Colchis

Colchis was a region on the east coast of the Black Sea. Aea was the capital of Colchis, probably situated near the mouth of the Phasis River.

Aeëtes was the ruler of Colchis. Aeëtes was the son of Helius and Perseïs (Perse), and the brother of Circe and Pasiphaë. Aeëtes seemed to be a practitioner of sorcery, like his sister Circe. He had a son named Apsyrtus and two daughters: Chalciope, who married Phrixus, son of Athamas, and Medea, the sorceress and high priestess of Hecate. See the family tree of Helios.

Medea betrayed him, when she aided Jason in his quest, even to the point where she murdered her brother. Medea fled from Colchis with Jason, whom she later married.

According to the historian Diodorus Siculus, Helius' children and grandchildren were arranged differently than what is commonly reported by other authors. With Diodorus, Helius was alternatively the father of two sons, Aeëtes and Perses. Perses was the king of Tauric Chersonese, and the father of Hecatê. Instead of Hecate being a goddess, she was a sorceress and priestess of Artemis, the goddess of magic. Hecatê married her uncle, Aeëtes, and became the mother of Circê, Medea and Aegialeus. See the alternative family tree of Helius.

Diodorus explained Aeëtes' cruelty to foreigners, how he had them sacrificed, because the man who stole the Golden Fleece would cause his death. When Jason stole the Fleece with the aid of Medea, Aeëtes pursued them to the beach. During the fighting, the young hero Meleager slew Aeëtes.

However, according to Apolldorus, after the Argonauts escaped, Aeëtes' brother Perses, king of the Taurians, deposed him. When Medea returned home, a couple of decades later, she killed her uncle Perses and restored her father to the throne.