A large number of heroes, all young men of divine descent, had gathered at the port of Iolcus in Thessaly to take part in Jason's expedition. The first to arrive was Orpheus who assumed the role of marking time for the rowers with his singing. He was followed by, among others, Peleus, Heracles, and the divine twins Castor and Pollux. The ship was built by Argus, from whom it took its name, but the instructions as to how it should be built came from the goddess Athena. A roll of thunder from a clear sky, a sure sign of divine approval for the venture, gave the signal for departure to the fifty- three heroes who represented the whole of Greece.

After a few days of sailing, mostly along the coast, the heroes came to Lemnos, where Queen Hypsipyle reigned over a strictly female population. A year previously, all the men of the island had been killed as punishment for their continual unfaithfulness. The Argonauts settled happily on the island, and Hypsipyle offered Jason her love and throne. But Heracles reminded them of their task and persuaded them to return to sea.

The ship sailed swiftly on to Samothrace of the Cabiri and, rounding the Chersonesus, arrived at the mouth of the Hellespont. Beyond the straits, in the Propontid Sea rose the Island of the Bears, linked to Phrygia by no more than a narrow wooded isthmus. Here, the Argonauts received a warm welcome from Cyzicus, the young King of the Dolyones, but as soon as they set sail again, a treacherous current brought them back to the other side of the isthmus. They landed in the dark and no one realized that it was the same island; nor did the Dolyones recognize the Argonauts and, fearing a trap, took up arms and gave battle. The hospitable King Cyzicus died at Jason's own hand.

After a contest of endurance at the oars, the Argonauts reached Cius, in Mysia, in a state of exhaustion. Here the hero Hylas, whom Heracles loved, was carried off by the Naiads, charmed by his beauty. After searching for him in vain, the Argonauts resumed their voyage, but Heracles stayed behind to look for his companion. This was all according to the design of Zeus, who wished the hero to interrupt his journey and go on to other labors before being accepted among the immortals on Mount Olympus.

The Argonauts next came to Bithynia, the land of the Bebryces ruled by the arrogant Amycus. Any stranger who landed on those coasts was not allowed to go back to sea until he had had a wrestling match with the king. Pollux accepted the challenge in the name of all the heroes. Amycus, defeated, was tied to a tree and killed.

In Thrace, Jason and two of his companions, Calais and Zetes, freed the blind soothsayer King Phineus from persecution by the Harpies, who at every meal snatched the food from his mouth and soiled the table with their excrement. It was Zeus who had sent the Harpies to torment Phineus because the soothsayer had dared to reveal the sacred thoughts of the lord of Olympus to mortals.

At the mouth of the Euxine Sea, the Argonauts heard the thunder of the Cyanean Rocks, also known as the Symplegades. Having no roots, these free- floating islands ceaselessly crashed together, making the passage of ships impossible. The hand of Athena gave the Argo the push it needed to pass through the strait, and from that time on, in amazement, the Cyanean Rocks stopped their deadly movement.

Sailing within sight of the southern coast of the Pontus Euxinus or Euxine Sea, the Argonauts came first to the island of Thynia, where they saw Apollo pass by on his way to the land of the Hyperboreans. Then, having rounded Cape Acherusia, where Hydmon died on the tusks of a wild boar, they came within sight of the tomb of Stenelus, the hero who had fought alongside Heracles against the Amazons. Stenelus rose from his grave as the Argonauts passed, and Orpheus consecrated his lyre in honor to him. That place was known as Lyra from that time on. They then sailed beyond the river Halis and landed at Themiscyra where their stay was brief. The danger of a clash with the Amazons loomed, and, beyond the land of the Moschynecians (who did in public what all other people do in private), the Island of Ares was already in sight.

The evil birds that Heracles had driven away from Lake Stymphalus had taken refuge on the island. The Argonauts were met by a hail of feathers, as sharp as darts, and had to defend themselves with their helmets and shields when landing. The sons of Phrixus, the young Greek who had brought the Golden Fleece to Colchis, had also been shipwrecked on the island. Setting sail again and now within sight of their goal, the Argonauts saw the eagle of Zeus high above their ship and, shortly afterward, heard the cries of Prometheus as the eagle devoured his liver. Later, the donor of fire would be freed from his torment by Heracles.

At last the Argonauts reached the city of Aea in Colchis, ruled by Aeëtes, the custodian of the celebrated fleece. Along with the king, they were greeted by his children Absyrtus, called "the brilliant," and Medea the sorceress, a favorite of Hecate. Jason, with the aid of a divine philter given to him by Medea, overcame the terrible trials to which Aeëtes subjected him. First, he yoked the fire-breathing bulls of Hephaestus and then used them to plow four large plots of land. He sowed the furrows with dragon's teeth form which sprang armed men. The hero mowed them down with his sword like a reaper at harvest time. The slaughter over, Jason swore on the gods to honor Medea as his wife and, having taken the precious fleece from the dragon that guarded it, fled with her to the ship that had already hoisted its sails.

Medea's treachery enraged Aeëtes, who sent his son Absyrtus with many ships to block the straits, but the fugitives, having reached Themiscyra, turned toward the western coast of the Pontus, sailing to the broad delta of the river Istrus. Absyrtus guessed their intentions and entered the river before Jason's ship arrived. He sailed up the river, unaware that the Argo was behind him rather than ahead. No one in those lands had ever seen a ship before, nor did they know the use of the oar: the inhabitants were Scythians, Getae, Thracians, Malvensians, and other barbarian people. They mounted the river until they came to the place where it flowed into the Chronius Sea, along whose coasts were strung the Brygian Isles, sacred to Artemis.

It was in the temple of Artemis that Medea set a trap for her brother Absyrtus, whom Jason killed by a ruse. For this reason, Zeus, when the Argo began to descend toward the Ionian Sea, did not allow it to pass beyond the sanctuary at Dodona: Jason and Medea first had to be purified by the sorceress Circe, whom they could reach at her home in the Tyrrhenian Sea by sailing along the course of the Eridanus. So, the Argo entered the river, shrouded in the mists caused by the tragic end of Phaeton, and followed it until its waters tumbled into the Rhone, which flowed rapidly into the Ausonian Sea. Nearby those places passed the road known as the Heraclean Way, as it was the route Heracles had taken on his return from the edges of the world with the cattle he had stolen from the monster Geryon.

The ship Argo set sail again and, avoiding the Sirens from whose song Ulysses had escaped , overcame the peril of Scylla and Charybdis with the help of the Nereids. At Hera's bidding the ship was steered by Thetis, visible only to her husband Peleus who remained bent over his oar.

The ship now plowed through calm waters. The Argonauts soon reached Drepane, the beautiful island of the Phaeacians, ruled by Alcinous and his wife Arete. Here, Jason and Medea celebrated their wedding and laid on a nuptial bed covered with the Golden Fleece.

Unlike the journey of Ulysses, however, the island of the Phaeacians was not the last stop on the voyage of the Argonauts. In sight of the Greek coast, a storm from Boreas drove them toward the sea of Libya, to the marshy Syrtis covered with seaweed that prevented them from sailing further. At the command of Poseidon, the monster Triton came to the aid of the Argonauts, setting them back on course for Crete.

Last Edited On: 08/13/99

Copyright © 1999 by Paul Logasa Bogen II, Bobbie Keane, and Jeff Ryan Martinez. All Rights Reserved.

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