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The Greek myth of Medea has, since antiquity, been the subject of divers interpretations - different versions from Aeschylus, Ovid, Seneca, for instance. Medea was also the source for plays by Corneille and Jean Anouihl, an opera by Cherubini and, in Brazil, the play “Gota d’Água” by Chico Buarque de Holanda and Paulo Pontes. Pasolini opted for the Euripides classic for a version of his own played on screen by opera singer Maria Callas. According to the original myth, Medea is a Greek sorceress, mistress of Jason, leader of the argonauts, who aids him to success in his quest for the golden fleece, and to then lay claim to the throne of Iolcos in Thessaly. Jason, however, falls in love with the daughter of the King of Corinth and abandons Medea. In her fury, Medea slaughters the three children she had from Jason and sends her rival a cloak that catches fire when she dons the garment and that kills her. “I only took some of the citations from the text by Euripides. Medea is a confrontation of the archaic, clerical universe with Jason?s world, a rational pragmatic world. Jason is the hero, today, who has not only lost his metaphysical sense, but who does not even query this. His quest is for success alone. Confronted with the other civilization, with the breed of the spirit, Jason unleashes an impressive tragedy”, says Pasolini.