Argonauts

Jason sailed past the River Thermodon and the Caucasus, then reached the River Phasis in Colchis. He went to Aietes and asked for the Golden Fleece, as Pelias had commanded. Aietes promised to give it to him if he yoked two enormous bronze-footed bulls without assistance, made them plough a field, and sowed dragon’s teeth. The bulls had been gifts from Hephaistos. They had bronze hooves and breathed fire. Aietes had received half of the teeth that Athene had given him from the dragon’s teeth that Cadmos had sown at Thebes.

Jason did not know how he could yoke the bulls. Medea, Aietes’ daughter and a sorceress, fell in love with him. She feared that the bulls would kill him, so she secretly offered to help him. She gave him a potion. Jason rubbed it over himself and went to search for the bulls. When they charged him, breathing flame, the fire did not harm him. Medea began her spell, and the bulls stopped and trembled. Jason seized one by the horn and wrestled it down. He then yoked both bulls.

Jason made the bulls plough the field and sowed the dragon’s teeth. Armed men sprang from the ground with their weapons. Jason concealed himself and threw stones among them. The warriors believed that one of their own had attacked them, so they fought one another. Jason then came forward and killed those who remained. In another telling, the warriors killed one another until they all lay dead. Jason completed the task Aietes had set.

Jason accepted Pelias's challenge to bring the Golden Fleece from Colchis to Iolcus. Pelias had recognised him as the man from an oracle who would come with one sandal. Jason had lost the other while crossing the River Anauros on his way to a sacrifice to Poseidon. The fleece was the coat of a magical ram that had once saved two children from Iolcus. The ram was sacrificed to the gods, and its fleece was hung on a tree in Colchis, where dragons guarded it. Jason agreed to go, helped by Hera's favour.

Heralds called for the heroes of the Minuai to join the expedition. They came to the yellow sands of Pagasai and then travelled to Iolcus. Heracles came with his lion skin and club, followed by Hylas. Tiphys joined them as steersman. Castor and Polydeuces, Zetes and Calais, Caeneus, Peleus, Telamon and many others also assembled. Orpheus, prince of minstrels, was among the men named for the voyage. The people of Iolcus came out to watch them, while some women feared that the heroes would die.

The heroes felled pines on Mount Pelion and shaped the timber with axes. Argus taught them to build a galley, the first long ship said to have sailed the seas. They made openings for fifty oars, one for each hero of the crew. They sealed the hull with coal-black pitch, painted the bows vermilion, and named the ship Argo after Argus. They worked through the day. At night Pelias feasted them, and they slept in the porch of his palace.

When the ship was finished, the heroes tried to drag her down the beach. She was too heavy, and her keel sank deep into the sand. Jason called on the magic bough for help. A voice came from it. Jason listened, then told Orpheus to play his harp while the heroes held the pine rollers in place. Orpheus sang of sailing over waves, rowing through foam, seeing distant towns and lands, returning with treasure, and winning lasting fame. The Argo heard the song and longed to depart.

The Argonauts sailed for three days eastward. The Caucasus Mountains rose higher as they went. They passed the island of the Amazons and sailed beside the Caucasus, where Prometheus could be seen chained above the mountains. At last they saw the dark River Phasis rushing into the sea. Beyond the treetops stood the golden roofs of King Aeetes, the child of the Sun. Ancaios, their helmsman, declared that they had reached their goal. He warned that the surrounding woods held many poisons, and that great toil would be needed to find the Golden Fleece and bring it home to Greece.

Jason told the heroes that he would go alone to Aeetes and use gentle words rather than approach with the whole company and risk an immediate fight. The Minuai refused to remain behind, so they rowed boldly up the river. Aeetes had already been troubled by a dream that filled him with fear. When the Argonauts came before him, he shone in his chariot like the Sun, his father. His golden robes, fiery diadem, and jewelled sceptre marked his royal power. He looked sternly at the strangers and demanded to know who they were and why they had come to the shore of Cutaia. He asked whether they held his rule and the Colchians in contempt.

For a time the heroes sat silent before the ancient king. Hera then gave Jason courage, and he rose to answer. He declared that they were neither pirates nor lawless men. They had not come to plunder the land, ravage it, or take its people as slaves. Jason asked Aeetes to give them the Golden Fleece. The fleece was the coat of a magical ram that had once saved two children from Iolcos. The ram had been sacrificed to the gods, and its fleece had been carried to Colchis, where it hung from a tree in the forest under the guard of dragons.

Aeetes did not simply surrender the fleece. He told Jason that the young hero must first earn it through a task. He would have to harness Aeetes’ magical oxen, which breathed fire and had metal hooves, make them till a field, and sow it with dragon’s teeth. An army of men would grow from the teeth. Jason would then have to slay them, as Aeetes claimed he had done. Jason’s courage failed for a moment, but he took a deep breath and accepted the challenge.

After setting sail from Anaphe, the Argonauts approached Crete and tried to come ashore. Talos, the island’s bronze guardian, saw the Argo and ran towards it. He circled Crete three times each day, and whenever a ship approached, he threw stones at it. He now hurled rocks at the Argo and prevented the crew from landing. The heroes asked for food and water, but Talos called them pirates and threatened them with death if they came ashore.

The Argonauts asked Medea what they should do. They could face flesh and blood, she said, but not the red-hot bronze of Talos. She had heard that he possessed a single vein filled with liquid fire, closed at the ankle by a bronze nail. If she could reach the nail, the heroes could land and draw water. Medea ordered them to put her ashore and row away from the coast. They obeyed unwillingly. Jason trusted her, although the others feared leaving her alone.

Medea approached Talos and used false words to deceive him. She told him to cool himself in the sea before touching her hands, then asked him to show her the nail so that she could pour ichor into his vein. Talos followed her instructions. He went into the sea, then knelt before her and revealed the nail at his ankle.

Medea drew out the nail, but poured in no ichor. Liquid fire burst from the open vein. Talos tried to rise and accused her of betrayal, but Medea raised her hands and held him under her spell. His bronze limbs clanked as he fell, and the fire flowed from his heel into the sea. When he was dead, Medea called the Argonauts ashore. They landed and filled the ship with water.

Medea watched Jason prepare to face the tasks set by her father, King Aeetes of Colchis. Jason had come with the Argonauts to claim the Golden Fleece, as Pelias had commanded. Aeetes promised to give it to him only after he yoked two bronze-footed bulls, made them plough a field, and sowed it with dragon’s teeth. The bulls were enormous, breathed fire, and had metal hooves. The teeth would produce an armed army. Jason had little hope of surviving the task.

Medea, the daughter of Aeetes and a sorceress, fell in love with Jason. She feared that the bulls would kill him, so she secretly offered her help. She gave him magical protection and told him how to complete the tasks. With her aid, Jason faced the fire-breathing bulls. He subdued them and yoked them to the plough. He sowed the field with the dragon’s teeth, and armed men sprang from the ground. Jason fought them and killed them, completing the tasks demanded by Aeetes.

Aeetes still refused to surrender the fleece. He wanted to burn the Argo and kill its crew. Before he could carry out this plan, Medea led Jason to the fleece by night. A dragon guarded it, but Medea used her drugs to put the creature to sleep. She took the fleece and returned with Jason to the ship. Her brother Apsyrtos went with them. During the night, the Argonauts put out to sea.

Aeetes discovered what Medea had done and pursued the Argo. When Medea saw him drawing near, she killed Apsyrtos, cut up his body, and threw the pieces into the sea. Aeetes stopped to gather his child’s limbs, so he fell behind. He then turned his ship back and buried the remains he had recovered. He named the burial place Tomoi.

A violent storm drove the Argonauts towards the southern coast of Africa. They had been rowing eastward, hoping to reach Hellas, when the storm swept them far from their course. Darkness and blinding rain hid the sea around them. They rowed until they were exhausted, but could not tell where they were. At last, the Argo struck ground on the Libyan coast.

When daylight came, the Argonauts waded ashore. They found only sand, salt pools, and treeless flats. They had reached the quicksands of the Syrtis, on the burning shore between Numidia and Cyrene. The coast offered no clear route back to the sea. They wandered there for many weary days and suffered from hunger.

The Argonauts then carried the Argo across the Libyan desert. They bore the ship over the dry land until they reached Lake Triton. From there, they were able to launch the Argo again and continue their journey towards the open sea. The storm had forced the ship onto the African coast, and the desert crossing became the way by which the crew escaped from the Syrtis.