Unexampled Exemplarity: Medea in the Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus

Abstract

This paper examines how Medea's singularity affects Venus's attempt to offer her models to follow in Valerius's Argonautica. While convincing Medea to assist Jason, Venus cites exempla designed to diminish Medea's uniqueness. But they have the opposite effect. Since none of these parallels is sufficiently illustrative of the course Medea must take, Venus refashions them so that they resemble previous accounts of Medea's life. Circe, Hippodamia, and Ariadne are exemplary for Medea because Venus reinvents them as pseudo-Medeas. Medea is offered snapshots of her own (future) self: she is thus prompted to become the unparalleled figure prefigured by literary tradition.