Gods, Myths and Heroes - Part 31b

Jason and the Golden Fleece

We continue our story of Jason and the Argonauts, on a quest to find and bring back the Golden Fleece.  This was the fleece from a sacrificed ram whose wool was made of gold.  Yesterday, we saw Jason learn that the Golden Fleece was in Colchis, on the eastern end of the Black Sea, a region which is now the nation of Georgia.

The Argonauts sailed to Colchis, having more adventures along the way.  The fleece was owned by King Aeetes of Colchis.  Aeetes told Jason he could have the fleece if he could perform three seemingly impossible tasks.  However, the goddess Hera was still helping Jason.  She got the goddess Aphrodite to get her son Eros to shoot a magic love arrow into Medea, the daughter of Aeetes.  Medea fell in love with Jason.

The first task was to plow a field with two fire-breathing oxen.  Medea was not just a girl in love, she was a powerful sorceress.  She gave Jason a magic ointment that protected him from the oxen's flames (above).

The second task was to sow the field with the teeth of a dragon.  The problem was that the teeth sprouted into a magic army of warriors called spartoi (above).  However, Medea had warned Jason of this and told him how to defeat the spartoi.  Jason threw a rock into the middle of the warriors, who then started attacking each other until none were left.

(Above: Jason and the Spartoi, British school, early 20th century)

The third task was to overcome a sleepless dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece.  Medea gave the dragon (which looks like a snake here) a potion, and it fell asleep.  Jason grabbed the fleece and sailed away with Medea and the Argonauts.

(Above: bas relief of Jason and Medea stealing the fleece by Christian Daniel Rauch, 1818)

Jason and the Golden Fleece has been a favorite subject for artists.  Above is Jason and the Golden Fleece by Pietro Francavilla, c. 1589.

This is Jason and the Golden Fleece by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, 1803.

On the trip back, the Argonauts had more adventures.  One was an encounter with a bronze man, Talos, who threw huge stones at the ship.  Medea cast a spell on him.  Talos had one big bronze vein.  Medea opened up the vein, making him bleed to death.

The Argo returned to Greece, and Jason and Medea got married.  But the myth of Jason is remarkable because it does not have the standard "and they lived happily ever after" ending.

(Above: Death of Talos, 430-420 BC)

After ten years, Jason's eye wandered, and he got engaged to be married to Creusa, the daughter of the King of Corinth.  Our last three photos are of carvings on the "Medea sarcophagus," c. 150 AD, in the Altes Museum in Berlin, that tell what happened next.

Above, we see Jason and Medea's children carrying Medea's wedding gifts for Creusa and Jason, who are holding hands at right.  The gifts were a dress and a diadem.

Next, we see Creusa, having put on the dress, being burned to death by the poisoned dress.  Creusa's father, at left, tries to help her, and he gets burned to death, too.

At right, Medea pulls a sword out of a scabbard.  Out of hatred for Jason, she then kills her own children, because they are also Jason's children.

Finally, Medea flies away in a chariot pulled by dragons, sent by her grandfather, the sun god Helios.  Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, especially if that woman is a sorceress.