Jason and the Argonauts

Jason and the Argonauts is the story in Greek Mythology of the Quest for the Golden Fleece in their vessel, the Argo.

In Greek Mythology, Jason was the son of King Aeson of Thessaly who was overthrown by his half brother Pelias. King Pelias then spared Aeson but had all Aeson’s descendants killed. However, he was unaware of his infant son Jason, because his mother, Alcimede, had had him hidden and brought up by the centaur Chiron.
King Pelias then consulted an Oracle to find out if anyone would challenge his kingship. The Oracle advised him to beware of a man with only one sandal.
Years later, King Pelias held Games in honour of Poseidon, and the by now adult Jason came to attend. Whilst helping an old woman cross the river Anauros (the Goddess Hera in disguise), he lost a sandal.
As soon as Jason was introduced at the Games as the man with only one sandal, Pelias knew he was the rightful king. So King Pelias told him that in order to inherit the throne, which he would, he must go on a Quest and find the Golden Fleece.

Jason assembled a group of sailors which included Heracles, Orpheus and Argus, the builder of their ship, the Argo.

The Argonauts landed on Lemnos and met a race of women who lived alone.
After being punished by Aphrodite for neglecting their husbands, the husbands had all gone off with other women, which resulted in the women murdering all their husbands. Their King was saved by his daughter, Hypsipyle, who then became queen of the women who now lived alone.
The Argonauts then fathered a new race with these women called the Minyae, and Jason had twins by their queen. Heracles declined to join in and persuaded the Argonauts to leave.

The Argonauts then arrived in the land of the Doliones ruled by King Cyzicus who welcomed them, but didn’t warn them about the giants.
Whilst the crew were foraging for food in a forest, the unprotected Argo was attacked by this tribe of giants called the Gegeines who lived beyond Bear Mountain and who had six arms and wore leather loin cloths.
Heracles and one or two other Argonauts managed to defend the Argo and kill most of the Gegeines. When the others returned the remaining Gegeines were killed and Jason and the Argonauts set sail again.

They arrived at the palace of the starving King Phineas of Salmydessus in Thrace.
Every time food was prepared for Phineas, Zeus sent the Harpies to steal it away. Jason decided to help Phineas and killed all the Harpies.
A grateful Phineas then revealed to Jason how to pass the Symplegades (clashing rocks) to reach Colchis.

The approach to Colchis was between two huge rock cliffs that would join together and crush any vessel that tried to pass between them.
Phineas had told Jason that if he released a dove and it passed through unhurt, then they should follow the dove with all speed. However, should the dove be destroyed, they would fail.
Jason released the dove and despite losing its tail feathers it got through, so they rowed as fast as they could, and passed with only the stern being damaged. After that the clashing rocks never moved again and the passage was free for all to navigate safely.

The Golden Fleece was owned by King Aeetes of Colchis. He told Jason that in order to get the Golden Fleece he must perform three seemingly impossible tasks which threw Jason into despair.
But help was at hand when the King’s daughter Medea decided to assist him. She was made to fall in love with Jason by Aphrodite who sent Eros to fire his arrow at Medea.
First, Jason had to yoke fire breathing oxen called the Khalkotauroi in order to plough a field. He accomplished this by using protective ointment given him by Medea which protected Jason from the fire.
Secondly, Jason then had to sow the teeth of a dragon into a field which immediately changed into an army of soldiers ready to attack him. But Medea had already warned Jason to throw a rock into the middle of the soldiers, who responded by all attacking one other until the last soldier was dead.
Thirdly, Jason had to get past the Dragon who never slept as he guarded the Golden Fleece. To make him fall asleep, Medea gave Jason herbs to make a sleeping potion which he sprayed over the dragon.
Jason was then able to collect the Golden Fleece but his escape on the Argo with Medea resulted in a pursuit by her father, King Aeetes, which they foiled by killing Medea’s brother Apsyrtus.

Zeus decided to punish Jason and Medea for the death of her brother, so he sent powerful storms to punish them.
The Argo itself then spoke to them and suggested that they be purified by the Nymph Circe who lived on the island of Aeaea. After this they continued their return journey.

The Argonauts next had to pass the Sirens who lived on three rocks. They lured sailors to wreck their ships on these rocks by the beauty of their singing.
Orpheus then played his lyre and drowned out their singing so that the Argo safely passed the Sirens.

The Argonauts arrived at the island of Crete which was guarded by the giant automaton, Talon.
To keep the Argo away, Talon threw huge rocks at the vessel. To calm him, Medea cast a spell over him and then removed the bronze nail that closed off his one blood vessel. Consequently he bled to death and the Argo sailed on.

Jason and Medea returned to Thessaly with the Golden Fleece. His father Aeson, was too weak to join in the celebrations, but Jason asked Medea to give his father some of his own years so that his father might live longer.
Medea decided she could extend Aeson’s life without shortening the life of Jason. She extracted Aeson’s blood, infused it with herbs and reintroduced it into his body.
When King Pelias’ daughters saw how Aeson had been made young again, they implored Medea to do the same for their father. Medea then told his daughters that this could be done by chopping up their father into small pieces and boiling them in a cauldron with herbs. She then demonstrated this by putting the oldest sheep into a cauldron and making it re-emerge as a lamb.
Convinced by this display, the naive daughters cut up their father, King Pelias, into pieces and put them into the cauldron. This time, Medea did not add the magic spices, so Pelias died. His furious son, Acastus, then forced Jason and Medea into exile and they moved to Corinth.

Upon arrival in Corinth, instead of marrying Medea, Jason decided to marry Creusa, the daughter of King Creon of Corinth. Medea confronted Jason and told him he only succeeded in getting the Golden Fleece because of all the help she had given him.
Jason replied that he should be grateful to Aphrodite, not Medea, since she had made Medea fall in love with him.
Medea responded by giving Creusa a wedding dress that she had put a spell on. As soon as Creusa put on the dress it burst into fire and Creusa died along with her father when he tried to put out the fire.
Medea then killed her two boys that Jason had fathered. Her Grandfather Helios, gave her a chariot of dragons and she fled to Athens. Jason found out but it was too late to catch her.
Because he had betrayed Medea, Hera decided to punish him and Jason lived an unhappy and lonely life sleeping under the Argo. He died when the timbers of the Argo collapsed on him.