This is a story I read a long time ago, either an ancient Greek or Roman myth or a twentieth-century story/play written like an ancient myth. My brain is convinced that the story is called Medea, but my brain is wrong. An extensive search of the web and my own books reveals nothing.
A woman has a stepdaughter whom she loves. The stepdaughter falls pregnant outside of marriage, which would in their society be considered scandalous. Once the daughter’s baby is born (it may be twins), the stepmother takes the babies and drowns them to protect her stepdaughter’s honour.
Can anyone tell me the title or author?
It is not Medea, SciFiSam. Medea killed her sons at the play’s end, but they were not twins, and Medea killed them to gain revenge on her husband Jason.
If I remember correctly, that story bears a slight resemblance to the myth of Tyro. I cannot remember the details, but you might want to check out the minor myths section of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology.
Nothing else rings a bell.
It also sounds a wee bit like the story of Romulus and Remus. Romulus was the founder of Rome and Remus was his twin brother.
Their mom Rhea Silvia, was made a Vestal Virgin by her uncle Amulius (he had “deposed” Rhea’s father, Numitor, who was king). As a priestess of the godess Vesta, Reha was totally forbidden to marry. But she did the nasty with Mars, god of war, and the twins were born.
Amulius thought they just might grow up to kick his butt one day, so he had them tossed into the River Tiber during flood season so they would drown. (They were found by a she-wolf who succled them and raised them to boyhood with the help of a woodpecker.)