Jason, Medea, and the Argonauts

King Aeëtes' Challenges

Aeëtes set Jason a series of impossible tasks before he would let him take the Golden Fleece once he arrived to Colchis. He was to yoke a pair of brazen-footed, fire-breathing bulls and plough a field. In the furrows he was to sow dragon's teeth and kill the armed men who would spring up from the teeth. • Aphrodite caused the king's daughter Medea to fall in love with Jason, She gives him a potion that protects him from fire and iron for one day, She also tells him the men from the dead will fight each other if you throw rocks at them, She also gives him a potion that will drug the serpent guarding the golden fleece, Helped by Medea, Jason performed these tasks and took the fleece.

Phineus

At Salmydessus the Argonauts were received by the blind king, Phineus, who was tormented by the Harpies ("snatchers"), winged monsters who snatched away his food and fouled what was left. Zetes and Calais pursued them to the Strophades ("turn-around") Islands, where the Harpies swore never to harass Phineus again

Chiron

Centaur on Mount Pelion who raised Jason.

Hylas

Hercules will break his oar and go ashore with Hylas, In the spring the nymphs are mesmerized by his beauty and take him to be with him, Hercules goes looking for him and cannot find him, after this he leaves the expedition

Apsyrtos

Medea's brother, cut up and pushed overboard, to help escape their father

Symplegades

The Symplegades ("clashing rocks") were two huge moving rocks that destroyed ships and men that attempted to pass; the Argonauts, employing Phineus' advice, released a dove so that as it passed through the strait, the rocks would come together. As the rocks were pulling apart, the Argonauts were to sail quickly through; the Symplegades, as the prophecy foretold, remained fixed from then on.

The Argo

The ship manned and built by Jason and his crew of Greek heroes on their quest for the Golden Fleece. Athena was involved in the construction of this ship, She is the helper of heroes, Builders were Argos, son of Arestor and also Athena, The ship had a talking prow, Made of the oaks of Dodona, which was sacred to Zeus b/c it was from he grove

Phaiacians

They came to the land of the Phaiacians. Here Medea appealed to Queen Arete for protection from the Colchians, and the king. Alcinoüs, promised not to give them up if Jason and Medea were already married. There they celebrated the marriage, and the Colchians gave up the pursuit.

Polydeuces

They enter the Land of the Bebryces and Euxine Sea and have a boxing match. Argonauts had a boxing specialist (Polydeuces) who ends up crushing the king Amycos and killing him. Was deemed godly enough to be admitted to Olympus, while his brother Castor (horseman) was dispatched to Hades as a mere mortal.

Athamas, Nephele, Ino

in the Quest of the Golden Fleece, Greek King Athamas left his wife Nephele for a new wife, Princess Ino. Ino becomes evil step mother, tries to destroy the city, and prevented crops from growing

Circe

purified Medea for killing her brother

Cyzicos

(Cios) Land of Doliones, Reception by the king, The Argonauts sailed to Cyzicos, where Heracles killed the earth-born giants who lived nearby. In a night battle they mistakenly killed King Cyzicus (after whom the city was named). At their next landfall, Cios, Heracles left in search of his companion Hylas, and the Argo sailed on without him

The Argonauts

A band of 50 sailors who joined with Jason to search for the Golden Fleece.

Phrixus and Helle

Children of Athamas and Nephele. Their stepmother, Ino, intercepts the message of the fertility to Delphi and changes it to tell the king to sacrifice Phrixus. Right before the sacrifice, Nephele swoops down and takes Phrixus and Helle and places them on a golden fleece ram that flies away. Helle falls and dies at the Hellespont ("sea of Helle"), Phrixus journeys to Colchis and is welcomed by King Aeëtes. Phrixus marries Chalciope, a daughter of Aeëtes, sacrifices the ram, and gives the fleece to Aeëtes, who hangs it on an oak tree sacred to Ares, guarded by a serpent.

Talos

Continuing their voyage, they killed the bronze giant, Talos, who guarded the island of Crete, by opening a vein above one of his ankles, through which his life-supporting ichor (the divine equivalent of blood) leaked out.

Cretheus and Tyro

Cretheus is brother of Athamas and is King of Iolcus. He and Tyro ahd a son (and successor) named Aeson.

Aeson

Deposed by Pelias (his stepson)

Hypsiple and women of Lemnos

During the voyage, they first land on the island of Lemnos and stay for a year. Hypsipyle and the women of Lemnos offended Aphrodite so she made them unattractive to their husbands. The men took on Thracian consorts. In return the women killed all their husbands. King Thoas (father of Hypsipyle and son of Dionysus) is the only survivor. She put Thoas in a chest, in which he floated to the land of the Tauri. The Argonauts stayed for a year and fathered many children. After their departure, Hypsipyle was driven by the other women from the island because of her deception in saving Thoas, and she came eventually to Nemea, where she had a role in the saga of the Seven against Thebe. Hypsipyle and Jason stay together for the year and have twin children

Iolcus: Medea and Pelias' daughters

Finally they sailed back to Iolcus. Jason handed over the fleece to Pelias and dedicated the Argo to Poseidon at the Isthmus of Corinth. But Pelias refused to give up his throne to Aeson, Jason's father, as he had promised. Medea tricked the daughters of Pelias into trying to rejuvenate him by cutting him up and boiling him in a cauldron. As proof she took a shaggy ram, she slit its throat with the knife of thessaly, she put the carcass in a bronze pot and burned it, when the fire died down a lamb jumped out of the fire. They succeeded only in killing him. For this murder Medea and Jason were driven out of Iolcus and went to Corinth.

Golden Fleece

Phrixus sacrifices the ram and gives the Golden Fleece to King Aeetes. Jason and his band of Argonauts must get the fleece in order for Jason to be king.

Pelias

Son by Tyro and Poseidon. When Cretheus died, Pelias became king when Aeson should have. Pelias was warned by the Delphic oracle to beware of a man with one shoe. Says Jason can be king if he fetches him the Golden Fleece, an impossible task that he thought would get rid of Jason.

Jason

Son of Aeson. He was sent to the hills to be educated by the centaur Chiron and after twenty years returned to Iolcus to reclaim his family's throne.On his journey back Jason carried an old woman across the river Anaurus, losing a shoe during the crossing. She was the goddess Hera, who thereafter favored Jason.