Jason and the Golden Fleece and Jason and Medea:
King Athamas divorced his first wife to marry another. His second wife was
ambitious for her own children and devised a way to get rid of Athamas' children by
his previous wife. She arranged a famine that could only be alleviated by the death of
her stepchildren. As these children were about to be sacrificed Hermes sent a golden
ram to rescue them. This divine ram saved the boy Phrixus and his sister Helle and
flew north with them. Helle lost her grip and fell into a body of water that was
named the Hellespont after her. The ram delivered Phrixus to Colchis, where the boy
was taken in by King Aeetes. In thanksgiving for his deliverance Phrixus killed the
golden ram as a sacrifice to Zeus, and its fleece was hung in a sacred grove.
Now the kingdom that Jason was supposed to inherit had been usurped by his cousin
Pelias, and Jason was raised in secrecy for his own protection. Pelias had learned
from an oracle that he himself would die because of a kinsman, and that he must
beware of any stranger wearing a single sandal. When Jason arrived to claim
rulership he wore but one sandal. A handsome, ambitious young man, Jason boldly
confronted King Pelias and offered to let him have the wealth Pelias had
accumulated, but that he, Jason, would take over the kingship. Pelias agreed but
demanded that Jason fetch the Golden Fleece from far-off Colchis, thinking that the
brash young man would never return.
Jason, consented to Pelias' condition and commissioned a ship, the Argo, to be built.
He sent word to every court in Greece that he wanted volunteers, a band of
Argonauts, to accompany him on his adventure. The journey would take them past
Troy, up the Hellespont, through the Bosphorus, and all the way to the eastern shores
of the Black Sea, where Colchis was located.
Among the many heroes who assembled for the expedition were Heracles, Castor and
Polydeuces, Atalanta, Meleager, and Orpheus. The illustrious crew offered a
sacrifice to Apollo before setting sail, and Jason himself was under the special
protection of Hera.
The first stopover was at Lemnos, an island where the women had killed all but one
of their males in a rage. But after a year without men the Lemnian women welcomed
the Argonauts, slept with them, and gave them gifts of food, wine, and clothing.
Soon thereafter the company lost Heracles when he went to search for his squire,
Hylas, who had fallen into a fresh spring in his attraction to a nymph. Since Heracles
did not return, the Argonauts had to sail without him.
The Argo slipped past Troy in darkness to avoid paying tribute to King Laomedon. A
bit later Polydeuces had to kill King Amycus in a boxing match before the crew
could continue on. Next the Argonauts came to a place where fierce birdlike females
were plaguing a seer who had offended Zeus. These creatures, the Harpies, would
swoop down at every meal to defile the seer's food, leaving it inedible. So two of
Jason's comrades, both able to fly, pursued the Harpies. Moreover, they extracted a
promise from Iris, the messenger of the gods, that the Harpies would never bother
Phineus the seer again. In gratitude for ridding him of the Harpies Phineus foretold
all that would happen to the Argonauts on the way to Colchis. And through his
advice the heroes were able to pass between the Symplegades, or Clashing Rocks,
without mishap.
Having gained the Black Sea, the Argo sailed along the southern coast toward the
eastern shore. At one point the Argonauts were tempted to battle those savage
warrior women, the Amazons, but they sailed on and at last came to the land of
Colchis. The heroes put in at a secluded inlet and debated the best course to take.
They decided to go directly to King Aeetes and ask him for the Golden Fleece. Jason
led some of his company to the palace, but they were greeted with hostility because
the Colchians hated the Greeks. In fact King Aeetes threatened to mutilate the
Agronauts, but Jason answered him softly, promising to undertake any tasks he
should set. Aeetes then offered to give them the fleece if Jason could yoke two firebreathing bulls, plow a huge field belonging to Ares, and sow the furrows with
dragon's teeth. These seemed like impossible tasks to Jason, but he agreed to
undertake them.
The goddess Hera had arranged that Aeetes' beautiful daughter Medea should fall
instantly in love with Jason. Not only was Medea lovely, she was skilled in sorcery.
Medea contrived a meeting with Jason, who seemed entranced with her. He pledged to
take her back to Greece with him and to remain faithful. In return Medea gave him an
ointment that would enable him to conquer the bulls and plow the field. She also told him
the secret of defeating the awesome crop of warriors that would sprout from the dragon's
teeth. On the following day Jason yoked the fiery bulls, plowed the field, and sowed the
teeth. When armed warriors sprang from the soil to attack him, Jason threw a stone into
their midst and they fell upon one another murderously until not one was left alive. But
King Aeetes refused to give Jason the fleece, vowing to get rid of the Argonauts. Medea
then bid Jason to take some men and steal the Golden Fleece from its place in the sacred
grove of Ares. By night Medea led the troop to the grove, and there she charmed to sleep
the dragon who guarded the fleece. Jason took the fleece from its perch and hurried back
to his ship, the Argo, with Medea and his men
Once on board the Argo Jason set sail. But before long they were pursued and
cornered by the Colchian fleet, which was commanded by Medea's brother, Apsyrtus.
To save Jason, Medea wrote her brother, saying that she had been abducted and that
if he would meet her in a clandestine spot she would return the fleece and go home
with him. When Apsyrtus met Medea that night Jason stepped out from hiding and
slew him. Without Apsyrtus' leadership the Colchian fleet was dispersed, leaving
Jason free to return home with Medea, who had become his mistress.
In another version of this story, Medea abducted her brother Apsyrtus aboard the
Argo and there she murdered him. When King Aeetes pursued the ship and drew
dangerously close, Medea would cut part of her brother's corpse off and fling it into
the sea. Aeetes then had to retrieve the member to prevent his son's ghost from
haunting him. In this way the Argo escaped the Colchian navy.
Jason and Medea had to purify themselves for the murder of Apsyrtus, so they
journeyed to the sorceress Circe, who purged them. To get back to Greece the Argo
had to pass between the cliff of Scylla and the whirlpool of Charybdis, but Her a saw
that nymphs guided the ship. At Crete the Argonauts came upon Talus, a gigantic
bronze warrior who threatened to sink the vessel with boulders. Again Medea came
to the rescue, using sorcery to defeat Talus by calling upon the hounds of Hades. At
length the Argonauts reached Greece and disbanded, returning to their separate
homes.
When Jason arrived at Iolcos, his own birthplace, he learned that King Pelias had put
his parents to death during his quest for the Golden Fleece. Medea offered to obtain
revenge upon Pelias. Gaining an audience with the king and his daughters, Medea
proclaimed her ability to rejuvenate men. Pelias, who was now old, grew interested.
To prove her power she cut up an old ram, threw it into a boiling caldron, put in
some magic herbs, and produced a frisky lamb. Medea then persuaded the daughters
of Pelias to cut him up and put him in the pot. After they had done so, of course,
Pelias was dead once and for all. Because of this mischief Jason and Medea were
forced to leave Iolcos shortly. From there they went to Orchomenus, where they
hung the Golden Fleece in the temple of Zeus.
The pair took up residence in Corinth, and Medea had two sons by Jason. However,
Jason began casting his eyes about for a more suitable mate. As ambition would have
it, he arranged to marry the king of Corinth's daughter, Glauce (also called Creüsa).
When Medea learned of this she uttered some rash words that caused her to be
banished from the city. Medea was heartsick at Jason's coldness after everything she
had done for him, and she determined to take her revenge. Medea prepared a
splendid garment for Jason's bride. When Glauce tried it on she felt her flesh burn
away and died in agony. Knowing that life in exile would be harsh on her two sons,
Medea killed the boys. She escaped Jason's wrath in a sky-borne chariot drawn by
dragons. Jason also lost Hera's favor, and lived an empty life from then on. His
single triumph was finished, and he ruled Corinth but produced no more children.
Finally, one day as he was brooding under the prow of the Argo its beam fell on him,
killing him.