Jason

Jason (born 1274 BC) was a legendary Greek hero who, in 1246 BC, embarked on a four-month voyage aboard the Argo with the objective of finding the Golden Fleece. During his journey, he took the Colchian princess Medea as his wife and reclaimed his kingdom from his usurping uncle Pelias. He later set aside his wife Medea and married the princess Glauce of Corinth, fathering Tisander and Alcimenes with her. Medea wrought her vengeance by killing Glauce, her father Creon of Corinth, and Jason and Glauce's children. Jason died many years later when a timber from the Argo fell on him as he slept.

Biography[]

Jason was the son of King Aeson and Queen Polymele of Iolcus. After Jason's birth, his uncle Pelias usurped the throne of Iolcos, but Polymele sent Jason away to prevent Pelias from killing him. The soldier Mopsus took Jason through a secret tunnel and escaped the city with the boy. Jason was raised on Mount Pelion by Chiron the centaur, and he befriended Atalanta as a young man. In 1246 BC, Jason came to the court of Pelias to find his mother, whom he was told by Chiron was still alive, but Pelias was warned by his priest to beware a man wearing a single sandal.

During Jason's journey, he helped an elderly woman cross a deep river, unaware that she was Hera, and the woman told him of Pelias' unfair taxes, and said that, if one was to seek their wealth in Iolcos, they would need to find the "Golden Fleece." When Jason came to the court wearing a single sandal, asking to see his mother, Aeson realized that he was speaking to his late brother's heir. Aeson decided to execute Jason to eliminate a rival claimant to his throne, but Polymele asked for her new husband to spare Jason. Aeson asked for a good reason to leave Jason alive, and Jason volunteered to find the Golden Fleece. Aeson, amused, promised to reinstate Jason as a prince of Iolcos and make him his heir if he could retrieve the Golden Fleece within six months; otherwise, he would have Polymele executed. Jason agreed, although his mother warned him not to return, as Pelias would likely still execute him on his return.

Pelias provided Jason with a ship on the condition that he find his own crew; Jason decided to name the ship Argo in honor of its builder, Argus. Jason met the sailor Mopsus while searching for sailors in a tavern, while Hera - again disguised as an old woman - suggested he meet with the mapmaker Idas. Jason obtained a map from Idas, and Idas' son Zetes joined his crew. Jason also recruited the stonemasons Castor and Pollux, the legendary hero Hercules, and the lyrist Orpheus, while the thief Actor, Jason's friend Atalanta, and even Jason's half-brother Acastus stowed away on the Argo.

The ship lost the map after running aground on the sleeping Poseidon, who punished the ship with a storm. The ship sailed to Lemnos for repairs, and Jason and his crew were greeted by the queen Hypsipyle and her warrior women. Jason and his crew were seduced by the female warriors, although Orpheus and Atalanta remained sober, and Atalanta overheard the Lemnians' plan to sacrifice the men, just as they had done to the men of the island. She alerted the Argonauts, who fled under arrow fire from the Lemnians, and they escaped on their ship. For several days, the ship sailed aimlessly until Jason encouraged Zetes to use his knowledge of the stars to look into the daytime sky, see past the blue, and draw a map of the constellations. Using the constellations as their guide, they recalled the way to the seer Phineus - the man who knew how to get to the Golden Fleece - and they continued their voyage.

When the Argonauts reached Tabletop Island, their crew members Butes and Tiphys were eaten by Harpies, and Phanus reported this to Jason. Jason refused to leave the island until they found Phineus, who emerged from the brushes and revealed that he knew of Jason, and that he had been exiled by the gods for his gift of prophecy and was tormented by hunger and Harpies for forty years. Phineus promised to help Jason with his quest if he and his crew would help him deal with the Harpies, and Jason stole an apple from the table of Phineus' home before his men helped collapse the home onto the Harpies. Phineus, savoring the taste of food again, told Jason that the fleece was in Colchis, a land ruled by the tyrant Aeetes, where the Fleece was guarded by the king's daughter Medea. Phineus told Jason to travel through the perilous Symplegades ("Dark Rocks") of the Hellespont, the doom of all who had gone before Jason.

The Colchian prince Absyrtus, pretending to be shipwrecked, was rescued from the sea by the Argonauts, and he warned Jason that to sail between the rocks was certain death, hoping to discourage him from searching for the Fleece. However, Jason persuaded Orpheus to lend him his pet dove to fly through the rocks and guide the Argo safely through; the dove's arrival caused the rocks to close (with the dove escaping), only for the Argo to sail through as the rocks receded again.

When the Argonauts arrived, they were greeted by the Colchian honor guard, dressed for war. The thief Actor warned Jason of Absyrtus' smooth tongue, and Jason asked Hercules to stay with the boat as his only escape, with Jason deciding to with Castor, Pollux, and Absyrtus as his crew guarded the boat. Meanwhile, the goddess Hera asked the love god Eros to shoot Medea with his arrow so that she would fall in love with Jason. When Jason was brought before Aeetes and asked for the Golden Fleece, Aeetes - calling Jason as thief - had his men seize Jason, but Medea told her father that slaying Jason would anger the gods, and persuaded him to let the gods decide his fate. Aeetes concurred, and he had Jason harness the Menaian Bull and plow the field of Ares and sow it with dragon teeth.

In the night, Medea visited Jason and gave him magic crocus oil to protect him from the bull's fiery breath. The next day, Jason used the acrobatic skills he had learned from Laertes to dodge the bull and harness it, succeeding in his first task. When Jason began to sow the field of Ares, he was attacked by roots that had taken the form of armored swordsmen (the Spartoi), and Jason dodged them and let them hack at each other. Aeetes, impressed, hailed Jason as a hero of the gods, and promised him a feast and that which he most desired.

At the feast, Aeetes told Jason that he had taken the fleece as a young general, and that the fleece bound the state in loyalty, motivating mothers to give their sons' lives, generals to fight to the last, and Colchis' enemies to scarce raise a sword to him, fulfilling his heart's desires. Aeetes told Jason that he could have the Fleece, as well as Medea if he wished, as Aeetes knew of Medea's attraction to Jason. Aeetes declared that there was to be a union between the houses of Iolcos and Colchis, preventing either Jason or the Fleece from leaving Colchis. During the night, Medea persuaded Jason to go with the Fleece, while Jason's crew debated abandoning Jason if he surrendered himself to Colchis. Atalanta criticized the crew for losing their faith, and Acastus reminded the crew that Jason forfeiting the quest would mean giving up all that the quest meant to him and his crew. Actor and Zetes proposed returning home, while Orpheus reminded them that their mission of obtaining the Fleece was incomplete; Hercules said that staying or going was a matter of each man's conscience.

The next morning, Absyrtus reported Medea's treachery to their father, who sent Absyrtus with soldiers to stop Jason and Medea from escaping with the Fleece. Absyrtus and a handful of soldiers confronted Jason and Medea, but Jason slew the soldiers while Medea killed her ambitious, incest-minded brother. The crew of the Argo came to Jason and Medea's rescue, with Atalanta shooting the soldiers with arrows as the other Greeks drew their swords. Hercules, Orpheus, and Argus sailed the Argo around the island to give the Colchians the illusion that Jason's crew had abandoned him, while Jason, Medea, and the Argonauts headed to retrieve the Golden Fleece from the dragon guarding it.

The Argonauts ziplined across a valley towards the dragon as the Colchians pursued them, with the Colchian arhcers wounding Acastus, and Hercules sacrificing himself to fight off the Colchian pursuers. Jason and his Argonauts then came across the dragon guarding the tree where the Fleece was hung, and Jason had Actor steal the fleece as Orpheus distracted the dragon with his lyre. Jason tied a noose around the tree and lured the dragon off the cliff, where the dragon hanged itself and Jason caught the rope, climbing back to safety.

Jason and his men proceeded to head back towards their ship, but Jason found Hercules' drowned body in the river along the way, as Hercules had taken several Colchians off a cliff with him during his last stand. Back at the ship, Jason found that Acastus had been critically wounded with an arrow, but Medea used her magic to heal him as Actor removed the arrow. As the Argonauts left, the Colchian generals revolted against their king, no longer believing him capable of victories without the Fleece. His generals drew their swords and hacked him to death on his throne, and Medea had a vision of his demise.

During the voyage home, Atalanta confessed her love for Jason, and Jason said that he returned the affection, but only as a brother; he decided that he would still marry Medea, as he saw it as meant to be. He then consoled Medea over her vision of her father death, saying that he had witnessed his own father's death as a boy, and promised that he would never let Medea feel alone. Shortly after, Medea resisted Zeus' advances, even after he removed Eros' arrow from her heart.

The Argo returned home soon after, and Idas joyfully reunited with his son Zetes before Idas gleefully greeted the successful Jason. When Jason asked Idas not to tell anyone of the Argonauts' return, lest his mother be harmed, Idas broke the news that Jason's mother had taken her own life after hearing false news of Jason's death. Jason and his crew camped on the shore that night, and, while Mopsus proposed a surprise attack on Pelias, Jason said that he had no intention of throwing away more lives, instead drinking to all those who should be drinking with them, from Echion to Laertes the bold tumbler, Tiphys, Butes, Phanus, and the mighty and magnificent Hercules. Mopsus reminded Jason that they would not have died in vain if Jason fulfilled his destinty by rescuing Iolcos from tyranny and avenging his father and mother's lives. While Jason initially decided to leave Iolcos at first light, Orpheus consoled Jason by saying that, if they turned away from life, they did not honor the dead. That same night, as Polymele spoke to Jason as a shade and reminded him that his adventure continued, Acastus decided to run off with the Fleece and enter town wearing it.

Acastus told his father that he had sailed with Jason and gained the Fleece, and declared that he was king. Pelias pretended to concede due to his old age and weariness, and he asked Acastus to embrace him so that he could give him his blessing. However, Pelias stabbed him in the back as he had done to his own brother years before, and he claimed the Fleece for himself.

Pelias gave orders for his soldiers to find Jason and destroy him and those who sailed with him, but Jason and his followers snuck into the palace through a secret tunnel. Meanwhile, Medea went to King Pelias and told him that only through her could he receive its pwoer, and Pelias' priest confessed that Aeetes' daughter did, indeed, have the powers of sorcery, demonstrated by her self-harm and self-healing with her crocus oil. Medea said that only through her blessing could the Fleece bless Pelias, and she said that she wanted to be Pelias' wife and guardian of the fleece forever in exchange for blessing the fleece.

The Argonauts were ambushed while making their way towards the secret tunnel, and Argus was killed in the fighting. However, the Argonauts made their way into the secret tunnel, with Jason using his amulet of Hera, stolen from him by Actor on Lemnos before Actor returned it to him, to unlock the gate into the palace of Iolcos. The Argonauts stormed the palace, and Actor was struck by an arrow, blocked only by a stolen amulet under his robe.

Jason then confronted his uncle, who held Medea at swordpoint. Jason asked if the Fleece had helped him at all, saying that the Fleece had no power except that imagined by those who sought it. Jason said that mortals made their own destiny by their own actions, and, while Pelias called it trickery, Jason said that the trickery was in Pelias' imagination. Jason reminded Pelias of how many people died in Pelias' quest to recover the Fleece, and Jason said that all the quest had brought Pelias was a sword to his throat. Jason decided that he was moved to mercy, causing Pelias to let Medea go, and Pelias decided to walk up to Jason and embrace him out of apparent remorse. Pelias gave the Fleece back to Jason, and, as they embraced, Pelias drew his dagger and said that Jason could have the fleece before he met his destiny. Jason grabbed the dagger and turned it on Pelias, stabbing him as he said that his destiny was to rule. With Pelias dead, Jason assumed the throne of Iolcos, with Medea as his queen.

However, Jason later broke his vow to Hera to love Medea forever, as the Greeks never fully accepted a barbarian sorceress as their queen. While Jason fathered Tisander and Alcimenes with Medea, he set her aside to marry the Corinthian princess Glauce, daughter of King Creon. Medea took a terrible revenge by killing Glauce, Creon, and her own children Tisander and Alcimenes before fleeing to Athens with the aid of the gods, who pitied her and blamed Jason for their failed marriage. Jason grew old and lonely, and he was killed when a timber from the rotting Argo fell on him as he slept.