This document summarizes the Greek myth of the Golden Fleece. It describes how Athamas took a new wife Ino who plotted to have Athamas sacrifice his son Phrixus. Phrixus was instead saved by a magical golden ram that flew them to Colchis. There, Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Zeus and gave the Golden Fleece to King Aeetes, who hung it in a tree guarded by a dragon. The ram was born from Poseidon mating with Theophane after changing her into an ewe and himself into a ram.

1. “The Quest
for the
Golden Fleece”

2. “The Quest
for the
Golden Fleece”
The Beginning

3. The Quest For the
Golden fleece
• a poem by Apollonius of Rhodes who lived in
the third-century AD.
• Argonautica

4. Athamas Nephele
Boeotia

5. Athamas Nephele
Boeotia

6. Athamas Nephele
Prixes /
Phrixus
Helle

7. Athamas Nephele
Prixes /
Phrixus
Helle

8. Athamas Ino
Prixes /
Phrixus
Helle

9. Athamas Ino
Prixes /
Phrixus
Helle

10. Prixes /
Phrixus
Helle
Golden Fleece

11. King Athamas got tired of his
bride, Nephele, so he decided to take
himself another. And that girl was
Ino, daughter of King Cadmus of Thebes.

12. Athamas and ino
• After few years, Ino bore two children. This
posed the great problem to the King’s new
heir.
• For Athamas who already had two children
with Nephele (Helle and Phrixus) , and
because Phrixus was the eldest son, he was
considered to be next in line to inherit the
throne.

13. Ino’s dark plan
• Ino gathered all of the corn seeds on
Athamas' farm and then burned the seeds so
that the crop would not grow.
• Athamas sent a messenger to an oracle.
• Ino bribed the messenger, to say to the king
that the crop would not grow unless the king
offered up Prince Phrixus as a sacrifice.

14. • At first the sorrowful king resisted , but after
much pressure from the townspeople, he
decided he had no other choice but to obey
the oracle. Reluctantly, Athamas led Phrixus
to the altar of Zeus and prepared him for the
ritual.

15. The ram with the
golden fleece
• Then, a ram with a fleece of pure gold, took
the two and threw them into the
air. Hermes had sent him and his sister in
answer to their mother's prayers.
• The ram, Prince Phrixus and his
sister, Helle, travelled across Europe and into
Asia.

16. • When they entered Asia, Helle fell into a
body of water (Hellespont) and as a
result, drowned. However, Phrixus and the
ram safely arrived in the country of Colchis on
the Black Sea.
The ram with the
golden fleece

17. The Colchians were kind to Phrixus. It was at
this time that Phrixus sacrificed the ram
to Zeus and he presented the golden fleece to
King Æetes /Aeetes, who was the Colchian
king, as a gift. To keep it safe, the fleece was
hung in the branches of a great oak tree with a
sleepless dragon placed at its base to act as a
guardian.
The ram with the
golden fleece

18. Origin of the ram
• the offspring of sea god Poseidon and
Theophane.
•he carried her off to the island of Crumissa.
•Poseidon quickly changed her into an ewe.
•Poseidon changed himself into a ram, so that
he could have a sexual union with Theophane.
• a magical baby ram with the fleece of gold;
he could talk and fly.