Journal Phasis - Greek and Roman Studies

Bughadze, Gia

Phasis 10 (II), 2007 
 
 
 
Gia Bughadze (Tbilisi) 
THE ARGONAUTS AND MEDEA 
IN MODERN GEORGIAN FINE ARTS 
The Argonauts and Medea is a comprehensive and diverse theme, but at the 
same it proves very interesting even to a practicing painter and an amateur 
theorist.  
I believe the function, the duty and even the mission of national culture 
and a nation in general is to realize what its culture has sacrificed to fill in the 
universal cultural landscape; what, which tunes and sounds, with motifs and 
impulses it has contributed to the universal cultural space. Admittedly, epo-
chal cultures have specific properties relevant to the fulfillment of the univer-
sal purpose – telos (perhaps, it is not appropriate now to argue over the con-
ception that the humankind has a high and specific purpose in the world). For 
example, by its attitude, world view, texts and images, the Indo-Asian culture, 
regarded as the origin of our civilization, is the culture of overcoming ‘Maya’, 
the world molded by spiritual boundaries. 
Ancient Iranian-Chaldean culture is the culture of overcoming the con-
flict, the clash between Ahura Mazda and Angramana, which has contributed 
artistic masterpieces to world literature, architecture and fine art. 
The next cultural stage is certainly the Egyptian-Babylonian culture, 
which represents the epoch of detecting and revealing wisdom in the world. It 
is followed by the culture which seeks for the beautiful in the world, and the 
wisdom in the human mind. This culture is called Greek-Roman and is distin-
guished by the perception and establishment of fair proportions, beauty in 
general, harmony and logic. If the Indian world regards the created material 
world as illusory, which consequently should be overcome, for ancient Persia, 
Gia Bughadze 
 
126 
this profane world is the actual area for the conflict between the good and the 
evil. It means that at the post-illusory stage, the material world acquired the 
properties of the conflict between the opposite forces. The following 
Egyptian-Babylonian period objectified, materialized wisdom. The human-
kind – or in Hegelian terms, the spirit of the age, the universal telos, exposed 
humans to the hidden wisdom and regularities, logic of the world, while later 
all was crowned with the revelation of the zeitgeist of earthly beauty in Greek 
and Roman period. I believe that it was in this very period that the great 
culture of carnal beauty developed. This very age, this very culture accepted 
Christ in the body, i.e. the supreme principle of the universe was embodied, 
which marked a new starting point for the fulfillment of cultural and epochal 
telos. Humankind will go through the reverse process – from the renaissance-
reflective culture to the reflective process of perceiving wisdom. We have just 
entered this age. In fact, the Renaissance was the reflection of Greek and 
Roman beauties and ideals, while at present we are in the age of reflecting 
Egyptian-Chaldean period. Although this may seem disputable, it is beyond 
doubt that the Greek world largely contributed exactly to the establishment of 
the concept of beauty and played an important role for the humankind through 
the development of beautiful images. These very images convey multiple 
implications and messages about the deepest and most complex secrets of the 
universe. The source of such implications for Georgians is the central images 
of the Hellenic-Greek imaginary and mythological genius, the Golden Fleece 
and the Voyage of the Argonauts. I believe that an individual and a nation are 
appreciated by what they have contributed to the humankind and what they 
have intentionally sacrificed to the fulfillment of the universal telos. The 
viability of a nation is determined by the extent to which it is capable of 
devotion and self-preservation. The image of the Golden Fleece and the act of 
offering committed by Medea is in fact such a large-scale self-sacrifice for the 
development of European and Western culture. This is the offering which 
fertilized European civilization, and which is expressed through the image of 
Medea. Medea is the ideal symbol for selfless readiness to sacrifice and to fall 
as a victim. She can be regarded as the sun rising from the depth, lavishly 
giving away her own power, rays, warmth, without sparing herself and thus 
justifying her existence. 
Medea is the sun of the depth and represents the mystical aspect of the 
sun, reflected in the female element of the universe. The sun is identified with 
a female element in Georgian mythological beliefs. Medea too is the sun, the 
bearer of the profound female astral element of the sun. Therefore, in the 
Argonaut myth, Georgians, Georgian painters and artists in general are 
primarily concerned with the theme of Medea. And interpretations offered by 
Georgian painters have always reflected the point of sacrifice justified in 
The Argonauts and Medea in Modern Georgian Fine Arts 127 
 
epochal terms. Medea’s offering and at the same time, her active and 
intentional self-sacrifice is the sign and image of this. In my opinion, the 
exact symbol of our contemporary Georgian reality is the great monument by 
M. Berdzenishvili, erected in Bichvinta, Abkhazia, the separatist region of 
Georgia. It is a prophetic work of art. The great figure of Medea against the 
background of the sea is the most splendid plastic image of tragedy and great 
pain. This interpretation of Medea’s image follows the traditional thematic 
principle implying the greatest sacrifice of offering one’s own children. The 
tragism is conveyed through the plastic meta-language, the composition is 
solid and at the same time it is highly dynamic inwardly, even violent. It even 
seems to me that through this work, the sculptor foresaw the tragedy of the 
two most valuable regions of Georgia, Abkhazia and Tskhinvali. I would not 
certainly like to speak in political terms about the idea which the artist has 
rendered so dynamically in the language of sculpture. Anyway, it should be 
admitted that great art suggests multiple interpretations and prophetic 
concepts. Merab Berdzenishvili’s Medea seems to imply the tragedies of 
Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as well.  
An absolutely different message is reflected in Medea’s monument 
recently erected in Batumi. It does not convey the energy of the Medea in 
Bichvinta; it lacks the ample plastic impulse, the energy. However, the 
Batumi monument also suggests sacrifice, or rather the concept of offering 
oneself. This is the creation which renders the idea of intentional sacrifice, or 
rather offering the most precious. Although it conveys this meaning barely 
and directly, and despite its plastic imperfections, I believe that such an idea 
and attempt of its interpretation has serious grounds, and primarily refers to 
the contribution of ancient Colchis to the development of common Western 
culture and thought. The mission and importance of Georgia was, in fact, 
expressed through the sacrifice of the Golden Fleece. In this way, our country 
played its extremely significant role in the development of European, Western 
culture. If we consider the issues in teleological terms, this gift, which 
Georgia had preserved and taken care of with great toil, and which 
subsequently Medea presented to Europe, the Golden Fleece can be regarded 
as one of the principle forces stimulating European thought and 
consciousness. And all this was accomplished through Georgia. 
Georgian fine arts offer multiple interpretations of Medea’s theme: Elguja 
Berdzenishvili’s sculpture The Sea is distinguished by Hecatean magic and 
carnal attractiveness. In my interpretation, Medea is playing with fate with the 
cords of magic, and the monument conveys the idea of coming in touch with 
ancestors’ experience. 
I would like to make a special accent on a very unusual monument by 
Elguja Amashukeli, erected in Poti and dedicated to the memory of young 
Gia Bughadze 
 
128 
people killed in the World War II, the soldiers who died in the sea during the 
war activities, who were devoured by the waves. Even an idle look at the 
moment makes us feel that something different is hidden beyond its structure. 
Many various ideas come to mind as the sculpture itself drives us in many 
ways. It embodies the killed and missing youth in general. It is a fatalist work, 
in which hopelessly gigantic waves threaten a young body. In my opinion, the 
monument implies the image of Absyrtus. It is absolutely opposite to the 
concept of making an offering to Europe as it conveys the message of inner 
immobility, stiffness, numbing; and inner stiffness equals to death. So, the 
waves behind the lad have petrified in a strange and portentous way. 
I believe that the multiple interpretations of the Argonaut myth and 
Medea’s image produced by Georgian art reflect a desire to participate in the 
development of common universal cultural space and in building common 
European cultural structure through evoking the events of the past. It is a 
desire to consider and perceive the role and place of Georgian culture in the 
context of world culture. The theme itself is inexhaustible and suggests many 
diverse interpretations. 
I believe that along with the tragic and sharpest resound, the theme of 
intentional sacrifice, of giving away one’s own essence, implies also the idea 
of love, which is not amply emphasized in Georgian painting. As mentioned 
above, the theme of Medea suggests two basic interpretations: 1. The 
intentional sacrifice related to the accomplishment of the mission of Georgia 
(Colchis) in world culture; 2. The idea of magic, sorcery, which, along with 
healing, is related to prophecy. Both motives imply the idea of incorporating 
national culture and national consciousness into common universal context, 
i.e. at the level of imagination, Colchis-Georgia contributed to the source of 
European and Western consciousness, the Greek mythic and artistic 
perception, which is directly reflected in Georgian fine art. 
 It should be mentioned that our painters’ interest in ancient themes is 
connected with the names of two great Georgian painters Lado Gudiashvili 
and Sergo Kobuladze. As our art has experienced neither classicism nor 
symbolism in the pure sense of the terms, ancient theme enjoyed free 
interpretation and acquired stylistic-quotational coloring in the works of these 
two artists as well as the painters of the following generations. Classical-
academic reception of ancient themes was reflected in Sergo Kobuladze’s 
works, which on their part follow the line of Polycletes and Leonardo. On the 
other hand, there is Lado Gudiashvili, who chiefly followed the Hellenistic 
and mannerist art with the symbolic accents of neo-algorism. 
If we refer to Nietzsche’s oppositions, we may say that S. Kobuladze 
follows the Apollonian idea, and L. Gudiashvili – Dionysian. This may 
certainly be so if we look through the interpretations of these impulses and 
The Argonauts and Medea in Modern Georgian Fine Arts 129 
 
mythic images in the works of the following period. The Dionysian element 
marks the paintings of Zurab Nizharadze and the numerous plastic works on 
the same theme by Giorgi Shkhvatsabaia. Here also belong the works by the 
‘Three’ and allegorical compositions of Temo Gotsadze. These painters in 
fact prepared the ground for new interpretations of ancient theme in the 
1980s, and the climax of such interpretations, the Dionysian climax I would 
say, were the creations by Irakli Parjiani. I hope you will not consider me 
boastful if I say that at present the intentional rendering of the Apollonian 
element in easel and monumental i.e. wall painting is carried on by your 
humble servant, Gia Bughadze as my works simultaneously imply artistic 
research and analytical study. As concerns sculpture, the Apollonian, 
analytical impulse is conveyed by the works of Gia Japaridze. 
The issue on the interpretation of the Argonaut theme and the Greek 
world in general in terms of fine arts is very complex. The comprehensive 
description of it at different levels of perception is in fact a topic for a 
separate scholarly research. However, it is also obvious that other nations 
may have not produced so many interpretations as the idea of sacrifice has not 
been so relevant in any other culture. This may be attributed to the fact that 
their genetic past lacks Medea’s most valuable image, filled with love and the 
idea of sacrifice. Sacrifice is Medea’s duty to the humanity. She sacrificed, 
and at the same time remained for ever in the consciousness of the following 
generations, which at the verbal level can be expressed in the following way: 
‘here is, Europe, my gift and offering to you, so that you could become 
stronger and make us stronger as well. The time will come when you, 
powerful and enriched, will respond with the same goodness, so that we could 
survive together and rescue our children and the future.’ 


English

The Argonauts and Medea in Modern Georgian Fine Arts

Seidensticker, Bernd

Plura non habui. Senecas Medea und der Comparativus Senecanus

Gardapkhadze, Ketevan

Phasis 10 (II), 2007 
 
 
Ketevan Gardapkhadze (Tbilisi) 
THE ARGONAUTICA 
IN THE WORKS OF GEORGIAN SYMBOLISTS 
Symbolism as a literary trend entered Georgia at the outset of the 20
th
 century. 
In 1915 it was established in institutional terms, when a group of young poets 
formed a new literary order called ‘Blue Horns’. It was the period when 
Georgian artistic consciousness became extremely feeble. Shabby imitations 
of the 19
th
 century great authors brought almost to nonsense the literary life of 
the country. The new generation found it impossible to follow the path. The 
only way for them to fulfill their inherent vocation and calling was 
Symbolism.
1
 The members of the Blue Horn shared completely the aesthetic 
principles of Symbolism, provided arguments for the necessity of establishing 
this trend in Georgia, looked for national foundation to build Symbolism on, 
tried to combine western European, Russian and Georgian outlooks, and give 
an original, peculiar character to Georgian Symbolism. ‘We must shape our 
Georgian profile’, Titsian Tabidze wrote, ‘the basic experience of being a 
Georgian is our primary requirement. It should imply our temperament, our 
sensibility, our image. We will unite the sharpness of the West and the sunny 
relaxation of the East.’
2
 
This very original property of Georgian Symbolism underlay the 
reception of ancient culture by Georgian Symbolists. I will dwell only on one 
point of the comprehensive topic called the reception of ancient culture in the 
works of Georgian Symbolists. This point is the cycle of Argonautic myths. 
For French and Russian Symbolists, the Argonautica was the source of 
symbolic figures with strong passions and unforgettable events. Among the 
reasons compelling them to refer to the Argonautica was also the unbiased 
                                                 
1
  The Legend of the Red Rose, Tbilisi, 1985, 238 (in Georgian). 
2
  Blue Horns, 1990, 65 (in Georgian). 
Ketevan Gardapkhadze 
 
186 
character of it, which enabled a poet to rise over earthly being and become 
initiated into perpetual values. What about Georgian Symbolists? What did 
the Argonautica mean for them? I will dwell on one group of Georgian 
Symbolists whose literary activities and works imply especially interesting 
and even controversial processes (G. Tabidze, V. Gaprindashvili, S. 
Shanshiashvili, etc.). Georgian Symbolists were unanimous in one of the 
theses – the understanding of the Argonautica as a cultural and historical 
phenomenon. They perceived the Argonaut myth as an inexhaustible source 
of human creativity, re-inviting epochs and encouraging the discovery of new 
layers in the meanings of these everlasting images. On the other hand, the 
Argonautica was the past of their own country; it was the point that linked the 
past glory of Georgia with the most important values of the world culture. 
Throughout centuries, most of the interest was attracted not by the 
Argonautic voyage itself, but by Medea’s image, which underwent 
remarkable metamorphosis. Euripides’ Medea penetrated the whole European 
literature of the following period. The attempts to justify her deeds were made 
no earlier than the 18
th
-19
th
 centuries. If Medea used to be perceived as a 
ruthless witch before, the writers of the following period presented her as a 
Barbarian woman deceived and dejected by Greeks.
3
 Almost the whole 
Georgian literature, starting with Akaki Tsereteli, is aimed at the 
rehabilitation of Medea’s image, while the Argonauts’ voyage is perceived in 
a negative context. 
The study of this issue in the works of Georgian Symbolists revealed two 
different pictures: 
1. On the one hand, we have the literature which follows the existing line and 
presents Medea as the symbol of a deceived and dejected woman. Interesting-
ly, the authors belonging to this group were distinguished by their innovative 
approach to the reception of ancient heritage. In 1922, the most Orthodox 
representative of Georgian Symbolism, Valerian Gaprindashvili wrote a the-
sis called ‘Declaration – New Mythology’, where, following a logical prin-
ciple, he developed the idea that despite the productivity, the prolific charac-
ter of ancient images in world literature, ‘mythology has lost links with our 
consciousnesses.’ The poet looked for other allusions, trying to replace the 
existing symbols with the new ones. ‘Today, Greek gods are replaced with 
poets Chaterton, Rimbault. ... They fascinate poetic dream no less than Zeus 
and Apollo, Aphrodite and Athena. ... If there was Medusa Gorgon in the 
                                                 
3
  E. Frenzel, Stoffe der Wleltliteratur, ein Lexicon Dichtungsgeschichtlicher Lang – Schnitte 
Alfred Kröner Verlag, Stuttgart, 1976, 15; G. Hight, Traditional Greek and Roman Influences 
on Western Literature, Oxford University Press, London, Oxford, New York, 1962, 9.  
΢ηαζκνί ηνπ ηαμηδηνχ ηεο... 
 
187 
past, now there is Edgar and Maldaror, Gods are now replaced by heroes, 
Ophelia, Hamlet.’
4 
The poets who agreed with the declaration did not offer any specially 
developed ancient plot or motif, or an ancient symbol to become the principle 
line of their poem owing to its implications. The only exception is the myth of 
the Argonauts. The verses and poems inspired by the Argonaut theme and 
Medea have one principle common property: the desire to justify Medea’s 
behaviour (T. Tabidze, K. Nadiradze, V. Shanshiashvili, etc.).
5
 Remarkably, 
S. Shanshiashvili went so far as to generalize the problem and consider it at a 
larger scale. This tendency is reflected in the poems Media and Media and 
Helen (The second poem consists of three parts, which in fact are independent 
poems. They are Dementia, Jason and Reno and Fair Helen). Although the 
plot of the first poem exactly repeats Euripides’ Medea and the development 
of events is likewise identical, the author’s attitude to the events is absolutely 
different. Reno is Trojan and Medea is Colchian, which means that both are 
from the East – thus the circle is made up in accordance with the poet’s 
intention. He attempts to present the opposition of the East and the West and 
to show the moral privilege of the East. This idea is directly stated in Fair 
Helen. The only thing that interests the poet in the Trojan cycle is that 
although Helen brought so many disasters to Troy, she is still admired and 
loved in her husband’s land, unlike Medea: 
Here is a word-for-word translation of a fragment from the poem:  
‘But about Medea / he says nothing, / that the fair lady of Colchis / was so 
denounced by the West. / While Helen / was beloved and glorified.’ 
The following are Helen’s words as she is mourning dead Paris: 
‘Your people have become fond of me, / while mine proved wicked – / 
this is how they treated Media.’
6
 
The cycle of S. Shanshiashvili’s poems was aimed at the rehabilitation of 
Medea’s image. The poet needed more arguments, and that is why he 
composed the story of Reno abandoned by Jason. Thus he generalized the 
issue to the level of the East and the West. 
The poets distinguished by the innovative approach to the reception of 
antiquity were absolutely traditional with respect to the Argonauts. 
2. As concerns the reception of ancient traditions, a special poetic world is 
can be distinguished among Georgian Symbolists. In fact, it is unique in terms 
of profound and intensive allusions to Greek and Roman traditions. This is 
                                                 
4
  V. Gaprindashvili, Poems, Translations, Esseys, Letters from the Poet’s Archive, Tbilisi, 1990, 
49 (in Georgian). 
5
  T. Tabidze, Works in Three Volumes, 1966, vol.1, vol. 3 (in Georgian); K. Nadiradze, Poems, 
Tbilisi, 1992 (in Georgian); V. Gaprindashvili, Poems, Tbilisi, 1988 (in Georgian). 
6
  S. Shanshiashvili, Works, vol. 1, Tbilisi, 1986, 307-311 (in Georgian). 
Ketevan Gardapkhadze 
 
188 
the poetic world of Galaktion Tabidze. Although he was not the member of 
the Blue Horns, I find is essential to analyze his poems in this paper as he is 
the author of the best pieces of Georgian symbolic poetry. He was not con-
fined to the standards of any poetic school. Surprisingly enough, the poet, 
who can be freely called Philhellenic, whose poems abound of ancient sym-
bols and images, the principle pathos lying in the contexts made up of ancient 
images and notions, the poet whose works, either fully or partly, follow an-
cient plots, and who sometimes creates himself the world connected to vari-
ous periods of ancient history, offers no poem based on special artistic treat-
ment of the Argonaut theme. However, Galaktion uses terms and notions 
connected to the Argonaut legend at different levels of interpretation. These 
elements can be conventionally grouped into two:
7
 
1) A mythological notion is presented as a symbol or a poetic argument, but 
the use of it is limited to a few lines. The notions imply in themselves the 
information necessary to understand the fragment of the poem and are 
closely related to the general structure and conceptual design of the poem. 
2) The second group includes ancient terms and notions that tend to make up 
a system, a context relevant to the whole poem. The mythological notions 
make up a unity within the poem. In fact, the poet creates systems, al-
though small, related to the Argonaut legend. 
In Galaktion’s poems, the introduction of the Argonaut theme is always 
connected with the reminiscences of the legendary past of Georgia. As an 
example, I will cite a fragment from his poem ‘The Surami Fortress’: 
‘Kartlos came to settle in our places, / that will not justify him, / the 
Golden Fleece in Colchis in 1350 disturbs the Argonaveli (Argoan).’
8
 
The number 1350 has a very interesting position in the poem. In my 
opinion, it refers to the assumed date of the Argonauts’ expedition. 
Obviously, through the key terms of the fragment Galaktion tries to link with 
each other Greek and Georgian traditional information as he presents the 
ancient past of Georgia. I would also like to dwell on one interesting element. 
The poet repeatedly uses the Greek appellation Argonaut through the form 
Argonaveli – Argoan. Evidently, either intentionally or unintentionally the 
poet reflects the Greek suffix of the appellation and makes it sound Georgian. 
As a result, he receives Argonaveli – Argoan. The poetic interpretation of the 
episodically used mythological image attests not only to the original poetic 
vision of Galaktion, but also to his profound awareness of each notion and his 
surprising ability to present poetic images in a double way: traditionally as 
                                                 
7
  K. Gardapkhadze, Ancient Terms and Notions in the Poetic Language of Galaktion, Tbilisi, 
1995 (in Georgian). 
8
  G. Tabidze, Works in Twelve Volumes, 1996, vol. 7, 241 (in Georgian). 
΢ηαζκνί ηνπ ηαμηδηνχ ηεο... 
 
189 
well as ingeniously and innovatively. As an example, I will cite another 
poem, which does not have a title. Here the poet puts a question:  
What is gold / in the boundless blue of Achara?’ 
Along with the explanations that follow the question, we come across the 
following lines: 
‘The belt of the Argonauts / the cloud in colorfulness.’
9
 
So, the gold of Achara refers to something that is the most precious in 
Achara, including the legendary past, among whose most renowned pages are 
the Argonauts’ voyage. Colorfulness is the characteristic property of Acharian 
sky and nature, which is the Acharian ‘gold’, while the Argonauts with belts, 
who have come to Achara to take away the gold, bring in a certain conflict. 
Doubtlessly, the poet created an absolutely extraordinary poetic image. ‘The 
cloud of the Argonauts’ belt’ can be interpreted as the symbol of the shadow 
which brings a conflict into the harmonious world. Remarkably, the above-
mentioned poem is the only piece where the Argonauts’ voyage is presented 
in a negative context. Galaktion is not interested in the outcome of the 
voyage. He is more concerned with what is related to the glory of Colchis. So, 
it is noteworthy that the terms used by Galaktion lack the meaning of 
oppositeness, characteristic of Greek mythological information and Georgian 
literary tradition. If we go back to the term ‘Argonaveli’, in Galaktion’s poem 
it has a positive sense and as it was mentioned above, acts as an indicator 
supposed to link the glorious past of Georgia with the most significant values 
of world culture. The same is true about Medea. Medea’s activities in Greece 
escape Galaktion’s attention. The poet is interested in Medea as the symbol of 
Colchian fame and therefore, presents the name as the symbol synonymous of 
Colchis. Other terms related to Colchis (Phasis, Ea, Dioskuria, etc.) also have 
a double function: on the one hand, they facilitate poetic reflection of 
mythological information as a system and are consequently used in their 
traditional meaning, and on the other hand, they convey the glory of Colchis. 
The above-mentioned leads to the conclusion that the originality of 
Georgian symbolism was best exposed in the development of ancient themes, 
and in particular, of the Argonaut theme. The study revealed two different 
pictures: on the one hand, we have the literature, Galaktion Tabidze’s poetry, 
which lacks the meaning of opposition characteristic of Georgian literature in 
general; however, it does not offer even a single case of special literary 
treatment of the theme. On the other hand, we have a group of poets, who 
although were distinguished by their original outlook and innovative attitude 
towards the reception of ancient culture, remain nevertheless biased as 
concerns the treatment of the Argonaut theme.  
                                                 
9
  G. Tabidze, Works in Twelve Volumes, Tbilisi, 1994, vol. 1, 279 (in Georgian). 


The Argonautica in the Works of Georgian Symbolists

Garantoudis, Euripidis

Σταθμοί του ταξιδιού της μυθικής Αργώς στην ελληνική ποίηση του 20ου αιώνα

Dundua, Tedo

Phasis 10 (II), 2007 
 
 
Tedo Dundua (Tbilisi) 
GOLDEN FLEECE IS BACK – RUSSIAN FICTION 
After adoption of Christianity, Eastern Slavonia, with Kiev as the capital, 
joined the Byzantine Commonwealth. That clearly meant enlargement of the 
Eastern European unity towards Eastern section of Humid Continental 
Europe, into the direction of the river Volga. Russians were the loyal subjects 
of the Commonwealth, looking calmly at the decline of Constantinople’s 
hegemony, and the Bulgar and Georgian kings seizing the titles of "Tsar" and 
"Autocrat". 
Becoming stronger, Russia vividly protested Ottoman reintegration of 
what was formerly labelled Byzantium, and Muslim overlordship over the 
Orthodox World by taking the title of "Tsar" for Grand Prince Ivan in 1547. 
New centre of East Europe has been shaped, and then long-term war started 
for hegemony, Russia being victorious. 
The 18
th
 c. was marked by revolutionary improvement of the Russian 
technologies due to strengthening of state industrial segment. Still with its 
serfdom, Russia became a full-scale European partner.  
Basic changes took place also in historiography. Thorough study of 
Graeco-Roman and Byzantine literature had yet another reason – political 
one. Seeing itself as the East European super-power, thus Russia claimed 
Byzantine political heritage. For Russians Georgia had to be within the East 
European Union, and also this country has been acknowledged as a successor 
state of Colchis and Iberia. If this country back to Orthodox alliance, that 
could only be compared to the symbolic return of the Golden Fleece – 
honour, glory and rich is coming back. 
One must bear on mind this narrative while observing the numismatic 
piece below. 
At the beginning of the 19
th
 c. Kartalino-Kakhetian Kingdom (Eastern 
Georgia) became a part of the Russian Empire. Administration and courts 
Tedo Dundua 
 
162 
were paid in assignations and chervonetzi – Dutch ducates, called 
Lobanchiks. Army needed even more money to buy local supplies. And the 
local population neglected assignations even firmly seeing how the taxes were 
collected in old silver money. Scarcity of silver lowered the rate of Russian 
gold coin, which was quite high in other places. Scarcity of silver and copper 
coins seems due to the problems of their transportation – indeed, St. 
Petersburg and Ekaterinburg were far away. Merchants had good profit 
thanks to low exchange rate of gold, and the prices rushed high. Cheap 
Iranian goods flooded Georgian market taking back coins, thus making crisis 
more severe. 
The situation was to be changed. Preparations were made for the 
reorganization of old Tbilisi mint, now under the Russian control. On 
September 15 of 1804 there was the mint inaugurated in the former royal bath 
celebrated by issue of the commemorative medal.
1
 
Quite a rare one, it comes to a description as follows: 
Ar. 8. 23 gr. 
Obv. Russian double-headed eagle (former coat of arms of Palaeologi) 
soaring towards Iberia and Colchis, bearing in its claws the Golden Fleece, 
with the Russian legend – "it restores what was stolen". 
Rev. Russian legend – "Tbilisi mint opened on September 15 1804".
2
 
There could also be a gold piece. Sometimes the legend slightly differs. 
Tbilisi mint operated until 1834. No mythology was used any more. 
 
 
                                                 
1
  T. Dundua, G. Dundua, N. Javakhishvili, A. Eristavi, Money in Georgia, II edition, Tb., 2003, 98. 
2
  D. Kapanadze, Georgian Numismatics, M., 1955, N198, 134 (in Russian); D. Kapanadze, 
Georgian Numismatics, Tb., 1969, N244, 163 (in Georgian with Russian and English summa-
ries); E. Pakhomov, Coins of Georgia, Tb., 1970, 271 (in Russian). 


Golden Fleece is Back – Russian Fiction

Orlovskaya, Natalya

Phasis 10 (II), 2007 
 
 
Natalya Orlovskaya (Tbilisi) 
THE IMAGE OF MEDEA IN THE WORK 
OF A FOURTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH AUTHOR 
The present paper deals with a work of John Gower, a well known writer of 
the later Middle Ages.  
In the history of English literature the fourteenth century is regarded as 
the age of Geoffrey Chaucer. His works became the starting point for the 
further development of English literature. But, among other authors of the 
same period, the most distinguished was John Gower. Chaucer wrote only in 
English language and laid the foundation for the English literary language, 
while Gower used Latin and French as well. However, his best work 
‘Confessio Amantis’ (1930) was written in English. The Cambridge History 
of English Literature highly appreciates the language of this work: ‘That 
Gower, through the purity of his English style and the easy fluency of his 
expression, exercised a distinct influence upon the development of the 
language cannot be questioned.’
1
 
The poem ‘Confessio Amantis’ includes more than a hundred stories. 
Some of them are rather long, others describe short episodes. This work of 
Gower was well known to the readers of the following centuries. It was used 
as a source of plots for the playwrights of the Renaissance, even for 
Shakespeare. Gower’s narrative style is praised in the Cambridge History of 
English Literature, but at the same time it is pointed out that his work cannot 
be compared with the stories of Chaucer: ‘We have in ‘Confessio Amantis’ 
more than a hundred stories told in a pleasing and simple style by one who 
clearly had a gift for story-telling, though without the large humanity which 
                                                 
1
  Sampson G., The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature, Cambridge University 
Press, 1970, 64.  
Natalya Orlovskaya 
 
94 
makes the stories of Chaucer unique in the literature of his time.’
2
 Chaucer’s 
‘Canterbury Tales’ opened the way to the further development of literature, 
while Gower’s works wholly reflected the preceding traditions. In the opinion 
of M. Alekseev, Gower’s creative work presents interest just by ‘the summing 
up of the extensive and diverse poetic heritage of the Middle Ages.’
3
 
Gower is known to have been one of the most erudite persons of his age. 
For his poem ‘Confessio Amantis’ he used a great number of different 
sources, highlighting in them didactical, moral aspects, typical of his manner 
of writing. He borrowed plots from the Bible, from ancient sources, 
collections of medieval stories, courtly romances, chronicles. Fairly often he 
referred to the works of Ovid, well known in the Middle Ages. Gower’s story, 
with Medea as the central character, was composed according to Ovid.  
Throughout ages the myth of the Argonauts attracted the attention of 
writers and received different interpretations. But, as L. Mallinger points out, 
‘the image of Medea never suffered such modifications as in the Middle 
Ages.’
4
 The courtly romances accentuated her extraordinary beauty and her 
infinite love for Jason, while the writers of the later Middle Ages were more 
concerned with her power as a sorceress. It is in the latter aspect that Medea is 
shown by John Gower. The material is borrowed from the ‘Metamorphoses’ 
of Ovid, who relates how Medea returned youth to Jason’s father with the 
help of magic medicines. This story is described in the seventh book of 
Ovid’s poem. The author gives a brief account of Colchian stories and the 
seizure of the Golden Fleece; but the main action takes place in Greece after 
the return of the Argonauts. Medea makes Jason’s father younger and ruins 
his uncle, who usurped his brother’s throne and deceived Jason as well. 
Gower’s story is written according to Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’. However, 
the comparison of the English text with that of Ovid shows that Gower did 
not simply translate this episode of the Latin poem, but in many ways altered 
it. To begin with, the English version says nothing about Jason’s uncle. 
Consequently, the composition of the story is entirely connected with one 
central problem. It is generally known that Gower is distinguished by his 
good, logical manner of narrating. 
The changes made by Gower are seen in many episodes of the story. To 
begin with, Gower says nothing about Colchis and starts the narrative with 
the happy return of the Argonauts to Greece: 
                                                 
2
  Ibid., 63. 
3
  Алексеев М. П., Литература cредневековой Англии и Шотландии, Москва, 1984, 189. 
4
  Mallinger L., Medée, Paris, 1898, 195.  
The Image of Medea in the Work of a Fourteenth-Century English Author 
 
95 
Jason to Grece with his preie 
Goth thurgh the see the rihte weie.
5
  
The history of Jason’s father is also told differently. According to Ovid, 
when the Argonauts returned home Jason’s father – Aeson – was so weak that 
he could not take part in the joyous celebration: 
Haemoniae matres pro gnatis dona receptis 
Grandaevique ferunt patres, congestaque flamma 
Tura liquefaciunt, inductaque cornibus aurum 
Victima vota litat. Sed abest gratantibus Aeson, 
Iam propior leto fessusque senilibus annis.
6
 
In Gower’s version, at that time Aeson is in good health and celebrates his 
son’s victory more than anyone else: 
Eson, whan that he wiste of this, 
How that his sone comen is, 
And hath achieved that he soughte, 
And hom with him Medea broughte, 
In al the wyde world was non 
So glad a man as he was on.
7
 
Jason’s father feels likewise well enough in the following years when his 
grandchildren are born: 
And olde Eson gret joie made 
To sen th’encress of his lignage; 
For he was of so gret an age.
8
 
Only later the old man becomes weaker, and Jason asks Medea to use her 
magic power and make his father young again.  
This episode is another point of difference between the Latin and English 
texts. In Ovid’s work, Jason wishes to make his father’s life longer at the 
expense of shrinking his own life: 
Cum sic Aesonides: ‘o cui debere salutem 
Confiteor, coniunx, quamquam mihi cuncta dedisti, 
Excessitque fidem meritorum summa tuorum: 
                                                 
5
  Gower John, Medea as Queen of Air and Darkness, The Age of Chaucer, vol. I, Penguin Books, 
1976, 429. 
6
  P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Lipsiae, 1886, 131. 
7
  Gower, 1976, 429. 
8
  Ibid., 429. 
Natalya Orlovskaya 
 
96 
Si tamen hoc possunt, – quid enim non carmina possunt? –  
Deme meis annis, et demptos adde parenti.’
9
 
In Gower’s poem, Jason says nothing about himself and only asks Medea 
to make his father younger: 
Jason, which sih his fader old, 
Upon Mede made him bold, 
Of art magique, which she couthe, 
And preith hire that his fader youthe 
She wolde make ayeinward newe.
10
 
The central part of the work is devoted to the description of Medea’s 
magic art, which the author finds miraculous: 
Bot what she dede in that matiere 
It is a wonder thing to hiere.
11
 
In many places Gower modifies the text of Ovid’s poem: some episodes 
are omitted, others are extended. In the same way as in the ‘Metamorphoses’, 
Medea leaves home at midnight pronouncing some magic words and flies in a 
chariot driven by dragons. Gower gives a more detailed account than Ovid 
concerning the places where Medea goes to find herbs and other materials 
that she needs. Very eloquent and impressive is Gower’s description of how 
Medea prepares her mysterious solution and afterwards walks with magic 
yells around the old man who has already fallen asleep. The poet himself 
admires Medea’s superhuman faculties and calls her a goddess: 
For with the craftes that she can 
She was, as who seith, a goddesse.
12
 
It should be noted that in the title of the work Medea is called ‘Queen of 
Air and Darkness’. 
The story has a happy end: Medea fulfilled her husband’s request, and her 
father-in-law became young and strong. The wonderful transformation is 
compared with the month of May, when nature revives after cold rains. 
The narrative is quite logical and clear; its short poetic lines are easy to 
read. According to critics, these are characteristic features of Gower’s 
                                                 
 
9
  Ovidius, 1886, 131. 
10
  Gower, 1976, 430. 
11
  Ibid., 430. 
12
  Ibid., 434. 
The Image of Medea in the Work of a Fourteenth-Century English Author 
 
97 
narrative style. As A. Fowler writes in his ‘History of English Literature’, 
‘Gower was our first major poet of formal elegance in narrative’.
13
 
In the fourteenth century the theme of magic, sorcery certainly attracted 
the reader’s attention. That is why Gower tried to describe the magic art of his 
heroine as fully as possible. In J. Speirs’ opinion, Medea’s image presented 
by Gower ‘is typically medieval by character’.
14
 
John Gower was a great erudite and his works clearly show the aesthetic 
interests of his age. The fact that Gower wrote a story about the myth of the 
Argonauts, proved that the image of Medea was well known in fourteenth-
century English literature. 
  
                                                 
13
  Fowler A., A History of English Literature, Harvard University Press, 1987, 12. 
14
  Speirs J., A Survey of Medieval Verse, The Age of Chaucer, vol. I, Penguin Books, 1976, 52. 


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