Jason: Greek Hero and Leader of the Argonauts

The Story of Jason

Jason was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus in Thessaly. Aeson's half brother Pelias seized the throne, and to keep the baby safe, Jason's family smuggled him away to be raised by the wise centaur Chiron. He grew up on Mount Pelion knowing nothing of the kingdom that should have been his.

Pelias had been warned to beware a man wearing one sandal. On his way to Iolcus, Jason carried an old woman across a flooded river and lost a sandal in the current, not knowing the woman was the goddess Hera. When he arrived to claim his throne, Pelias agreed to give it up if Jason would bring back the Golden Fleece from distant Colchis, a task he expected would kill him.

The ship Argo was built with Athena's help, and a beam from the sacred oak of Dodona that could speak was set into her prow. Jason gathered the greatest heroes of the age as his crew, including Heracles, Orpheus, the twins Castor and Pollux, Peleus, Telamon and Meleager. They became known as the Argonauts.

On the way they stayed on Lemnos, an island ruled by women, lost Heracles when he went searching for his companion Hylas, and freed the blind prophet Phineus from the Harpies. Phineus told them how to pass the Clashing Rocks at the mouth of the Black Sea. They released a dove first, and when the rocks only clipped its tail feathers, the Argonauts rowed hard and slipped through.

In Colchis, King Aeetes set Jason impossible tasks. He had to yoke a pair of fire breathing bulls, plow a field and sow it with dragon's teeth. The king's daughter Medea, a powerful sorceress, fell in love with Jason and gave him an ointment that protected him from fire, and when armed men sprang from the earth, he threw a stone among them so they fought each other. Medea then charmed the serpent guarding the fleece to sleep, and Jason took it.

The couple fled with the fleece, and Medea's magic saved the Argonauts more than once, including from the bronze giant Talos on Crete. Back in Iolcus, Medea tricked the daughters of Pelias into cutting up their father, telling them it would make him young again. The horrified people drove Jason and Medea out, and they settled in Corinth.

In Corinth, Jason abandoned Medea to marry the daughter of the local king. In Euripides' famous play, Medea took a terrible revenge, killing the young bride with a poisoned robe and even her own children. Jason, it was said, lived on as a lonely, broken man until a rotting beam of the old Argo fell on him as he sat beneath it.