long tress here in my stead, O mother mine; take this farewell from me as I go far hence; farewell Chalciope, and all my home. Would that the sea, stranger, had dashed thee to pieces, ere thou camest to the Colchian land!
Medea says these words when she has already decided to leave. She does so after kissing her bed, kissing both sides of the door, and cutting off a lock of her hair as a "memorial of her maidenhood", a gesture that clearly functions as a farewell ritual and can be read as a pre-wedding rite.
In this context, the order of the names does not seem coincidental to me. Medea first says goodbye to her mother, then to Chalciope, and only after that to the home as a whole. The sequence suggests a very clear emotional hierarchy: Chalciope occupies the place of a second mother, while the rest of the family is diluted in a general mention. It is also significant that she does not mention her father, perhaps because her decision to leave has already detached her from him, but that would require further study in my opinion.
This pre-wedding ritual makes perfect sense if we understand that Medea takes it for granted that she will not return. She assumes that she will end up marrying Jason, as he has somehow suggested, and acts accordingly. Otherwise, this entire sequence (the farewell to the domestic space, the lock of hair and the words) would lose its coherence.
This may sound like idealisation, but it is not. Recognising the depth of the bond between Medea and Chalciope does not eliminate the fact that they manipulate each other. Medea needs an excuse to help Jason and appeals to Chalciope's fear for her children, hoping that she will be the one to ask for her help. Calciope, for her part, begs Medea to intervene to save her children from the punishment for treason that Aeetes intends to impose on them. Both speak from a place of pain and immediacy, although Medea's attitude may seem more frivolous, but she cannot separate herself from the spells of Eros and the intervention of Hera, which profoundly influence her decisions.
I love them so much, I am fascinated by everything that happens to this family. Starting with the arrival of Phrixus, his stay, everything related to his marriage to Chalciope and his children, then the dynamics between Aeetes and his children, his lovers and his grandchildren, the way Medea grows up with another maternal figure besides her mother. It's sad that there are no further references to this relationship or whether Medea misses her or anything… Perhaps some lost work by Medea mentioned this relationship, I want to cry🙂🥲☹️😭
