In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, Medus was the son of Medea

Medea

Medea is a woman in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had two children, Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, king of...

. His father is generally agreed to be Aegeas, although Hesiod

Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. His is the first European poetry in which the poet regards himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play. Ancient authors credited him and...

 states that Jason

Jason

Jason was a late ancient Greek mythological hero from the late 10th Century BC, famous as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus...

 fathered him and Cheiron raised him. Medus was driven from Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 to Colchis

Colchis

In ancient geography, Colchis or Kolkhis was an ancient Georgian state kingdom and region in Western Georgia, which played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the Georgian nation.The Kingdom of Colchis contributed significantly to the development of medieval Georgian...

 with his mother. Medea's father Aeetes

Aeëtes

In Greek mythology, Aeëtes , , , was a King of Colchis , son of the sun-god Helios and the Oceanid Perseis , brother of Circe and Pasiphae, and father of Medea, Chalciope and Apsyrtus...

 was the former king of Colchis, and Aeetes's brother Perses

Perses

Perses is an ancient Greek name given to:* Mythological people:* Perses * Perses * Perses , a son of Helios and the oceanid Perseis.* Real people:* Perses...

 ruled after his death; by some accounts Aeetes was murdered by Perses. Perses imprisoned Medus to protect his throne from any potential claimants. To free him, Medea impersonated a priestess and demanded he be given to her for sacrifice to appease the gods, as a plague was at the time being visited upon Colchis. Perses agreed, and was subsequently killed by the sacrificial blade in the hands of either Medus or his mother. Medus thus came to rule, and when he conquered a neighboring land it was named Media in honor of either Medus or Medea.