The Quest for the Golden Fleece Jason

1 quest golden fleece

1.1 isle of lemnos
1.2 cyzicus
1.3 phineas , harpies
1.4 symplegades
1.5 arrival in colchis

the quest golden fleece

jason bringing pelias golden fleece, apulian red-figure calyx krater, ca. 340 bc–330 bc, louvre

jason assembled crew, number of heroes, known argonauts after ship, argo. group of heroes included boreads (sons of boreas, north wind) fly, heracles, philoctetes, peleus, telamon, orpheus, castor , pollux, atalanta, meleager , euphemus.

the isle of lemnos

the isle of lemnos situated off western coast of asia minor (modern day turkey). island inhabited race of women had killed husbands. women had neglected worship of aphrodite, , punishment goddess made women foul in stench husbands not bear near them. men took concubines thracian mainland opposite, , spurned women, angry @ aphrodite, killed male inhabitants while slept. king, thoas, saved hypsipyle, daughter, put him out sea sealed in chest later rescued. women of lemnos lived while without men, hypsipyle queen.

during visit of argonauts women mingled men creating new race called minyae. jason fathered twins queen. heracles pressured them leave disgusted antics of argonauts. had not taken part, unusual considering numerous affairs had other women.

cyzicus

after lemnos argonauts landed among doliones, king cyzicus treated them graciously. told them land beyond bear mountain, forgot mention lived there. lived in land beyond bear mountain gegeines tribe of earthborn giants 6 arms , wore leather loincloths. while of crew went forest search supplies, gegeines saw few argonauts guarding ship , raided it. heracles among guarding ship @ time , managed kill them before jason , others returned. once of other gegeines killed, jason , argonauts set sail.

sometime after fight gegeines, sent men find food , water. among these men heracles servant hylas gathering water while heracles out finding wood carve new oar replace 1 broke. nymphs of stream hylas collecting attracted looks, , pulled him stream. heracles returned labors, hylas lost forever. others heracles went colchis argonauts, got golden girdle of amazons , slew stymphalian birds @ time.

the argonauts departed, losing bearings , landing again @ same spot night. in darkness, doliones took them enemies , started fighting each other. argonauts killed many of doliones, among them king cyzicus. cyzicus wife killed herself. argonauts realized horrible mistake when dawn came , held funeral him.

phineas , harpies

soon jason reached court of phineus of salmydessus in thrace. zeus had sent harpies steal food put out phineas each day. jason took pity on emaciated king , killed harpies when returned; in other versions, calais , zetes chase harpies away. in return favor, phineas revealed jason location of colchis , how pass symplegades, or clashing rocks, , parted.

the symplegades

the way reach colchis sail through symplegades (clashing rocks), huge rock cliffs came , crushed traveled between them. phineas told jason release dove when approached these islands, , if dove made through, row might. if dove crushed, doomed fail. jason released dove advised, made through, losing few tail feathers. seeing this, rowed , made through minor damage @ extreme stern of ship. time on, clashing rocks forever joined leaving free passage others pass.

the arrival in colchis

jason , snake

jason arrived in colchis (modern black sea coast of georgia) claim fleece own. owned king aeetes of colchis. fleece given him phrixus. aeetes promised give jason if perform 3 tasks. presented tasks, jason became discouraged , fell depression. however, hera had persuaded aphrodite convince son eros make aeetes daughter, medea, fall in love jason. result, medea aided jason in tasks. first, jason had plow field fire-breathing oxen, khalkotauroi, had yoke himself. medea provided ointment protected him oxen s flames. then, jason sowed teeth of dragon field. teeth sprouted army of warriors (spartoi). medea had warned jason of , told him how defeat foe. before attacked him, threw rock crowd. unable discover rock had come from, soldiers attacked , defeated 1 another. last task overcome sleepless dragon guarded golden fleece. jason sprayed dragon potion, given medea, distilled herbs. dragon fell asleep, , jason able seize golden fleece. sailed away medea. medea distracted father, chased them fled, killing brother apsyrtus , throwing pieces of body sea; aeetes stopped gather them. in version, medea lured apsyrtus trap. jason killed him, chopped off fingers , toes, , buried corpse. in case, jason , medea escaped.

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