Jason and the Golden Fleece
To reclaim the throne his uncle Pelias had stolen, Jason assembled the greatest heroes of Greece into a crew called the Argonauts and sailed the ship Argo to the distant land of Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece, succeeding only with the help of the Colchian sorceress Medea.
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Jason was the rightful heir to the throne of Iolcus, but his uncle Pelias had usurped it. When Jason came of age and confronted Pelias, the king agreed to surrender the throne - if Jason could bring back the legendary Golden Fleece from the faraway kingdom of Colchis. The Fleece, the golden skin of a divine ram, hung in a sacred grove guarded by a serpent that never slept. Jason commissioned the building of the Argo, a ship blessed by Athena, and assembled a crew of the greatest heroes of the age: Heracles, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, Atalanta, and dozens more. They became known as the Argonauts. Their voyage was perilous - they survived the Clashing Rocks, resisted the song of the Sirens thanks to Orpheus's music, and faced numerous other dangers. Upon reaching Colchis, King Aeëtes agreed to surrender the Fleece if Jason could complete three impossible tasks: yoke two fire-breathing bronze-hoofed bulls, plow a field and sow it with dragon's teeth, and defeat the armed warriors that would spring from the earth. Aeëtes's daughter Medea, a powerful sorceress, had fallen in love with Jason through Aphrodite's intervention. She gave him a magical ointment to protect against the bulls' fire, and advised him to throw a stone among the earth-born warriors so they would fight one another. Jason succeeded at every task. When Aeëtes still refused to surrender the Fleece, Medea led Jason to the sacred grove and enchanted the guardian serpent to sleep. Jason seized the Golden Fleece and they fled Colchis on the Argo. Medea and Jason lived together in Corinth, but years later Jason abandoned her for a political marriage to the Corinthian princess. Medea's revenge - the murder of Jason's new bride and her own children - became one of the most devastating tragedies in Greek literature.
Apollonius of Rhodes, writing the fullest surviving connected version, spends as much attention on the voyage out as on Colchis itself: the loss of Heracles's companion Hylas, taken by nymphs while fetching water, causes Heracles to be left behind searching for him and drops the greatest hero of the age out of the story before Colchis is even reached. Apollonius also gives Medea's fear and hesitation before helping Jason far more space than earlier tellings, framing the whole Colchis episode as much through her divided loyalty to her father as through Jason's trials.
Why did Jason need to find the Golden Fleece?
His uncle Pelias had usurped the throne of Iolcus that rightfully belonged to Jason. When Jason came to claim it as an adult, Pelias agreed to step aside only if Jason first retrieved the Golden Fleece from Colchis, a task Pelias expected would kill him and remove the rival permanently rather than a bargain he intended to honor.
Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica
Who were the Argonauts?
The crew Jason assembled for the voyage, named after their ship the Argo. Ancient sources disagree on the full roster, but the core figures repeated across most versions include Heracles, the musician Orpheus, the twins Castor and Pollux, and the huntress Atalanta - effectively a gathering of the best-known heroes of the generation before the Trojan War.
Pindar, Pythian Ode 4
Why did Medea help Jason against her own father?
Apollonius attributes it to Aphrodite and Eros, who make Medea fall violently in love with Jason specifically so she will help him, at the cost of betraying her father Aeëtes and her homeland. Apollonius gives unusual attention to her fear and hesitation before acting, presenting her decision as a genuine internal struggle rather than simple infatuation.
Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica
What were the three tasks Aeëtes set for Jason?
Yoke two bronze-hoofed, fire-breathing bulls and use them to plow a field; sow the field with dragon's teeth, which sprout into armed warriors; and defeat those warriors before they could kill him. Medea's protective ointment and her advice to throw a stone among the earth-born men, turning them against each other, are what make the tasks survivable.
Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica
What happened between Jason and Medea after they escaped Colchis?
They settled in Corinth and had children together, but years later Jason left Medea to marry the Corinthian king's daughter for the political advantage the match offered. Euripides' play stages Medea's response: she kills Jason's new bride and, to complete his ruin, her own children by him, making the aftermath of the quest one of the most extreme revenge stories in Greek tragedy.
Euripides, Medea
Did Heracles complete the whole voyage with the Argonauts?
No. Apollonius has him leave the expedition before it even reaches Colchis: his young companion Hylas is pulled into a spring by nymphs while fetching water, and Heracles searches for him so long that the Argo sails on without them, removing the era's greatest hero from the story he might otherwise have dominated.
Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica
Where Accounts Differ
- who sailed on the Argo
- The Argonaut crew roster varies significantly across sources.
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Mythology
Figures In This Myth
Related Terms
Referenced By
Sources
- Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica
- Euripides, Medea
- Pindar, Pythian Ode 4
- Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth (1993)