Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica

Of all the accounts about Jason and the Argonauts, the most authoritative version came from Apollonius of Rhodes. His work was titled the Argonautica, which was an epic poem written during the mid-3rd century BC. People usually referred to this epic by other English titles such as the Argonauts or the Quest of the Golden Fleece.

As far as style and content goes, the Argonautica is a fairly good yarn about a fabulous voyage, but it is clearly below the standard of such masterpieces as Homer's Odyssey, the adventure of Odysseus after the Trojan War. That's because the Odyssey showed a great deal of influence upon Apollonius' smaller epic.

• Origin of the Quest

• Voyage To Colchis

• Colchis

• Return to Iolcus

• Death of King Pelias

Origin of the Quest

Before we begin the greatest quest in Greek myth, we need to see how the quest began and what situations caused the quest to be undertaken.

• Golden Fleece

• Pelias & Jason

Golden Fleece

When Athamas (Ἀθάμας), king of Orchomenus (Boeotia), was about to sacrifice his son Phrixus (Φρίξος) by Nephele (Νεφέλη) at his second wife's (Ino, Ἰνώ) instigation, a flying Golden Fleece appeared. On the ram's back, Phrixus and his sister Helle (Ἕλλη) escaped as the ram flew across the sea. Helle, however, fell and drowned at Hellespont, which was named after her. (See King Athamas for more details about his wives and children.)

(Diodorus Siculus gives us a less interesting account about the escape of Phrixus and Helle. They had escaped by ship. Helle was suffering from seasickness, so when she leaned over one side of the ship, she fell overboard and drowned.)

Phrixus arrived safely in Aea, a city in Colchis. Colchis was ruled by Aeëtes (Aeetes, Αἰήτης). Aeëtes was the son of the sun god Helius and the brother of the great sorceress Circe. Aeëtes welcomed Phrixus and had one of his daughters, Chalciope or Iophossa, married to the young stranger. Phrixus had several sons whom the Argonauts would later meet on the quest, and their names were Argus, Cytissorus, Melas, and Phrontis.

Phrixus gave the ram to Aeëtes in return for his father-in-law's hospitality.

After some time, Aeëtes heard that his reign would not last if a stranger came to claim the Golden Fleece. A prophecy mentioned that he would be betrayed by a member of his own family. Aeëtes thought it was either his new son-in-law or his grandsons by Phrixus. Aeëtes had Phrixus murdered and his grandsons banished from Colchis.

According to the historian Diodorus Siculus, the prophecy said that Aeëtes would die on the day when a foreigner steals the Golden Fleece. Diodorus explained this was the reason for Aeëtes' cruelty to foreigners, and why all foreigners captured on their soil were sacrificed to prevent his fate from coming to pass.

The Golden Fleece was placed upon and nailed to the branch of a tree in a grove. The grove was guarded by a dragon that never slept, sent by the war-god Ares.

Pelias & Jason

In Iolcus, Pelias (Πελιάς), son of Poseidon and Tyro, angered the goddess Hera by murdering his stepmother, Sidero, at the goddess' altar. To further anger Hera, when Pelias became king of Iolcus, he banned people from worshipping her.

Hera planned to avenge the defilement of her altar through Pelias' nephew Jason (Ίάσων), son of Aeson (Αἴσων).

Aeson was the son of Cretheus and Tyro, and the brother of Amythaon and Pheres. Aeson was therefore Pelias' half-brother.

When his father Cretheus died, Aeson should have become the next king, but Pelias seized the throne and imprisoned Aeson. Pelias drove Aeson's two brothers away. Pelias even drove away his twin brother Neleus from Iolcus because he refused to share the kingdom with anyone. (See King Pelias in the Aeolids for more description about these events.)

Aeson's wife had just given birth to a son (Jason), but died in grief over her husband Aeson's imprisonment. Pelias thought the infant (Jason) had died with the mother, so Pelias thought his throne was secured. However, the infant was spirited away, and was brought up by the wise Centaur named Cheiron.

Pelias had a son named Acastus and several daughters, including Alcestis, who became wife of Admetus, the son of Pheres.

---

Pelias learned from Delphi that a man (Aeolid) with one sandal would cause his death.

Years later, a young man with one sandal did arrive in Iolcus. Jason claimed he had more right to the throne than his uncle Pelias, since he was the son of Aeson and grandson of Cretheus. Jason had not died at childbirth as it was claimed; rather, he was spirited away from Iolcus and was brought up by the wise and immortal Centaur, Cheiron.

Pelias agreed in stepping down from the throne if Jason would fetch the Golden Fleece from Colchis. As Pelias had hoped, Jason agreed. Pelias thought that Jason would not survive the voyage.

Voyage To Colchis

• Building of Argo & the Gathering of the Heroes

• Early Encounters

• In the Black Sea

Building of Argo & the Gathering of the Heroes

The idea of a great adventure, especially a quest to an unknown land, appealed to every hero in Greece. Many of them, noble and brave, wanted to participate in the greatest adventure of them all. Among them were the musician Orpheus, Meleager, Peleus and Telamon, the Dioscuri (Castor and Polydeuces), and many others, including the greatest hero of them all, Heracles. Theseus and Atalanta were missing in the roll, as told by the writer Apollonius.

Even Acastus, Pelias' son, joined the Argonauts in their quest. (See Crew of the Argo for full listing of heroes who sailed on the Argo).

Argus built the ship which was to be manned by fifty oars. The goddess Athena fitted a talking beam from Dodona onto the prow of the ship. They named the ship after its builder, Argo, and the heroes who sailed the Argo were known as the Argonauts.

Before they left, most of the heroes gathered and wanted Heracles to lead them as their captain. But Heracles declined the honour in favour of Jason. Tiphys, son of Hagnias, piloted the ship. According to Diodorus Siculus, Heracles was indeed the leader and hero of the quest, not Jason (see Diodorus' version).

According to Valerius Flaccus, Pelias had forced Aeson to drink poison, after Jason and the Argonauts left to go on the quest. Aeson cursed Pelias before he died that his cousin would be killed by his own daughters (see Death of Pelias). Other writers say that Aeson was murdered later, or that he survived until his son's return.

Early Encounters

The Argonauts landed on the island of Lemnos. The women in Lemnos had earlier offended the goddess Aphrodite and had refused to honour her. She caused the women to give off an unpleasant odour so that their husbands slept with foreign (Thracian) women instead of them. The Lemnian wives had jealously murdered their husbands and all other male members on the island, to avoid retribution.

At first the Lemnian women were fearful of the Argonauts' arrival, until they found out the heroes were not there to punish them. The Lemnian women led by by their queen, Hypsipyle, not only welcomed them but slept with the heroes in order to repopulate the island. The Argonauts stayed on Lemnos for several days and would have stayed longer, had Heracles not grown restless. Hypsipyle bore Jason two sons after he left.

One of the Argonauts would also leave a son behind. This Argonaut was named Euphemus, though his son was unnamed. His descendants would one day settle on the island of Thera. You will find more details about Euphemus and the island of Thera later when you read Stranded in Libya and the Last Adventure.

Sailing past the Hellespont, they landed on an island near Bear Mountain. There, Cyzicus king of the Doliones greeted them. Cyzicus told them about the land beyond Bear Mountain, but forgot to mention about the tribe of six-armed, earth-born monsters living on the other side of the mountain. These giants were called Gegenees.

When most of the crew went into forest in search for supplies, the Gegenees attacked the ship, seeing that only a few men guarded the ship. But Heracles was among those who guarded the Argo. Heracles killed many of the giants and held them at bay until Jason returned with the other Argonauts. After killing the rest of the Gegenees, they set sail again.

Due to poor visibility during the night, the Argonauts headed in the wrong direction. When the Argonauts landed in the harbour, Cyzicus thought they were raiders and attacked the Argonauts and was killed. When they realised their mistake, they gave a huge funeral to Cyzicus. Cleite, Cyzicus' wife, hanged herself in her grief.

When Heracles broke his oar as they sailed along Mysian coast, Heracles went into the forest to cut a new oar. Heracles' squire and lover Hylas went to fetch some water in a spring. A water nymph who fell in love with Hylas pulled the young squire into the water.

Heracles went in search of Hylas but could not find him. The Lapith chieftain Polyphemus assisted Heracles in his search for Hylas. The twins, Zetes and Calais, persuaded Jason to leave Heracles behind. But many of the heroes, like Telamon, were unwilling to leave without Heracles. Fighting would have erupted had not a minor sea god named Glaucus appeared to the Argonauts. Glaucus told the angry Argonauts that Heracles had another destiny, where he was meant to fulfil his other labours that would make Heracles immortal. Glaucus reassured the Argonauts that they could succeed without Heracles or Polyphemus.

Heracles had no choice but to return to Greece and finish the rest of the Twelve Labours. Heracles would later kill Zetes and Calais in revenge at the funeral game of Pelias.

(According to The Marriage of Ceyx, a fragmented poem ascribed to Hesiod, the Argonauts abandoned Heracles near Aphetae in Magnesia, not in Mysia.)

The Argonauts soon encountered the Bebryces, whose king Amycus challenged one of them in boxing match, a fight to the death. Polydeuces, one of the Dioscuri, was the best boxer among the Argonauts. The contest seemed evenly matched until Polydeuces killed Amycus through a blow to the king's ear. The Bebryces set about to attack Polydeuces, but they were routed by the Argonauts.

In the Black Sea

As the Argonauts sailed past the Bosporus and landed in Thrace, the Argonauts encountered a blind seer named Phineus, son of Agenor.

According to Apollonius, Phineus had disclosed too many secrets of Zeus to men, so Zeus took away his sight and made him older than he really was. Zeus further punished the blind seer by sending birds, known as the Harpies ("Hounds of Zeus"), to steal the seer's food.

But according to the Great Eoiae, Phineus lost his sight because he told Phrixus the way to Colchis; Poseidon, who was possibly his father, was the one who blinded him as punishment. And Apollodorus gave yet other different reasons why Phineus became blind. Two of them were already mentioned; the third reason was that Phineus or his second wife blinded his two sons from his first marriage. Phineus was first married to Cleopatra, daughter of Boreas, and thus sister of Zetes and Calaïs. Phineus and Cleopatra had two sons, Phexippos and Pandion, and when they reached adult age he married again, this time to Idaea, daughter of the Scythian leader Dardanus. Idaea falsely told Phineus that her stepsons had tried to seduce or rape her. So either Phineus, in a fit of rage, blinded his sons, or according to Sophocles in Antigone, Idaea did the deed, using her shuttle or weaving needle like a dagger. It was said in this version that Boreas sailed with the Argonauts and that it was Boreas himself who avenged his grandsons' unjust punishment by taking away Phineus' son.

Phineus appealed to the Argonauts to help him. Zetes and Calaïs (Calais), who could fly, were sons of Boreas, god of the north wind. They killed some of the Harpies and drove the rest of them away. Zetes and Calais would have killed them all had Zeus not sent Iris to give assurances to the heroes that the birds would no longer bother Phineus. Phineus gave useful advice to Jason about what lay ahead of them.

The Argonauts then encountered the Clashing Rocks, rocks that float on water and were pulled together at regular intervals after they separated. To get past the rocks without getting crushed, they followed the seer's advice by releasing a dove and seeing if it could fly past the rocks without getting crushed in between the two. The dove survived, and the Argonauts set about to sail through the Clashing Rocks as they parted. However, the ship would have been crushed had Athena not intervened by holding one rock in one hand and pushing the Argo with her other hand. The Argo safely sailed into the Black Sea.

The seer Idmon was killed by a wild boar. Idmon was the first Argonaut to die. Another Argonaut named Tiphys, Argo's pilot, drowned when he fell asleep at the helm. They chose a new pilot from Samos named Ancaeüs (Ancaeus), son of Poseidon and Astypalaea. This Ancaeüs should not be confused with the other Argonaut of the same name, the young Arcadian son of Lycurgus and Cleophyle or Eurynome, who would be one of the heroes who would be killed in the Calydonian Boar Hunt. Although they left behind Heracles and another Argonaut back in Mysia, and the last two Argonauts were killed here, they recruited three Thessalian sons of Deimachus from the port of Sinope: Deileon, Autolycus and Phlogius.

The Argonauts avoided the Amazons at Themiscyra because Zeus sent a favourable north-west wind so the Argo could continue on in their journey. Had they stayed on the Thermodon River, the Amazons would have surely attacked the Argonauts.

But they were attacked by Stymphalian Birds that infested the deserted island - Ares' Isle, sacred to the war god. During one of his labours, Heracles drove these birds from the swamp near Stymphalus, in Arcadia. These birds had feathers made of pointed bronze which could cause serious injury or kill anyone if the feathers fell on them. Oileus was wounded by one of these feathers when it landed on his shoulder. Amphidamas, son of King Aleus of Arcadia, recalled how Heracles drove away these birds from Stymphalus Lake. The birds were driven away by a loud din as the Argonauts shouted and beat their swords against their shields.

The Argonauts then came across four sons of Phrixus who were shipwrecked on an island. They were attempting sail to Orchomenus to reclaim the throne, rightfully belonging to them. The Argonauts asked Argus and his brothers to join them; they agreed and gave them some advice about their grandfather, Aeëtes (Aeetes) and his kingdom.

Colchis

• Medea

• Test of Strength

Medea

Before the Argonauts arrived in Aea, capital of Colchis, the goddess Hera knew they would need the help of Medea (Μήδεια), daughter of Aeëtes (Aeetes, Αἰήτης) and Eidyia, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. Like her aunt Circe, Medea was a powerful sorceress and high priestess of Hecate, goddess of magic and witchcraft. Hera knew that the Argonauts would fail in their quest without Medea's magic. She also knew that Medea had to return to Iolcus with Jason to destroy Jason's uncle, Pelias.

To achieve this, Hera wanted Medea to fall madly in love with Jason so that she would even betray her father. Hera asked Aphrodite to let her son Eros to make Medea instantly fall in love with Jason, with one of his arrows. Aphrodite agreed and instructed Eros, making Medea fall under Jason's charms.

When Jason arrived with his men in Aea, Hera made sure that the first person to meet Jason would be Medea, who instantly fell in love with the hero when Eros pierced her with his arrow.

As a guest of Aeëtes, Jason was entertained until he demanded the Golden Fleece from his host. Realising that he couldn't kill his guest, Aeëtes agreed to give the ram to Jason if he could perform several tasks. Jason himself must face fire-breathing bulls, then make the bulls plough the field before planting dragon's teeth in the earth. Jason must then defeat armed men which would spring out of the earth he had just sowed. Without Heracles, these tasks seemed impossible for an ordinary hero. Jason reluctantly agreed.

Medea, learning what her father had intended Jason to do; could not help but feel longing and concern for the young hero. She decided to betray her father by helping Jason perform the tasks. She went to meet Jason at his ship, giving the hero ointment that would protect him from the flame of the fire-breathing bulls. She also told Jason how to face the dragon-teeth men.

Test of Strength

The next day, protected from fire for a single day, Jason successfully had the pair of fire-breathing bulls tied and collared to a yoke. Jason set about ploughing the field and planting dragon teeth in the soil. When dozens of armed men sprang out of the earth, like the first Theban king Cadmus, Jason threw rocks at the dragon-teeth men so they would face and kill one another instead of him. Jason dispatched the few surviving dragon men with his sword.

Aeëtes was enraged when Jason succeeded in all of the difficult tasks, and he knew that someone in his family had betrayed him. He thought it was his grandsons by his other daughter and Phrixus. Aeëtes secretly urged his people to attack the Argonauts.

Learning that her father would not keep his promise of giving the ram to the Argonauts, Medea went to the Argo and explained what her father was plotting. She told Jason that he must secretly take the ram and escape. She asked Jason to take her with him. Jason promised her that he would marry her when he returned to Greece.

Together with Orpheus who played the lyre, Medea administered sleeping herbs to the dragon. As the dragon slept, Jason took the Golden Fleece from the tree. According to Pindar's ode, Jason killed the dragon, while the historian Diodorus Siculus says that Medea used poison to kill the dragon.

Jason then escaped with Medea to the ship with the Fleece, and they sailed down the river towards the open sea.

Return to Iolcus

• Escape From Colchis

• Stranded in Libya

• Last Adventure

Escape From Colchis

There are several versions of what happened next. Meleager killed Aeëtes (Aeetes) in the fighting on the beach, according to Diodorus Siculus. The other two versions involved Apsyrtus, Medea's brother. In one, Apsyrtus was one of the pursuers who managed to block the Argonauts' escape somewhere along the Danube River. Apsyrtus agreed to meet with Jason, only to be treacherously murdered by either Jason or his own sister.

In the other version, Apsyrtus was only a child and was in the Argo with his sister. As Aeëtes and the pursuing Colchians grew closer to the Argo, Medea murdered her brother. In both versions, Medea cut up her brother's body and threw the pieces in the river. Aeëtes had no choice but to stop the pursuit to gather Apsyrtus' body for burial.

Valerius Flaccus ended his version with the marriage of Jason and Medea and with the pursuit and death of Apsyrtus, largely because his epic was unfinished. Hyginus, on the other hand, went from the murder of Apsyrtus, straight to the murder of Pelias in Iolcus.

---

Somehow they reached the Adriatic Sea. The Argo was driven off-course by a storm, sent by Zeus, because of the murder of Apsyrtus. The ship informed Jason that the only way to appease Zeus was to be purified by Circe. They arrived at the island of Aeaea, home of the sorceress Circe (Κίρκη), sister of Aeëtes; therefore Circe was Medea's aunt. There they were purified for the murder of Apsyrtus. However, when Circe learned that Medea had betrayed her father, she asked them to leave.

They then came across the home of Sirens, whose song would lure sailors to their destruction. Orpheus (Ὀρφεύς), whose music protected them from the Sirens' song, saved them. Only Butes (Β&ούτης) could not resist the Sirens' songs. Butes threw himself into the sea and swam towards the rocks where the Sirens sang. Butes would have died had Aphrodite not taken pity on the hero and spirited him away. Aphrodite had a son by Butes named Eryx.

From there, the sea-goddess Thetis (Θέτις) helped the Argonauts safely pass through Scylla (Σκύλλη) and Charybdis (Χάρυβδις). Scylla was former a maiden that Circe had transformed into a six-headed monster. It resided on one side of the Strait of Messina. On the other side was Charybdis, a destructive whirlpool.

The Argonauts then landed on the island of Drepane, land of the Phaeacians, ruled by Alcinoüs (Alcinous) and his wife Arete. Since the Colchians were still pursuing the Argonauts, the fugitives appealed to the Phaeacians. Arete agreed to help them if Medea was lawfully married to Jason. At night, the Argonauts quickly married Medea to Jason. In the morning, Alcinoüs told the Colchians that he could separate the new wife from her husband, thereby ending the Colchian pursuit of the Argonauts.

Apollodorus did record these events, including what happened to the Argonauts in Circe's island, then on the Phaeacian island of Alcinous, and then on Crete, but nothing was mentioned of the next incident when the Argo was stranded in Libya.

Stranded in Libya

After leaving Drepane, the Argo was driven by strong winds until they were stranded in the middle of the Libyan Desert. They were forced to portage the ship to Lake Tritonis.

There they came across the nymphs from the garden of Hesperides, who helped them find water. The water at Lake Tritonis was unsuitable for drinking because it was too salty. The Hesperides told them there had been a man who had killed the dragon that guarded golden apples, and stole them. They told them also that this same man had kicked a rock where a spring of water gushed from the ground. Not only did the Argonauts go to find the water, but also they also went looking for the man whom they believed to be none other than Heracles. They found out that Heracles was too far away to help them by then.

One of the Argonauts named Canthus who went to search for Heracles was killed by a Libyan shepherd for trying to steal his sheep. The Argonauts killed the shepherd and took his herd back to the ship. Another seer named Mopsus died from a poisoned snakebite.

The Argonauts had no idea of how to move their ship from the lake to the sea. They decided to offer a sacred bronze tripod to whatever god there was of Libya. A god disguised as a mortal offered them a clod of earth. The swiftest runner of the Argonauts named Euphemus gratefully accepted it and asked the god how to reach the sea. The god gave them instructions and left.

Leaving the tripod behind, they set about following the instructions. When the Argonauts looked behind them they saw that the god had taken the tripod and disappeared into the lake. Realising that they witnessed a god, who happened to be Triton, they sacrificed to him. He reappeared and pushed their ship safely back to the sea.

No other authors wrote anything about the Argonauts' adventure in Libya. Apollodorus, Valerius Flaccus and Hyginus make no mention of Libya, so it would seem that this is purely Apollonius' invention.

Last Adventure

The Argonauts sailed until they reached Crete. They tried to land on the island, but a bronze giant called Talus blocked them by hurling large boulder at their ship. Talus was the last man of the ancient bronze race. Medea cast a powerful spell which caused the giant to drop a boulder on his only weakness, a vein at the back of his ankle. His blood or ichor gushed out from his vein until Talus died.

When they left Crete, they went to another island called Anaphe, or Revelation. When they left this island in the morning, Euphemus recalled a dream or vision where he was holding the clod of earth to his breast, which the god Triton had given to him in Libya (see Stranded in Libya). The clod of earth suckled milk from his breast, which caused the clod of earth to transform into a woman. Euphemus made love to this woman. When Euphemus felt remorse, the nymph comforted him, telling him that she was the daughter of Triton and Libya. She was only known as Nurse of his children. She instructed him what to do with clod of earth. He was to give her a new home near Anaphe. She would then be become the mother of his children, where his descendants would live on this island.

When Euphemus told Jason about his vision, the captain of Argo interpreted the dream. Jason replied that his friend must throw the clod of earth into the sea, where a new island would form.

So once the Argo was out to sea, away from the island of Anaphe, Euphemus threw the clod of earth into the sea. It sank to the bottom, on the seabed. Then an island immediately grew from the depths of the sea. It was called Calliste, were Euphemus' descendants would live.

Apollonius then wrote that the Tyrrhenians would drive Euphemus' descendants out of the island of Lemnos. They would find a new home in Sparta, but would later migrate to the island of Calliste. Their leader was Theras, son of Autesion. Theras would rename the island after his own name, so the island was called Thera.

Apollodorus give a different account of how they reached the island of Anaphe. Another violent storm at sea was threatening to destroy the ship Argo. Apollo, on his own initiative, shot his arrow from the top of Melantian Rocks. The silver arrow flashed like lightning. From this unexpected light, they sighted the island, at which the Argonauts found safe harbor until the storm passed. The Argonauts named the island Anaphe. In Apollo's honor, they erected an altar to the archer-god, calling him Radiant Apollo, and sacrificed some animals to him. Medea had twelve handmaidens to serve her, a gift from Arete. These twelve maidens started a new custom where women can tell jokes during the sacrifices; the maidens told jokes at the expenses of the heroes.

Apollonius ended the Argonautica at this point, once the Argonauts reached the island of Aegina, and then had a quick and uneventful journey to Iolcus. Here, we have to rely on other classical sources to continue.

To read about what happened to Jason and Medea when they reached Pelias' palace in Iolcus, it would be best to read the last article, which is titled the Death of King Pelias.

Related Articles

• Pelias

• Athamas