From Greek and Roman Mythology & Heroic Legend, by Professor H. Steuding, Translated from the German and Edited by Lionel D. Barnett. The Temple Primers, London: J. M. Dent; 1901; pp. 92-95.
[92]Greek and Roman Mythology & Heroic Legend
GREEK MYTHOLOGY
Heroic Poetry
VIII. The Argonauts. § 161. The Saga of the Argonauts, probably under the influence of the Ionic poets, combines so closely together the legends of the Thessalian city Iolkos, of the Boiotian Orchomenos — both of which were inhabited by the ancient stem of the Minyai — and of Corinth, which from earliest times had had connections by sea with the far East, that the proper mythical nucleus in it can no longer be determined with certainty.
Iolkos is the home of Iason, the Argonauts’ captain. He is son of Aison, but is under the wardship of his uncle Pelias, and like Achilleus, Asklepios and Herakles is trained by the Centaur Cheiron on the neighbouring Pelion and instructed in surgery. During his absence Pelias had received an oracle which, as given by Pindar (P. v. 75 f.), bade him “take exceeding heed of the man with one shoe whenso from the mountain abode he come to the sunny land of famed Iolkos, whether stranger or native.” As Iason had lost a shoe in crossing the river Anauros on his return homewards, Pelias feared lest he should be ousted by him from his throne, and therefore despatched him to fetch the golden fleece from 93 Aia, the land of Aietes, in the hope that the youth might perish in the attempt. Iason mustered a great band of heroes, built the first large ship, the Argo (‘Swift’), surmounted under Hera’s protection all the perils that threatened him, and after his return ruled in Iolkos with Medeia the daughter of Aietes as his wife.
§ 162. Medeia persuaded the daughters of Pelias to slay their father, promising to restore him to life and youth, and then broke her word. According to the later form of the legend, which combines together diverse traits, she then fled with Iason from Pelias’ son Akastos to Corinth, while splendid funeral games were held in honour of the murdered man.
Only one daughter of Pelias, Alkestis, had not shared in the killing of her father. She afterwards died a voluntary death for her husband Admetos the King of Pherai, when the Moirai had decreed that he might be saved by the self-sacrifice of another, but she was won back to life by Herakles wrestling with Death.
§ 163. It was however apparently in Orchomenos that the myth of the Golden Fleece chiefly developed. King Athamas — who however is closely connected also with the Athamantian Plain at Halos in the Thessalian Phthiotis — had by Nephele (‘Cloud’) two children, Phrixos and Helle. At the instigation of his second wife Ino he destined Phrixos to be sacrificed to Zeus Laphystios, to heal the barrenness of the land; but Nephele carried off her children through the air upon a ram given by Hermes, which had a fleece of gold. In the flight Helle fell into the arm of the sea named after her Hellespontos, while Phrixos safely reached Aia, the bright land of the rising and setting sun, which was located sometimes in the East, sometimes in the West. Here he sacrificed the ram in his own stead to Zeus Laphystios. He hung up its golden fleece in the grove of Ares, where it was guarded by a dragon.
The offering and rescue of Phrixos may have arisen from human sacrifice practised in the worship of Zeus Laphystios 94 which was later replaced by that of a ram; and the same circumstance may be the basis of the Iphigeneia legend. The story relating to Helle was perhaps only tacked on to explain the name of the Hellespont.
§ 164. To Corinth lastly belongs the legend of Medeia and the further developments of the voyage of the Argonauts, of which the goal was in Corinth specified as Kolchis, the most easterly land known to Corinthian seamen. Aietes, son of Helios and Perse, and supposed original of the name of Aia, was also accounted a prince of Corinth, where upon the citadel Ephyre or Akrokorinthos there was a chief seat of the worship of Helios; but he was said to have afterwards emigrated to Kolchis. When Iason demanded of him the return of the Golden Fleece, he declared himself willing if Iason would first bend to the yoke two fire-breathing bulls with brazen feet and with them plough the field of Ares. Medeia, who like Ariadne was inspired with love for the stranger hero, protected him by a magic unguent from the effects of the fire, and then lent him further aid in overcoming the dragon that watched the fleece.
§ 165. She now embarked with the Argonauts, but carried off her young brother Apsyrtos with her; when she was followed by her father Aietes she slew the boy and cast his limbs one by one in the sea, that her father might be delayed in searching for them. After an adventurous journey, which later story with increasing geographical knowledge extended further and further towards the North and West, they reached Corinth or returned to Iolkos, where they became supreme. But when afterwards Iason cast off Medeia in order to wed the daughter of King Kreon, Medeia slew the latter together with his daughter by means of a poisonous magic robe, and after killing her own two children fled upon a dragon-car to Athens, where she wedded Aigeus. After her unsuccessful attempt on the life of Theseus she returned to her home in Asia.
Medeia is the mythical prototype of all helpful fairies and wicked sorceresses; Iason (‘Healer’) may be a local hero with healing powers who was native to Iolkos.
95§ 166. To this nucleus of the Argonaut legend was later joined a whole series of local stories and shipmen’s tales, and more heroes were made sharers in the voyage. At Chalkedon on the Bosporos Polydeukes was said to have overcome in boxing the giant Amykos (‘mangler’), who prevented seafarers from approaching a certain spring. On the other side of the Bosporos the Argonauts met the blind king Phineus, who was tortured by the Harpies, which as soon as he set himself to eat came upon him and carried off or defiled his food; they were now pursued by Zetes and Kalais, the sons of Boreas, and driven away for ever (compare this with the birds of Stymphalos, § 139). In return Phineus teaches his saviours how to avoid the further perils of their voyage; in particular they pass safely through the Symplegades (‘colliding rocks,’ a development of the Homeric Planktai), which hitherto had crushed everything that came between them, but henceforth stood fixed at the entrance of the Bosporos. In the adventure at Kolchis the sowing of the dragon’s teeth is a trait transferred to Iason from Kadmos (§ 123).
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Heroic Poetry :
IX. The Theban Legend-Cycle.