24. JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS

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Jason

• Pelias usurps throne of Iolkos (in Thessaly) from Jason's father
  • father fears for baby Jason's safety
  • sends him to be raised in mountainsby good centaur Chiron
  • Pelias warned by oracle to beware of man coming out of mountains with only one sandal
• grown up, Jason returns from mountains--loses one sandal on way
  • loses sandal helping old woman across river
    • woman is Hera in disguise, always for Jason and against Pelias
• Pelias sends Jason on impossible quest--to get rid of him
  • fetch the Golden Fleece from Colchis (on East side of Black Sea)

Golden Fleece

• sheep fleece guarded by a dragon at Aea (= 'land') in Colchis
  • Aea ruled by Aeetes (= 'land-man')
• late rationalist interpretations
  • Roman: ordinary fleece used in sifting rivers for gold
  • Byzantine: parchment with alchemical recipe for making gold

Voyage of the Argo

• Argo--ship built by Argus, with Athene's help
  • contains piece of talking wood from Zeus' oracle at Dodona
• Argonauts--50, in tradition, one for each oar
  • each version gives different list, depending on who author wants to glorify
  • each city wants to claim an Argonaut ancestor
    • glorify family pedigree
    • justify trading rights in Black Sea, which important in late 7th-6th cy. B.C.
  • other general categories included
    • fathers of Trojan War heroes
    • famous heroes--Heracles, Theseus
    • men with special skills--Orpheus, prophets
  • why an unknown like Jason as leader?
    • legend runs: Heracles declined, therefore...Jason leads; it's his quest

Argonauts at Aea

• King Aeetes hostile--sets Jason impossible tasks
  • harness fire-breathing bulls & plough with them
  • sow dragon's teeth in field, & vanquish fighters that spring up from them
    • teeth are from the dragon Cadmus killed in Boeotia
  • king's daughter Medea (= 'cunning') falls in love with Jason
    • Hera persuades Aphrodite to contrive this
    • Medea gives Jason drug that make him immune to weapons and fire for 24 hrs.
    • Medea drugs dragon who guards fleece
    • Jason succeeds in getting fleece; flees with Medea Argonauts at Aea

Argo's return voyage

• many versions; several adventures in common
  • purified by Circe for murdering Medea's brother
  • pass Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, Cattle of Sun
  • land at Phaeacia; Jason and Medea marry
  • reach garden of Hesperides 1 day after Heracles