Jason

Jason (Greek: Ιάσων, Etruscan: Easun) was a Greek mythological figure. His father was Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus, and his mother was Amphinome.

The early years

Pelias (Aeson's half-brother) was power-hungry, and he wished to gain dominion over all of Thessaly. Pelias was the product of a union between their shared mother Tyro ("high born Tyro") daughter of Salmoneus, and the sea god Poseidon. In a bitter feud, he overthrew Aeson (the rightful king), killing all the descendants of Aeson that he could. He spared his half-brother for unknown reasons. Alcimede (wife of Aeson) already had an infant son named Jason who she saved from being killed by Pelias, by having women cluster around the newborn and cry as if he were still-born. Alcimede sent her son to the centaur (half man, half horse) Chiron for education, for fear that Pelias would kill him - she claimed that she had been having an affair with him all along. Pelias, still paranoid that he would one day be overthrown, consulted an oracle which warned him to beware of a man with one sandal.

Many years later, Pelias was holding games in honour of the sea god and his alleged father, Poseidon, when Jason arrived in Iolcus and lost one of his sandals in the river Anauros ("wintry Anauros"), while helping an old woman (Goddess Hera in disguise) cross. She blessed him for she knew, as goddesses do, what Pelias had up his sleeve. When Jason entered Iolcus (modern-day city of Volos), he was announced as a man wearing one sandal. Paranoid, Pelias asked him what he (Jason) would do if confronted with the man who would be his downfall. Jason responded that he would send that man after the Golden Fleece. Pelias took that advice and sent Jason to retrieve the Golden Fleece as he thought it an impossible mission for this young lad that stood before him. (Jason was supposed to have been in his late teens or early twenties at the time.)

The quest for the Golden Fleece

Jason assembled a great group of heroes and a huge ship called the Argo. Together, the heroes were known as the Argonauts. They included the Boreads (sons of Boreas, the North Wind), Heracles, Philoctetes, Peleus, Telamon, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, Atalanta and Euphemus.

The Isle of Lemnos

The isle of Lemnos is situated off the Western coast of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). The island was inhabited by a race of women, who had killed their husbands. The women had neglected their worship of Aphrodite, and as a punishment the goddess made the women so foul in stench that their husbands couldn't bear to be near them. The men then took concubines from the Thracian mainland opposite, and the spurned women, angry at Aphrodite, killed every male inhabitant while they slept. The king, Thoas, was saved by Hypsipyle, his daughter, who put him out to sea sealed in a chest from which he was later rescued. The women of Lemnos lived for a while without men, with Hypsipyle as their queen.

The Argonauts stopped off on the isle, and the women welcomed them with your mom. Jason fathered twins with the queen, and many other Argonauts fathered children with the other women, thereby reintroducing a male population to the island (the offspring were male). Heracles pressured them to leave as he was disgusted by the antics of the Argonauts. He hadn't taken part, which is truly unusual considering the numerous affairs he had with other women. [Note: In "Hercules, My Shipmate" Robert Graves claims that Heracles fathered more children than anyone else of the crew.] The Argonauts resumed their hunt for the Golden Fleece after spending a year on the island.

Kyzicos

After Lemnos the Argonauts landed among the Doliones, whose king Kyzicos treated them graciously. Argonauts departed, losing their bearings and landing again at the same spot that night. In the darkness, the Doliones took them for enemies and they started fighting each other. The Argonauts killed many of the Doliones, among them the king Kyzicos. Kyzicos' wife killed herself. The Argonauts realized their horrible mistake when dawn came.

Mysia

When the Argonauts reached Mysia, they sent some men to find food and water. Among these men was Heracles' servant, Hylas. The nymphs of the stream where Hylas was collecting were taken by his good looks, and pulled him into the stream. Heracles returned to his Labors, but Hylas was lost forever. Others say that Heracles went to Colchis with the Argonauts and he got the Golden Girdle of the Amazons and slew the Stymphalian Birds at that time.^{[citation needed]}

Phineus and the Harpies

Soon Jason reached the court of Phineus of Salmydessus in Thrace. Phineus had been given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, but was later given the choice of being blind and having a normal life, or having sight and having a short life, for revealing to men the deliberations of the gods. He chose to be blind. Helios the sun god sent the Harpies, creatures with the body of a bird and the head of a woman, to prevent Phineus from eating any more than what was necessary to live, because he was enraged that Phineus had chosen to live in a continual state of darkness than live in the sun he provided. Jason took pity on the emaciated king, and killed the Harpies when they returned (In other versions Zetes and Calais chase the Harpies away). In return for this favor, Phineus revealed to Jason the location of Colchis and how to cross the Symplegades, or The Clashing Rocks, and then they parted.

The Symplegades

The only way to reach Colchis was to sail through the Symplegades (Clashing Islands), huge rock cliffs that came together and crushed anything that traveled between them. Phineus told Jason to release a dove when they approached these islands, and if the dove made it through, to row with all their might. If the dove was crushed, he was doomed to fail. Jason released the dove as advised, which made it through, losing only a few tail feathers. Seeing this, they rowed hard and made it through with minor damage at the extreme stern of the ship. Ever since the Argo, the first ship to pass through the Symplegades, the cliffs stand still.

The Arrival in Colchis

Jason arrived in Colchis (modern Black Sea coast of Georgia) to claim the fleece as his own. King Aeetes of Colchis promised to give it to him only if he could perform three certain tasks. Presented with the tasks, Jason became discouraged and fell into depression. However, Hera had persuaded Aphrodite to convince her son Eros to strike Aeetes's daughter, Medea, with love for Jason. As a result, Medea aided Jason in his tasks. First, Jason had to plow a field with fire-breathing oxen, the Khalkotauroi, that he had to yoke himself. Medea provided an ointment that protected him from the oxen's flames. Then, Jason sowed the teeth of a dragon into a field. The teeth sprouted into an army of warriors. Medea had previously warned Jason of this and told him how to defeat this foe. Before they attacked him, he threw a rock into the crowd. Unable to decipher where the rock had come from, the soldiers attacked and defeated one another. His last task was to overcome the Sleepless Dragon which guards the Golden Fleece. Jason sprayed the dragon with a potion, given by Medea, diluted from herbs. The dragon fell asleep, and Jason was able to seize the Golden Fleece. He then sailed away with Medea. Medea had to distract her father, who chased them, as they fled by killing her brother Apsyrtus and throwing pieces of his body into the sea, which Aeetes had to stop for and gather. Jason and Medea escaped.

The Return Journey

On the way back to Iolcus, Medea prophesised to Euphemus, the Argo's helmsman, that one day he would rule Libya. This came true through Battus, a descendant of Euphemus. Zeus, as punishment for the slaughter of Medea's own brother, sent a series of storms at the Argo and blew it off course. The Argo then spoke and said that they should seek purification with Circe, a nymph living on the island called Aeaea. After being cleansed, they continued their journey home.

The Orphic version

In historical times, ancient Greeks thought that the mythical Colchis was in the east coast of Euxeinus Pontus (Black Sea) near the mountain Caucasus and the river Phasis (Φάσις). Thus, they built a new city Phasis (modern Poti in Georgia) in the mouth of the homonymous river Phasis (Byzantine Ρέων "Reon", modern Rion). They also built a few other cities in southern Scythia (Ukraine and Russia), including Tanais in the mouth of the river Tanais(Don).

However, according to a recent study based on the Orphic poem Argonautica, it seems that the real, prehistoric Colchis was not in Georgia but in the inmost part of the lake Maeotis (Sea of Azov) in the area where Tanais was built later. The poem, which is very old (pre-homeric) and was written long before that of Apollonius of Rhodes, tells that the Argonauts came to the far end of Euxeinus Pontus where there was a river called Phasis. This river was very large and was flowing calmly (Don). The Argonauts entered its mouth and then they saw the powerful walls of Aeetes. [* It is obvious that this large river cannot be identified with the small one in Georgia].

When their mission was accomplished, the Argonauts did not follow the same route for the return trip. They did not come out to "the sea which was full of fish" (*Maeotis lake) but instead they sailed up the river Phasis (αιέν αναπλείοντες = always sailing upstream - verse 1044). Then, after they left the land of Colchis, they came to another large river called Saragges (*Volga). This river was flowing into the lake Maeotis through a land that was full of marshes. [*In historical times, Volga was known as Oaros or Ra. Ptolemy (5,13) writes that the river had two mouths, one in the lake Maeotis and one in the Caspian Sea.

The Argonauts followed this river and came to the Caspian Sea (see Ouitia). Then they sailed up Saragges and, after crossing the whole land of Scythia (Russia), came to the Hyperboreans (=those who live "over the north") and to the Ocean that these people called Cronius Pontus (Sea of Cronus) or Dead Sea (*Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean) - verse 1085). There everything was quiet and calm "and the sea was sleeping under Helike and the last waters of Tethys. (* Ελίκη(Helike) is the North Pole because the name is derived from the verb ελίσσω "wind, coil" and in this case is related to the revolution of the Earth on its axis. Also, " the last waters of Tethys" are the last waters of the Ocean (poetically), since Tethys is the wife of Oceanus).

The Argonauts continued their voyage and came to the Macrobians - some rich people who lived "under divine coolness" - and then to the river Acheron (Lena} which was flowing into a dark lake (Baycal). This river had gold dust. [*This is the area around lake Baycal and eastern Siberia which is rich in gold (see Gold-guarding Grypes). Therefore, it is obvious that the Argonauts were exploring the planet looking for gold (myth of the Golden Fleece) ].

Then they returned to the Atlantic Ocean from the Arctic Ocean and the northern coasts of Norway. However, when they were approaching the island of Iernis (or Ierni "Ireland" - verse 1186), they fell into a strong, black storm but they were finally saved. Twelve days later they came to an island full of pines in the last places of the Ocean, where there was the palace of the goddess Demeter (a symbolism for wheat and cereal = USA and Canada). There they turned left and after three more days came to another island called Aeaea, where it was the palace of Circe (somewhere in the Bahamas or West Indies - verse 1212). Then they crossed the Atlantic Ocean and came to the Pillars of Heracles and the Mediterranean Sea. Finall, after visiting Italy, Sicily and Crete, they returned home.

Sirens

Chiron had told Jason that without the aid of Orpheus, the Argonauts would never be able to pass the Sirens — the same Sirens encountered by Odysseus in Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. The Sirens lived on three small, rocky islands called Sirenum scopuli and sang beautiful songs that enticed sailors to come to them, which resulted in the crashing of their ship into the islands. When Orpheus heard their voices, he drew his lyre and played his music more beautifully than they, drowning out their music.

Talos

The Argo then came to the island of Crete, guarded by the bronze man, Talos. As the ship approached, Talos hurled huge stones at the ship, keeping it at bay. Talos had one blood vessel which went from his neck to his ankle, bound shut by only one bronze nail. Medea cast a spell on Talos to calm him; she removed the bronze nail and Talos bled to death. The Argo was then able to sail on.

Jason returns

Medea, using her sorcery, claimed to Pelias' daughters that she could make their father younger by chopping him up into pieces and boiling the pieces in a cauldron of water and magical herbs. She demonstrated this remarkable feat with a sheep, which leapt out of the cauldron as a lamb. The girls, rather naively, sliced and diced their father and put him in the cauldron. Medea did not add the magical herbs, and Pelias was dead.

[It should be noted that Thomas Bulfinch has an antecedent to the interaction of Medea and the daughters of Pelias. Jason, celebrating his return with the Golden Fleece, noted that his father was too aged and infirm to participate in the celebrations. He had seen and been served by Medea's magical powers. He asked Medea to take some years from his life and add them to the life of his father. She did so, but at no such cost to Jason's life. {See Thomas Bulfinch, page 134; compare to Shakespeare's witches in Macbeth.} Pelias' daughters saw this and wanted the same service for their father.]

Pelias' son, Acastus, drove Jason and Medea into exile for the murder, and the couple settled in Corinth. There Jason married Creusa (sometimes referred to as Glauce), a daughter of the King of Corinth, to strengthen his political ties. Medea, angry at Jason for breaking his vow that he would be hers forever, got her revenge by presenting Creusa a cursed dress, as a wedding gift, that stuck to her body and burned her to death as soon as she put it on. Creusa's father, Creon, burnt to death with his daughter as he tried to save her. Medea killed the children that she bore to Jason, fearing that they would be murdered, or enslaved as a result of their mother's actions, and fled to Athens.

Later Jason and Peleus, father of the hero Achilles, would attack and defeat Acastus, reclaiming the throne of Iolcus for himself once more. Jason's son, Thessalus, then became king.

Because he broke his vow to love Medea forever, Jason lost his favor with Hera and died lonely and unhappy. He was asleep under the stern of the rotting Argo when it fell on him, killing him instantly. The manner of his death was due to the gods cursing him for breaking his promise to Medea.

Argonauts in Classical Literature

Though some of the episodes of Jason's story draw on ancient material, the definitive telling, on which this account relies, is that of Apollonius of Rhodes in his epic poem Argonautica, written in Alexandria in the late 3rd century BC.

Another Argonautica was written by Gaius Valerius Flaccus in late 1st century AD, eight books in length. The poem ends abruptly with the request of Medea to accompany Jason on his homeward voyage. It is unclear if part of the epic poem has been lost, or if it had ever been finished.

The story of Medea's revenge on Jason is told with devastating effect by Euripides in his tragedy Medea.

The mythical geography of the voyage of the Argonauts has been speculatively explicated by the historian of science and the cartography of Antiquity, Livio Catullo Stecchini, in a suggestive essay, The Voyage of the Argo, that draws upon fragments of the mythic sources Apollonius employed in constructing his poem.

In the Divine Comedy, Dante sees Jason in the eighth circle of Hell among the seducers.

Jason is mentioned in some of the few extant fragments of the Achillea in a retelling of the story of Jason's encounter with Talos.

As city founder

According to legend and certain historical sources (e.g. Herodotus), Jason is the legendary founder of the city of Aemona, today Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The dragon in the city's coat of arms allegedly derives from the same legend.

Jason on film

Two movies titled Jason and the Argonauts have been produced: Jason and the Argonauts (1963), directed by Don Chaffey, and Jason and the Argonauts (2000), a Hallmark presentation TV movie.
In the new children's show, Class of the Titans, one of the main characters, Jay, is a descendant of Jason, and the characters have run-ins with Medea and Talos.
Jason was also portrayed by Jeffrey Thomas (with Chris Conrad as young Jason) in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
Lars Von Trier's (1988) made for TV movie entitled Medea depicts Udo Kier as Jason after he has retrieved the Golden Fleece.

Jason in video games

Jason is shown being devoured by Cerberus in the hit Playstation 2 video game God of War 2, before the player attempts to retrieve the Golden Fleece.
In Age of Mythology, Jason is a Greek hero character that can be purchased from the town center for use in combat.
Rise of the Argonauts is an RPG slated for release in 2008 which follows Jason and the Argonauts on his quest to find the Golden Fleece.

Jason on Stage

Mary Zimmerman wrote and directed Argonautika, which premiered in 2006 with the Chicago Lookingglass Theatre Company. It tells the story of Jason and the Argonauts from Pelias' initial charge through Jason's betrayal of Medea.

External links

Museum of Argonautic Expedition, Volos, Greece
Timeless Myths - Argonauts, a summary of Jason and his Quest for the Golden Fleece
"The Jason Voyage," From the Cradle of Wine
Argonuttica is a stage comedy version of Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece written in 2006 by Scott Lynch-Giddings. Site includes photos from the premiere production.
Argonautica at Project Gutenberg
The Medea of the modern times

References

Publius Ovidius Naso. Metamorphoses.
Powell, B. The Voyage of the Argo. In Classical Myth. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Prentice Hall. 2001. pp. 477-489.
Alain Moreau, Le Mythe de Jason et Médée. Le Va-nu-pied et la Sorcière. Paris : Les Belles Lettres, collection « Vérité des mythes », 2006 (ISBN 10 2-251-32440-2).
Bulfinch's Mythology, Medea and Aeson.
Angelopoulos, Athanasios G., Ancient People (2002) - ISBN 960-7076-03-6