L'intégration de l'étranger dans la tragédie athénienne : remarques sur la Médée d'Euripide

Both the civic discourse and the religious ritual present in the festival of Great Dionysia make the question of foreigners and their integration a central issue for the Athenian tragedy. The self-image that Athens builds through the tragedy uses this theme to differentiate itself from barbarians and from other Greek cities. Nevertheless there are situations where the integration of the foreigner becomes problematic even in the tragic Athens. Such is in particular the case when the integration involves the marriage. This paper focuses on a case of incompatibility, by confronting the image of Athens in the third stasimon of Euripides' Medea and that of the infanticidal heroine.