Argaunatica Books 1-3

The epic Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes recounts the legendary quest of Jason and the Argonauts aboard the ship Argo to fetch the Golden Fleece from Colchis at the behest of King Pelias.

Book I: Gathering of the Argonauts and Voyage to Mysia

  1. The Origin of the Quest and Catalogue of Heroes

    • Pelias's Fear and Jason's Ordeal: King Pelias of Iolcos receives an oracle prophesying that a man wearing a single sandal will bring about his doom. When Jason arrives with one foot bare after losing a sandal in the muddy torrents of the River Anauros, Pelias sends him on a perilous expedition to retrieve the Golden Fleece, expecting he will never return.

    • The Mustering of the Crew: Foremost heroes from across the Greek world answer Jason's call, including the divine singer Orpheus, Herakles and his young squire Hylas, Peleus, Telamon, the winged sons of Boreas (Zetes and Calais), the Dioscuri (Castor and Polydeuces), Tiphys the steersman, and Argos, who constructs the Argo under Athena's guidance.

    • Leadership and Departure: When the crew unanimously offers command to Herakles, he declines and insists that Jason lead the expedition he organized. Following sacrifices to Apollo Embasius, an argument between the seer Idmon and the brash Idas is defused by Orpheus's cosmogonic song. The Argo sets sail from Pagasae while the centaur Chiron holds up the infant Achilles from the shore to bid farewell.

  2. Early Wandering and Episodes

    • The Women of Lemnos: The Argonauts put in at Lemnos, where the resident women, led by Queen Hypsipyle, had previously murdered all the island's men after being cursed by Aphrodite for neglecting her rites. Advised by the elderly nurse Polyxo, the women welcome the heroes to repopulate their community. Jason stays with Hypsipyle until Herakles sternly admonishes the Argonauts for lingering in luxury, prompting their immediate departure.

    • Doliones and the Tragedy of Cyzicus: Passing through the Hellespont, the Argo moors at Bear Mountain in the Propontis. King Cyzicus and the Doliones welcome them hospitably. While Herakles guards the vessel and slaughters the hostile six-armed Earthborn giants, the rest survey the territory. After embarking, contrary night winds blow the Argo back to the coast; unable to recognize each other in the darkness, the Doliones mistake the Greeks for Pelasgian raiders, and Jason inadvertently slays King Cyzicus in the melee. Cyzicus's bride Cleite commits suicide in grief. Stranded by storms for twelve days, the heroes perform funeral games, mourn the dead, and appease Rhea on Mount Dindymon following bird omens interpreted by Mopsos.

    • The Loss of Herakles and Hylas: Continuing into Mysia, Herakles breaks his oar during an intense rowing trial and heads ashore at Cios to fell a fir tree. While gathering water at a nearby spring, his squire Hylas is abducted by an enamored water nymph. When Polyphemus hears Hylas's cry, he and Herakles frantically comb the wilderness. At daybreak, the Argo sails without them. A bitter dispute over abandoning Herakles is quieted when the sea divinity Glaucus emerges to declare that Herakles is fated to finish his twelve labors in Argos and Polyphemus is destined to found a city among the Mysians.

Book II: Navigating the Clashing Rocks and the Pontic Shore

  1. Encounters in the Propontis and Bithynia

    • Polydeuces and King Amycus: The Argonauts reach Bebrycia, where the brutish King Amycus forces visiting strangers to engage him in lethal boxing matches. Polydeuces accepts the challenge, utilizing superior evasive technique and agility to overcome Amycus's raw strength, ultimately killing the tyrant with a crushing blow to the head. A pitched battle follows against the enraged Bebrycians, in which the Argonauts emerge victorious and plunder their herds.

    • Phineus and the Harpies: Landing in Thynia, the crew discovers the blind prophet Phineus, who is subjected to endless starvation and misery because Zeus sent the winged Harpies to snatch and foul his food for revealing divine secrets. The winged Boreads, Zetes and Calais, pursue the Harpies to the Floating Islands until Iris intervenes, swearing by the River Styx that the monsters will never torment Phineus again.

    • Prophecies and Instructions: In gratitude, Phineus provides critical directions for their onward voyage. He instructs them to test the passage of the Symplegades (the Clashing Rocks) using a dove: if the dove passes through safely, they must row with all their might; if it perishes, they must turn back. He outlines the geography of the southern Euxine shore and foretells that their ultimate victory will depend on Aphrodite.

  2. The Passage to Colchis

    • The Symplegades: Approaching the treacherous colliding rocks, Euphemus releases the dove, which darts through with only its tail feathers clipped. The Argonauts pull forward under Tiphys's steering, and with a supernatural push from Athena, the Argo clears the narrows just as the rocks clash, losing only the decorative tip of its stern. In accordance with destiny, the rocks lock permanently into place.

    • Casualties Among the Mariandyni: Following an epiphany of Apollo on the island of Thynias, the crew is received warmly by King Lycus of the Mariandyni, an enemy of the slain Amycus. During their stay, Idmon the seer is killed by a monstrous wild boar in the reed beds, and Tiphys dies of a sudden illness. Ancaeus is appointed as the new helmsman.

    • The Birds of Ares and the Sons of Phrixos: Cruising past the Chalybes (ironworkers), Tibareni, and Mossynoeci, the Argonauts approach the deserted Island of Ares. Attacked by hostile birds that shoot bronze feathers, the heroes raise a protective roof of overlapping shields and strike their armor to terrify the flock away. On the island, they rescue the shipwrecked sons of Phrixos (Argus, Cytissorus, Phrontis, and Melas). Jason reveals their mutual kinship, while Argus warns him of King Aeetes' ferocious nature and the sleepless serpent guarding the Golden Fleece.

    • Arrival at the Phasis: Sighting the Caucasus peaks and hearing the cries of Prometheus as the eagle torments him, the Argo enters the mouth of the River Phasis in Colchis and drops anchor in a sheltered, marshy backwater.

Book III: The Ordeal of Jason and the Sorcery of Medea

  1. The Divine Plot and the Royal Audience

    • The Alliance of Goddesses: Hera and Athena devise a strategy to assist Jason and enlist Aphrodite, who bribes her son Eros with a golden ball fashioned by Adrasteia. Eros flies down to Colchis and shoots an arrow into the heart of Medea, King Aeetes' daughter and a priestess of Hecate, igniting in her an irresistible love for Jason.

    • The Audience with Aeetes: Shrouded in Hera's protective mist, Jason, Telamon, Augeias, and the sons of Phrixos proceed to the royal palace. Aeetes receives them, but upon learning that Jason has come to take the Golden Fleece, he flies into a fury, accusing them of plotting to seize his throne.

    • The King's Impossible Challenge: Aeetes offers to surrender the Fleece only if Jason accomplishes a feat the king himself performs: yoke two bronze-hoofed, fire-breathing bulls, plough a four-acre field, sow the teeth of the Aresian dragon, and slaughter the harvest of armored Earthborn warriors that sprout. Bound by necessity, Jason accepts the trial.

  2. Medea's Intervention and Jason's Triumph

    • Medea's Torment: Overcome by passion and terrifying nightmares, Medea is torn between family loyalty and her desire to save Jason. After her sister Chalciope begs her to protect her sons (who are aligned with Jason), Medea agrees to supply magical assistance. Though contemplating suicide by poison, Hera instills in her a desire to live.

    • The Secret Meeting at Hecate’s Shrine: Following an omen of a dove escaping a hawk, Mopsos and Argus send Jason alone to meet Medea at Hecate's temple. Jason appeals to Medea as a suppliant and invokes the story of Ariadne and Theseus. Medea presents him with the Promethean charm—an ointment derived from the ichor shed by Prometheus on the Caucasus—which grants one day of invulnerability to bronze and fire. She instructs him to sacrifice a ewe to Hecate at midnight, anoint his weapons and limbs, and hurl a heavy boulder into the midst of the Earthborn men to incite them to fight one another. Jason promises to take Medea to Greece as his wedded wife.

    • The Midnight Rites and the Trial: Telamon and Aethalides retrieve the dragon's teeth from Aeetes. At midnight, Jason carries out the solitary sacrifice to Hecate, who appears amid baying hounds and fiery serpents. At dawn, Jason anoints his body and war gear. Facing the blazing snorts of the brazen bulls on the Plain of Ares, he subdues them, fastens the yoke, and ploughs the four-acre field. After scattering the dragon's teeth, a crop of armed warriors rises from the soil. Jason hurls a colossal rock into their midst, prompting them to butcher one another, while he charges into the fray to cut down the survivors. The ordeal ends in total victory for Jason, leaving King Aeetes brooding over vengeance.