The Golden Fleece was the fleece of the gold-haired winged ram, the symbol of authority and kingship in Colchis. The Fleece was a major symbol in the pagan religion of the Colchians, and, in 1300 BC, the Greek voyager Jason and his Argonauts invaded Colchis in search of the Fleece. They pillaged the country until Colchian princess Medea and her brother Absyrtus decided to steal the fleece and hand it over to the invaders to save their kingdom from war, and Abysrtus cut the Fleece down from its balcony. The two of them then fled with the Fleece, and Medea killed and dismembered her brother to force her father's pursuing horsemen to stop and collect the pieces as she and Jason fled to Greece with the Fleece.