Creon of Corinth- Greek FigureMortal"King of Corinth"

The One Day

Jason came to Corinth with Medea and their sons after the voyage for the Golden Fleece. Creon offered him his daughter Glauce, and Jason accepted. In Euripides' Medea, Creon knows exactly what Medea is. He tells her so to her face: she is clever, skilled in dark arts, and angry at having lost her husband's bed. He fears what she will do. He orders her into immediate exile.

Medea kneels. She begs for one day, just one, to prepare her children for the road. Creon hesitates. He knows he is being foolish. He says so aloud: granting this request will be a mistake. He grants it anyway, because he pities her children, and because he cannot believe a single day is enough time for a woman to destroy a king. That day is all she needs.

The Burning

Medea sends her children to the palace bearing gifts for the new bride: a finely woven robe and a golden crown. Glauce puts them on. Euripides' messenger describes what follows. The robe clings to her skin and begins to burn. The golden crown erupts into fire around her head. She tries to shake the diadem loose and the flesh comes with it. She runs, and the fire follows.

Creon hears his daughter screaming and rushes into the chamber. He finds her body on the floor, barely recognizable. He throws himself over her, pressing his face against hers, calling her name. The poisoned robe seizes him too. When he tries to rise, the fabric peels his skin away. Father and daughter die tangled together on the palace floor, fused by the same fire. The day he granted Medea had been more than enough.