Athamas a ruler of a kingdom in Thessaly, decided dispose his wife, Nephele, and marry a younger woman. Nephele feared that the king’s new wife would be a hazard to her children by Athamas. She pleaded to Zeus, the king of the Gods and Zeus directed the God Hermes to give the queen a ram with the ability to fly to take her children to another kingdom. The ram flew to the east, across the strait between Europe and Asia. Helle fell from the ram into the sea. The place where she fell was called the Hellespont . The ram, finally arrived at Colchis, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. Phryxus sacrificed the ram to Zeus and gave its golden fleece to Aeetes, king of Colchis. Aeetes placed it in a sacred grove, where it was
guarded by a dragon that never slept.
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King Aeson in another kingdom in Thessaly, was surrendered his throne to his brother ; with the condition that he must surrender the throne to Aeson's son Jason Jason's mother, not trusting Pelias, sent Jason away to be raised in secret.
Jason was told of his right to rule in Iolcus once he was old enough, and he sought to lay claim to his throne. At the beginning of his journey he met an old woman who begged him to help her get across a river. Jason put the old woman onto his back and began to swim. The powerful current swept one of his sandals. The old woman, who was so light weight and frail when he first started grew heavier as he swam.
By the time he reached the other side of the river was as heavy as a stone; helped the woman from his back and discovered that she was in reality the goddess Hera. She had tested Jason, to see if he was worthy of her patronage. He had as a benefactress the queen of the Gods.
Pelias was distressed when Jason arrived at his court and announced that as Aeson's son he had come to claim his throne. The prophecy seemed to have been into being the man who arrived with one sandal had appeared. Pelias slyly suggested that before taking up the responsibilities of kingship, complete some sort of heroic quest, in order to show his new subjects how worthy he was to be their king.
Jason asked Pelias what sort of heroic deed he should perform. Pelias told Jason the tale of the Golden Fleece but that King Aeetes of Colchis had stolen it.
Jason enlisted the skilled craftsman Argus to build a ship large enough and strong enough to hold fifty men, be able to withstand a voyage into unknown and dangerous waters. The ship was named the Argo, after Argus, and those who sailed on it would be known as the Argonauts.
Jason called all of the bravest, most noble warriors of Greece to join Jason on his great adventure. They knew the voyage would be long and dangerous, but would bring them honor and fame. Among the warriors who accompanied Jason was Heracles, but he did not stay for the whole trip.
In Thrace the Argonauts encountered King Phineas, who was emaciated from starvation. Zeus had punished him for being sly. Every time food was placed before him, hideous winged creatures called Harpies, with great wings, sharp talons, and the heads of women, would descend for the sky and snatch the food. The next time Phineas tried to eat and the Harpies appeared, two of the Argonauts fought them off and the Harpies never returned.
In gratitude, Phineas told the Argonauts how to pass safely past the great Clashing Rocks that blocked the entrance to the Black Sea. Any ship that tried to pass through them would be smashed when the rocks slammed together.
Following Phineas's directions, the Argonauts released a dove as they drew near the Clashing Rocks. As it flew between the rocks, they smashed together and almost caught the dove who survived minus a few tail feathers. When the rocks again separated, the Argonauts sped through moments before they slammed together again.
When they reached Colchis, Jason told King Aeetes that he had come for the Golden Fleece. The king told Jason he must earn the Golden Fleece by proving his courage and strength. He must harness a pair of bulls, sow, and then harvest a field before sundown.
Hera still favored Jason, so she told Aphrodite to have her son Eros to shoot an arrow into the heart of Medea, King Aeetes' daughter. Struck by Eros' arrow, Medea fell in love with Jason. Medea was a priestess of Hecate, and a powerful, skilled sorceress. That night Medea approached Jason and gave him a container of magical oil, which would protect him from the hooves and the fiery breath of her father's bulls. The next day, Jason harnessed the bulls. Jason sowed the bag of seed he had been given.
Jason did not realize that what he was sowing was actually not seed, but dragon's teeth. Each of the teeth that were sown turned into an armed warrior, until the field was crowded with armed men. No matter how many Jason killed, there were always more to attack him. Medea once again came to aid Jason. She tossed a rock at one of the warriors and when it hit he thought that another dragon-warrior had struck him, the first one attacked his comrade. After throwing other rocks the entire army of dragon-warriors fought with each other, until not one was left alive.
But Medea knew that her father was not going to allow Jason to take the Golden Fleece, so that night she led Jason to the sacred grove where the sleepless dragon guarded the Golden Fleece. Near the dragon she used a powerful potion and when the dragon smelled the fumes from the potion, it immediately fell asleep, and Jason was able to grab the Golden Fleece.
Accompanied by Medea, Jason and the Argonauts sailed away on the Argo, pursued by Aeetes. Medea had persuaded her young brother to come with them. ; expecting that her father would retaliate. As Aeetes gained on the Argo, Medea killed and dismembered her brother and scattered his body parts all over the surface of the sea, her father had stop to gather his son's remains for a proper burial.
Once they had returned to Iolchus and married, Jason asked Medea to use her magic to take some years from his life and add them to his father's, for Aeson had grown quite old and frail. Medea did not want shorten his life, add years to his father's. So that after preparing a pot with a magical brew, she cut up an old ram, threw it into the pot, and pronounced an incantation. Out of the pot leapt a frisky young lamb. Having seen this evidence of her power, Aeson allowed his new daughter-in-law to take a knife to him. She had put his remains into the pot, said the magic words, and out of the pot stepped Aeson, once again tall and strong, with a youthful.
Medea had let the daughters of Peleus witnessed this act of sorcery, so they would approach her to do the same thing for their father. They knew he was too suspicious to submit willingly to the process, so they gave Peleus a sleeping potion Medea had prepared. Then, when their father was deeply asleep, the two daughters fell on him with their knives. Once he was dead, Medea cut him up and placed him in the pot. But instead of saying the magic words, she left the horrified women alone to watch the boiling pot with their father's remains.
Jason was now king of Iolchus. He and Medea lived happily together for ten years, during which time they had two sons. But as Medea grew older, Jason became interested in Glauce, the daughter of the King of Corinth. Younger than Medea, Glauce was neither a foreigner nor a sorceress, and so she seemed more attractive than Medea, whom Jason divorced in order to marry Glauce. Embittered, Medea sent Creusa a magnificent robe, soaked in a deadly potion. When Glauce donned the robe, it burst into fire and killed her. Before fleeing to escape for the murders, Medea also slaughtered her two sons by Jason
Perhaps Jason lost Hera's favor when he divorced Medea to marry a younger woman. Hera was the goddess of marriage.
Whatever the case that ended the famous quest for the Golden Fleece and the fleece was saved and returned to its rightful owners. Many heroes lived through Greek Writing and the myths live on. The search for the Golden Fleece is just one of such tales. The Argonauts will not be forgotten for the deeds.
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