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One of the most interesting and complex stories of the Classical world in Alfonso X's General Estoria is the myth of Medea and the Argonauts. She has received a great deal of attention by several classicist in their studies concerning the foundations of Greek civilization and the role that women played in Athenian society in particular. More specifically, Medea figures prominently in their discussions of the oppositions between Greeks and barbarians, men and women, Athenian citizens and foreigners, free men and slaves, gods and mortals, and human being and animals.
Among the many problems raised by Medea's killing of her children is whether her crime can be attributed to her barbarian origins. But, as the "incarnation of disorder" (McDermott), Medea causes profound disturbances not only in several houses but in the state and in nature as well. The destruction of families and marriages affects not only the private domain of the household but also the public sphere of the city, and poses an extreme danger to its stability and continuity. Moreover, in possessionof supernatural powers and helped by the gods of the underworld, Medea is also the cause of great disorder in nature. Who Medea is and why she acts the way she does with respect to the family, the state, and the cosmos is a question that may be answered by examining her "liminal" condition, always situated between different and opposing domains: barbarians vs. Greeks, women vs. men, mortals vs. gods.
