GREEK MYTHOLOGY : quest of golden fleece

The Quest of the Golden Fleece
Prof. Ronuel L. del Rosario

Quest of the Golden Fleece
A Greek king, Athamas,
gets tired of his wife Nephele,
a cloud nymph, and puts her
jail. He marries Io, a young
princess, daughter of King
Thebes, in her place. Nephele
prays that Io will not kill her
two children in order to make
Io’s own children inherit the
kingdom.

Io does attempt this murder, however. She
secretly gathers seed-corn and parches the seed
so that no crops will grow. Then, when Athamas
asks for word from an oracle about how to end
the famine, Io bribes a messenger to say that
the only way to bring back the crops is to
sacrifice his son, Phrixus.

Athamus and Io bring the boy to the sacrificial
altar, but just before the murder, a wondrous ram
with a golden fleece takes the boy and his sister
Helle and runs away. The ram, sent by Hermes, is an
answer to Nephele’s prayers.

The ram carries the children across the
water from Europe to Asia, and on the way,
Helle slips off and drowns. Phrixus arrives safely
in the country of Colchis, where he sacrifices the
ram and gives it to King Etes.

Phrixus had a cousin by the name of Pelias
and he was the one who killed his own father to
gain control of a kingdom in Greece.
However, the king had a young son who
was the rightful heir to the kingdom, and this
man was Jason. Jason had been sent away to a
safe place where he could grow into a bold man
who would take away the kingdom from his
wicked cousin, Pelias.

Pelias was told by an oracle that he would be killed
by a kinsmen one day who would be wearing only one
sandal. Such a man did come to the town in time and he
did wear just one sandal. Pelias became afraid. For it was
Jason who was the one who only shod one sandal. Jason
told Pelias that he came to recover the kingdom that was
rightfully his and that the kingdom should be ruled
rightly, without evil.
Pelias agreed to hand over the kingdom, but under
one condition: The condition was that the dead Phrixus
wanted the Golden Fleece returned from King Æetes,
which would bring the spirit of Phrixus back to his home.

Jason in the Court of Pelias - Johann Friedrich Overbeck

Pelias asked that Jason go on the journey as
opposed to himself, for he was old and Jason was
young and strong. So Pelias promised to give up the
kingdom on the return of Jason with the Golden
Fleece.
Jason agreed and organized Hercules,
Orpheus, Castor, Pollux, Achilles' father, Peleus and
many more. This group of men were subsequently
known as the Argonauts. Hera was also with Jason,
to remind him not to leave behind a dying life.

Jason and the Argonauts
(which was named after their
ship, the Argo) first sailed to
Lemnos, an island where only
women lived. Only one man, the
king, was left on the island.
Although the women had risen
up against the men on the island
by killing them, they gladly
helped the Argonauts with gifts
of food and wine.

The Argonauts travelled to where the
Harpies lived. The Harpies were flying creatures
with hooked beaks and claws who left an awful
odour whenever they go. The Argonauts met an
old man with the power of prophecy who had a
problem. Every time Phineus, the prophet, came
to eat, the Harpies would come and take the
food, leaving nothing left. He was left withered
and weak from the lack of food. The Argonauts
decided that they would help fix this problem.

The sons of Boreas followed the Harpies, who
had already taken the food from Phineus. They took
their swords and hit the Harpies. The old man
thanked the Argonauts for their help and offered
some advice for navigating through the Clashing
Rocks, the next encounter on their journey. He said
that to navigate through them safely, one should
send a dove through first. If the dove survived and
wasn't crushed by the rocks, the ship would survive.
If the dove died, then the ship would not survive.

The next morning the Argonaut sailed off
with a dove to the Clashing Rocks. They set the
dove free and the dove made it through with
the exception of the bird's tail feathers, which
were cut off by the rolling rocks.
Next, the ship went through, and, like what
the prophet said, the ship survived and passed
through safely, but part of the stern of the ship
was cut off, like the tail feathers of the bird.

The Argonauts quickly sailed on and they
passed by the country of the Amazons, because
they knew that the Amazons were not gentle
foes. They continued on, travelling all day.
Finally, at sunset, they arrived in Colchis, home
of the Golden Fleece.

On Mt. Olympus, Hera went to seek
Aphrodite's help. Since Hera had been overseeing
the adventure, she knew that there was danger
involved and discussed the matter with Aphrodite.
To help the Argonauts, Aphrodite told Hera
that she would send Cupid, Aphrodite's son, to the
Colchis and would make the daughter of the
Colchian king fall in love with Jason.
Medea was the daughter of King Æetes. But
Medea was a powerful magician and she could save
the Argonauts if they ever were in trouble.

While this was going on, the Argonauts made their
way to the city to ask the king for the Golden Fleece. Hera
wrapped the Argonauts in a mist so they wouldn't be
seen until they arrived at the palace.
King Æetes welcomed them to Colchis and was
hospitable to them. Princess Medea also made her way
into the palace to see what these visitors, who had
entered the palace, were doing. As Medea lay eyes upon
Jason, Cupid, who was sent by Aphrodite to make the two
fall in love, drew his bow and shot an arrow into the heart
of Medea. Amazed by the sight of Jason, she quickly
returned to her chambers.

King Æetes gave the Argonauts something
to eat, making sure to take care of the needs of
the guest. It was only after this that King Æetes
decided to ask what the men were doing in
Colchis. They responded by saying that they
were seeking the Golden Fleece in hopes to
return it back to Greece.
King Æetes was angered now for he did not
like foreigners and he did not like the reason
why they came to Colchis.

He said that Jason must harness two
flame-breathing bulls whose feet were made of
bronze and to plow a field with them. As well,
he must take the teeth of a dragon and grow
them as if they were corn seeds.
A crop of armed men would grow and he
must fight this crop of armed men. The king said
that he must do this if he wants the Golden
Fleece returned. It was an impossible task but
Jason accepted the challenge.

Jason thought of Medea, who would be
able to help him complete this challenge. If she
could invoke a magic spell to help him,. Both
agreed to this plan and Medea gave Jason a
charm he and his weapons would become
invincible for a day.
As well, he was given a stone that if too
many men attacked him, he could throw the
stone at the enemy. This would make the enemy
turn on one another and fight each other.

Medea met the Argonauts and asked if she
could join them on their journeys. She also told
them to quickly get the Golden Fleece from a
serpent which was guarding the sacred wool.
Again, Medea worked her magic by lulling
the serpent to sleep. The Argonauts grabbed the
fleece and quickly retreated.

By now, the king had found out what the
Argonauts had done. So, King Æetes sent in son,
Asyrtus, in pursuit of the Argonauts. He led an
army much larger than that of the Argonauts.
However, to even the odds, Medea killed her
brother, Asyrtus. There were many stories as to
how he died. However, it is not known what
exactly happened to the death of Asyrtus. In any
case, the Argonauts had escaped.

On the return trip, they had to pass
through the rock of Scylla and the whirlpool of
Charybdis, most dangerous natural occurrences,
however, Hera guided the Argonauts to safety.

They landed there, by the request of
Medea, for she knew a man by the name of
Talus (Achilles). He was a creature made all of
bronze except for one ankle - this was the only
point where he was vulnerable. He was not a
kind man because he threatened to crush the
Argo if the Argonauts approached. Medea
sensed this and made Talus crape his vulnerable
ankle and he bled to death.

When the Argo reached Greece, the
Argonauts disbanded leaving Jason and Medea
taking the Golden Fleece to Pelias. When they
arrived, Jason and Medea found that Pelias had
forced Jason's father to kill himself and his
mother had died of grief.
Jason asked Medea for ways to punish
Pelias. They accomplished this by convincing
Pelias that there was a way to make the old
young again.

Jason and Medea moved to Corinth where
they had two sons. Medea missed her family in
Colchis but her love for Jason seemed to be
more important. All this for a man who would
eventually betray her.

The first example of
this occurred when Jason
married the daughter of
the King of Corinth. As a
result of the King of
Corinth fearing the
powers of Medea, the
King ordered Medea and
her two helpless children
out of the country.

Through her words, she explained that it
was she that was the one who obtained the
Golden Fleece by conquering the bulls, the
dragon-men and the serpent warder of the
Fleece. Jason retorted by saying that he had not
been save by her but by Aphrodite who had
made Medea fall in love with him. He also said
that she owed him a great deal for moving her
to Greece, a "civilized country".

Medea wanted revenge. So, she decided
that she would kill Jason's bride. She decided
that she would take a robe and anointed it with
deadly drugs. To ensure that the bride would
die, she would have to wear it at once. The
princess received this gift and wore it at once.
No sooner had she put it on when a fire
devoured her, melting her flesh away. She had
died.

When Medea knew
that the deed was done,
she turned her mind to
one more dreadful task.
This task was far more
dreadful, for she was
going to kill her own two
sons. She did so, but not
without feeling sorrow for
what she had done.

But when Jason realized Medea had killed
her bride, he was determined to kill Medea. But
when he arrived at Medea's house, she had
already left in a chariot that was drawn by
dragons. As this occurred, Jason cursed her, but
not himself, for what had happened.

Medea and the golden chariot driven by dragon

GREEK MYTHOLOGY : quest of golden fleece

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GREEK MYTHOLOGY : quest of golden fleece