The Legend of 
Jason and the Argonauts

The story of Jason begins with his grandfather, King Athamas of Boeotia.  When Athamas died, his oldest son, Aeson (or Iolcus), inherited the throne.  The younger son, Pelias, was jealous of this turn of events and set out to steal the kingdom from Aeson.  Being of a nonviolent nature and not wishing to start a war, Aeson installed Pelias as the ruler of Boeotia.  An oracle warned Pelias that he would die at the hands of a cousin and to beware of a prince with only one shoe.

Aeson bore a son, Jason, and Pelias ordered his soldiers to kill the boy.  Aeson was clever and sent Jason to live in the wilderness cave the wise centaur Chiron (Sagittarius), where he would be tutored by the smartest creature ever.  When the soldiers arrived to take Jason, Aeson told them the Jason was dead.  The dim-witted soldiers returned to Pelias with the news. 

Jason grew, all the while learning from Chiron.  When Jason was old enough to understand, Chiron told him the story of his father and uncle. Jason returned home to put an end to this injustice.  Aeson was overjoyed at the return of his son.  After the pleasantries of the reunion, Jason set off for Boeotia to confront Pelias for the return of the kingdom to its rightful leader.  

Unknown to Jason, Hera (the wife of Zeus) also harbored an interest in the transfer of power.  Jason's uncle Pelias had honored all the gods but Hera which, as one might expect of a goddess, angered her greatly.  Hera had to be sure that Jason would have the nearly god-like qualities necessary to take the kingdom back.  To test Jason's courage and strength, she changed herself into a withered old woman and stood at the bank of a raging and flood-swollen river at the place where Jason would have to cross.  When Jason arrived, she requested that he ferry her across (Jason's test).  Giving it not a second thought, he placed the old woman on his back and set off into the torrent for he opposite shore.  Strangely, for such a small old women, she was unexpectedly heavy.  Nearing the far shore, he began to struggle under her weight but he kept swimming nonetheless but also losing a sandal in the swift-moving stream.  Jason never learned the identity of the frail woman he helped but, for Hera, his heroism was proven.  (In some versions of the story, Jason does learn the identity of the woman.)

Upon reaching Boeotia, Jason was seen by Pelias who noticed his missing shoe and became very afraid.  Jason assembled a crowd and demanded publicly that Pelias give the crown back to its lawful owner, Aeson.  Pelias told Jason that he would give up his throne if Jason could prove himself a hero by recovering the Golden Fleece which was being held in the distant land of Colchis.  If Jason regained the fleece and brought it back to his own land he would immediately make Aeson King of Boeotia.  Of course, as far as Pelias was concerned, this was an impossible task.  Unknown to Jason or Pelias, success in this quest was to be aided by Hera, wife of Zeus.

Jason accepted the challenge and prepared for the quest. A crew of many heroes took part in this journey, including Hercules, the twins Castor and Pollux (Gemini), Orpheus (Lyra), Zetes and Calais (sons of the North Wind), Theseus (the hero who slew the Minotaur), Atlanta (an excellent archer), and others.  The helmsman, Glaucus, is represented by the star Canopus (now in Carina).  

Their ship was named Argo Navis, the Swift One, built by Argus and named somewhat vainly after himself.  A magical beam made from Zeus' oak tree that grew in Dodona was used for the prow of the ship, an addition that gave the ship the ability to speak in a human voice.  Finally, the construction of the ship was completed but it was so heavy that it could not be moved.  Orpheus played his lyre and sang such a beautiful song that the oak beam in the bow began to move.  So magical was the song and resonant with the beam that the whole ship set itself gently into the water.  

With Jason in command and his crew of Argonaut, they set off on the quest for the Golden Fleece.  The Argonauts rested for a short time with Chiron at Mount Pelion.  Chiron placed his image in the sky (as Sagittarius) as a celestial guide for Jason and
the Argonauts.  Jason could speak directly to Chiron through the stars.  

The Argo sailed on to the home of the goddess Cybele, who owned an unusual lion-drawn chariot, as their first stop.  Along the journey, the Argonauts passed the northern coast of Asia Minor where the brutish giant Amycus lived and prevented passage of anyone who would not do mortal combat with him (usually, of course, meaning a sure death to the challenger).  Castor and Pollux defeated the giant but spared his life. They did, however, tie him to a tree.  

Onward they sailed to the island Salmydessus, the home of King Phineus.  Phineus once could see the future but had been blinded by the gods for abusing his divine powers.  Now, every time the old man tried to eat, Harpies (birds) would fly in and steal his food.  The Harpies had iron feathers so were protected from mere mortals.  When the Argonauts (far from mere mortals) arrived, they found Phineus nearly starving.  Phineus accepted the Argonauts' offer of help and all sat together for supper waiting for the Harpies.  When the birds finally arrived, our heroes attempted to kill them with their swords but to no avail.  Zetes and Calais had a great idea:  they flew into the air pursuing the Harpies until the birds were exhausted and fell into the sea and drowned.  Phineus was so grateful for the Argonauts' help that he gave them valuable advice to get past the Symplegades.  

The Argonauts bid farewell to their new friend Phineus and set course to the cliffs, called the Symplegades.  The animated cliffs had a bad habit of moving in such a way as to crush everything in between them, including fish and birds but especially any ship that dared to pass between them.  They would wait until the ship was in the middle and unable to escape then rush together and crush the ship and its crew.  Afterwards, they would return to their places of rest and wait for the next victim.  Phineus' advice was to release a dove, as a decoy, when the crew saw the cliffs moving toward each other.  Then when the cliffs were receding, sail on through the cliffs; if they made it, the cliffs would never move again.  Aided by Athena, the dove flew like the wind between the Symplegades -- so fast, in fact, that the cliffs crashed against each other but missed the bird.  As the cliffs slid backwards in preparation to snap shut again, the Argo sailed at full speed between the deadly cliffs.  The cliffs started to close again but Orpheus played his lyre, the lovely music of which calmed even their murderous movement, while the Argo sailed safely between the Symplegades.  Discovering too late that they had been entranced by Orpheus' music, but unable to stop their movement, crashed together for the last time.  The Argo was almost completely undamaged, save for a few splinters off the poop deck, and the heroic dove came back to the ship short a few feathers but otherwise unscathed.  The stilled cliffs are now known as the Dardanells and the Bosporus, the narrow passage between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea.   

The final adventure of the crew (prior to reaching Colchis) was to kill the wild boar in Calydon.  Diana, the Goddess of the Hunt, sent the boar to the Calydonians as a punishment for not bringing her acceptable sacrifices.  Atlanta, the only woman in the crew of the Argo, killed the boar with a single arrow. 

Upon reaching Colchis and telling the barbarian King Aeetes of their mission, the Argonauts found the King (not surprisingly) unwilling to give up the Golden Fleece.  Though fearing the power of the Argonauts, Aeetes still stood strong and told the Argonauts that they could have the fleece if they performed a little barnyard work -- yoke the fire-breathing bulls and plow a field to sow some dragons' teeth.

With the help of Aphrodite, the King's daughter, Medea, fell in love with Jason and promised to help him in this most grave mission.  Medea gave Jason a powerful balm that would render him fire- and freeze-proof.  Early the next day, King Aeetes, Medea, and members of the royal court went to the field where the battle (and plowing) would occur and made themselves comfortable for a day of good blood sport.  Jason rubbed the potion on his face, hands, and body, entered the stable where the fire-bulls were kept, loosed the chains holding them, and grabbed a bull by the horns.  The animal roared as it came out, fire sprayed from its mouth and nostrils in all directions and its brass hooves thrashed about trying to vivisect Jason.  Struggling, pulling, and completely disregarding the flames bouncing off his body, Jason got each of the bulls heads in the yoke of the heavy iron plow.  Jason grabbed the handles of the plow and let the heads go and pulled back hard in the harness. Immediately the bulls tried to lunge forward but came to a abrupt halt.  Fearing their new master, the oxen plowed quietly all morning, and by midday Jason had finished plowing the field.  Jason unyoked the bulls and, terrified,  they fled into the mountains never to be seen again. .

Jason then went to King Aeetes and asked for the dragons' teeth, which had interesting agricultural properties.  The king gave him a helmet-full of little teeth and Jason merrily sowed the teeth in the furrows.  Medea joined Jason in the field, apparently to be supportive as he finished his planting but, in actuality to give Jason a little more advice that would soon come in very handy.  No sooner had the last tooth hit the soil when fully-armed skeletons warriors began to sprout out of the furrows.  Armed with spears and swords they rushed madly at Jason. Jason did what Medea had suggested:  he simply threw a stone at and struck one of the warrior-skeletons.  The skeleton, in turn, thought another skeleton had done it.  Not caring much who they were going to kill and not much caring to have rocks thrown at them by their comrades, the warriors turned on one another and, in the ensuing melee, not one completely grown skeleton was left standing.  While the warriors killed each other, Jason went around the field hacking off the heads of those just starting to sprout. 

Of course, Aeetes was enraged at the destruction of his army.  The next day Jason demanded the fleece but Aeetes had no intention of following through with his agreement.  Aeetes convinced Jason to stay one more night with the continued promise of relinquishing the Golden Fleece.  In the night Medea woke him up and warned him to gather his crew and leave immediately because her father had assembled his army and intended to kill them all then next day.   

Furthermore, she offered to take him, in the safety of darkness, to the grove where the Fleece was nailed to a tree and guarded by a dragon.  And so at midnight the two crept into the grove, a sacred temple of Ares (god of war), armed with Jason's sword and a sleeping potion.  At the sight of the dragon, Jason brandished his sword, preparing to do futile battle with an immortal creature, but Medea simply put the dragon to sleep with her potion.

While the crew were making Argo ready for sea, Jason and Medea grabbed the fleece and hurried back to the ship.  Medea joined the Argonauts as they sailed for home.  En route, Medea and Jason were married.  Thus, Jason succeeded in his heroic challenge but not in ending the adventures he would encounter on his way home.

During the journey back to Boeotia, they sailed past the half human, half fish Sirens, whose beautiful songs (hence Siren songs) entranced and lured sailors toward them thereby dooming them and their ships on the rocks.  Orpheus played his lyre, which drowned out the Sirens' song.  In spite of Orpheus' music, one of the crew became so enchanted by the Sirens' music that he fell overboard.  Less affected by the Sirens' song and more by Orpheus' music, the crew plucked the sailor from the sea before he drowned.

The crew of the Argo stumbled upon yet more danger with the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis.  Scylla had six heads atop long necks and found sport in attacking passing ships from which she would eat six sailors.  Charybdis ate three times a day by sucking in sea water, fish and all, then spitting out the water.  Occasionally, she would suck in an unfortunate passing ship, which was fine by her but not so good for the ship or sailors.  With the help of Thetis, goddess of the Sea, and the Nereids (sea nymphs), the Argonauts were led safely through the straits called home by Scylla and Charybdis.

A violent storm drove the ship to the land of Lybia.  At the coast of Lybia a golden steer with three goddesses astride his back rose from the sea.  The goddesses prophesied that the Argonauts journey would end well if they followed the goddesses instructions exactly.  The Argonauts were to carry the Argo through Lybia rather than to try to sail through the storm.  For twelve days, the Argonauts carried their ship through the land of Lybia.  The trip was punishing and exhausting on the crew.  One crew member was killed by a scorpion sting, making the work even harder for the remaining sailors.  Finally, the Argonauts reached the sea, lowered their ship into the water, and continued their journey for home.

After a time, the Argonauts arrived safely back in Boeotia but to discover that Pelias had put Jason's entire family to death.  Believing Jason and his entire family to now be dead, Pelias figured that he was safe from the oracles prediction of his demise at the hands of a cousin.  Jason and Medea sought revenge for Pelias' treachery.  

Medea told the daughters of Pelias that she could, with her magic herbs, revive their father after he died and make him immortal.  As proof of her power, she sacrificed a goat in front of the sisters and then soaked it in a broth of herbs and plants that resurrected the goat.  Convinced of Medea's abilities and wanting their father to be immortal, the sisters killed their father. To the sisters consternation, Medea suddenly couldn't remember the recipe for the broth or couldn't find all of the necessary ingredients.  Thus, she thought, Jason was avenged for the loss of his family. 

Jason, however, was not entirely accepting of her rather unconventional methods and abandoned Medea and eventually married Creusa, the daughter of the King of Corinth.  The rejected Medea could not understand why using witchcraft would offend her husband so and tried unsuccessfully to kill his new bride by sending her a poisoned robe.  Miserable, she returned to Colchis to live out the rest of her life. 

Athena memorialized the adventures of Jason and the Argonauts by placing their ship, Argo Navis, in the sky as a giant constellation below and east of Canis Major.  From Greece, the ship appears to be sailing along the sea at the southern horizon.