Jason and the
Golden Fleece
Jason's father Aeson was the king of
a land called lolcos. However, he had
been driven from the throne by his half brother Pelias. When Jason was a
young man he was told by the oracle to demand the throne back from Pelias. On his way there he helped an old woman across a deep
river. The old woman turned out to be the goddess Hera who always helped Jason from then on.
Meanwhile,
Pelias had been warned to beware of a young man
wearing only one sandal. Jason arrived to claim his kingdom with only one sandal having lost the other in the river as he recued Hera.
As
he recognised his enemy, Pelias
decided to get rid of him by sending him on an impossible journey: to bring
back the Golden Fleece which was still held at
The Argonauts
Jason asked a man called Argus to build him a
ship for the voyage. The ship was named Argo after him. Jason
set sail with 53 companions who were known as the Argonauts.
Two adventures on the voyage
King Phineus and
the Harpies
They then reached the island of blind king Phineus. Phineus was a prophet who had been blinded when he had made a prophecy
which one of the gods did not like. His second punishment was that he was unable
to eat. Every time food was placed before him, the Harpies snatched it away. The Harpies were monsters with the heads of women
and the bodies and wings of vultures. Two of the Argonauts (the winged sons of
the North Wind) drove the Harpies away. To thank them, Phineus told them how to avoid their next peril, the Symplegades.
The Symplegades (Clashing Rocks)
These were huge rocks in the sea which
crashed together whenever anything passed between them. Following Phineus' advice, the Argonauts released a dove which flew
between the rocks. The rocks crashed together and as they began to open again the
Argonauts rowed the Argo through the gap as fast as
they could. Once the Argonauts had sailed through, the rocks stayed open
forever.
Jason in
Aeetes, King of Colchis, was amazed when
the Argonauts arrived in his kingdom. When Jason demanded the Golden Fleece,
the king set him three tasks which he thought would be impossible. He hoped
that Jason would be killed.
The tasks
1. To yoke two fire
breathing bulls and plough the Field of Ares
2. To sow the ploughed field with
dragon's teeth and kill the army of warriors which grew from the
teeth.
3. To kill the fleece's dragon guardian
which never slept and to steal the fleece.
Help from the gods
Jason would not have managed
these tasks without the gods' help. Aphrodite helped by causing Aeetes’
daughter, Medea to fall in love with Jason. She had magic powers and promised
to help him if he would marry her and take her back to
The taking of the Fleece
Jason successfully completed
the first two tasks. He killed the armed men who sprang from the teeth by
throwing a rock into their midst. This caused them to fight one another until
all were dead.
Aeetes then said that if
Jason killed the fleece's dragon guardian they could take the fleece away. But
Medea warned him that her father meant to sacrifice them at dawn. Jason sent
the rest of the Argonauts away to prepare the ship. Medea put the dragon to
sleep and Jason took the fleece from its tree and hung it round his shoulders.
They then ran to the Argo and sailed away. Medea's brother Apsyrtus went with
them.
Medea’s father soon
discovered what had happened and followed the Argo. He would soon have
destroyed them all if Medea had not
sliced her brother to pieces and dropped the pieces overboard. Aeetes had to
stop to gather up the pieces for burial and so the Argo easily escaped.
Jason and Medea
Avoiding many perils on the
way home, the Argonauts at last returned to lolcos. Using her magic powers
Medea turned Jason's father into a young man again. Meanwhile Pelias still
refused to give up the kingdom to Jason. Medea approached his daughters and
told them she would give them the power to give Pelias back his youth too.
However, instead, she caused the daughters to murder him.
Jason and Medea were forced
to flee the country and went to