MEDEA

in Greek mythology, an enchantress who helped Jason, leader of the Argonauts, to obtain the Golden Fleece from her father, King Aeetes of Colchis. She was perhaps a goddess and had the gift of prophecy. She married Jason and used her magic powers and advice to help him. The Medea of Euripides takes up the story at a later stage, after Jason and Medea had fled Colchis with the fleece and had been driven out of Iolcos because of the vengeance taken by Medea on King Pelias of Iolcos (who had sent Jason to fetch the fleece). The play is set during the time that the pair lived in Corinth, when Jason deserted Medea for the daughter of King Creon of Corinth; in revenge, Medea murdered Creon, his daughter, and her own two sons by Jason and took refuge with King Aegeus of Athens. Ovid in his Metamorphoses carried the story further. After fleeing Corinth, Medea became the wife of Aegeus, who later drove her away after her unsuccessful attempt to poison his son Theseus. The Greek historian Herodotus related that from Athens Medea went to the region of Asia subsequently called Media, whose inhabitants thereupon changed their name to Medes. Medea also is the heroine of Seneca's Medea, a tragedy based on Euripides' drama, and a number of contemporary settings including plays by Franz Grillparzer and Jean Anouilh and an opera by Luigi Cherubini. also called Lemdiyya, town, north-central Algeria. It is situated on a plateau 56 miles (90 km) south of Algiers. Shadowed by Mount Nador (3,693 feet ) to the northwest, the town is surrounded by fertile, well-watered soil that forms the watershed for the Chelif River and the Wadis Chiffa and Isser. Located on the site of Lambdia, a Roman military post, Mda was founded in the 10th century by Yusuf Buluggin I ibn Ziri and became capital of the Turkish beylik (principality) of Titteri in the 14th. It was occupied by Abdelkader, the Algerian national leader, in 1835 and taken by the French in 1840. Mda was the birthplace of the French poet and playwright Jean Richepin (18491926). The town is French in character, with a rectangular city plan, public gardens, and red-tile-roofed buildings. The neighbouring hills are covered with vineyards and orchards, and the surrounding plains yield high-grade cereals. Mda's chief products include pumps and irrigation equipment, wines, and varied handicrafts. Pop. (1987 prelim.) 81,655.