Maxwell Optics: I. An exact matrix representation of the Maxwell equations in a medium

Matrix representations of the Maxwell equations are well-known. However, all these representations lack an exactness or/and are given in terms of a {\em pair} of matrix equations. We present a matrix representation of the Maxwell equation in presence of sources in a medium with varying permittivity and permeability. It is shown that such a representation necessarily requires $8 \times 8$ matrices and an explicit representation for them is presented.