Final Exam Notes from Module 13 - 22
Module 21
Jason and the Argonauts
- before the Trojan war
- Jason and argonauts to retrieve golden fleece
- by poet third century, Apollonius of Rhodes
- parallels with myth of Odysseus’ adventures
- number of Argonauts or Minyae varies, around 50
- Orpheus, father of Achilles, Peleus, and Heracles make up Jason’s crew
Phrixus
- son of mortal king Athamas and divine Nephele (cloud)
- after Nephele went back to the sky, he married Ino the daughter of Cadmus
- Ino tried to destroy her stepchildren
- in a plot she convinces the women of Boetia to try the seed so grain does not grow
- Athamas sends an envoy to Delphi to seek advice but Ino intercepts it and gives false advice that he must sacrifice Phrixus to end the plague
- Athamas was willing to sacrifice his son, but Nephele snatched her children and put them on the back of a flying ram with a golden fleece, a gift from Hermes and flew toward the black sea eastward
- passed over Hellespont, Helle fell into the sea and drowned
- went to Colchis and sacrificed it to Colchis Aeetis
- hung it on a tree in a grove of Ares guarded by a watchful serpent
The Journey
- Iolcus, time of Athamas was ruled by his brother Cretheus
- Cretheus’ son, Aeson, was the father of Jason
- Cretheus’ wife, Tyro had an affair with Poseidon and Pelias took over the throne of Iolcus when Cretheus died
- Jason was educated by centaur Chiron
- Jason returns after 20 years to reclaim the throne, but Pelias does not want to relinquish his rule
- Pelias warned of man with one sandal but an oracle, and Jason arrives in Iolcus with one sandal, while he helped a woman (Hera in disguise) across a river
- Pelias hopes to kill Jason on a journey, sends him to fetch the golden fleece from Colchis
- Jason calls upon all heroes of Greece who collect in Iolcus
- Argo is the ship they travel in built by Argos with the help of Athena
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Minyae are called Argonauts (nautes = sailors)
- Hypsipyle and the Lemnian Women: island Lemnos, women of island, stay a year, Ahprodite angry at Lemnian women because they did not sacrifice to her
- made all their husbands take Thracian concubines
- women murdered all their husbands except king Toas
- Hypsipyle hides her father in the temple of Dionysus and sends him off the island in a chest
- Jason has a love affair with Hypsipyle and other Argonauts have other affairs with the women
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Heracles, intent on the mission, convinces the Arognauts to leave the island
- Cyzicus and Doliones: stop in Propontis encounter king Cyzicus and the Doliones
- king is hospitable, Heracles helps kill the giants who lived near
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try to leave, they are blown back to Cyzicus by winds , fight former host unknowingly, King Cyzicus is killed, and ARgonauts bury him before leaving
- Amycus: land of Bebyces, barbaric tribe, foreigners box with king Amycus, son of Poseidon
- Heracles has left at this point to look for his male lover Hylas (abducted by Nymphs)
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Argonaut Polydeuces (son of Zeus) fights Amycus and kills him with a blow to the nose
- Phineus and the Harpies: a blind prophet plagued by the Harpies because he revealed too much to mankind
- harpies take all his food when they try to eat and leave small putrid morsels
- Argonauts Zetes and Calais, winged song of north wind Boreas chase the harpies and defeat them
- Phineas gives important information when passiong through Symplegades or Crashing Rocks, where they continuously crash together
- pass through with the help of Athena
- release a dove and if it was successful row through at full speed while the rocks moving out once again, Athena gives the ship an extra push
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once the argonauts pass through, the rocks stand still forevermore
- Jason and Aeetes: in Colchis, must win golden fleece, king of Colchis Aeetes, child of sun
- daughter is the famous Medea, Aeetes is an evil king who suspects Jason has come to do harm
- Jason must perform a series of tasks
- yoke a pair of fire-breathing bulls, till an extremely large field, sow it with teeth
- teeth grow armed men he must defeat
- Jason is able to do this with the help of Medea, by the will of Hera and Athena, Medea falls in love with Jason
- Medea is both a young maiden and powerful sorceress as she descended from the sun
- Medea agrees to help Jason defeat the bulls, and the great serpent
- for the bulls, gives him a magic iontment to protect him from fire and stone to throw to make the armed men fight each other
- drugs to subdue the serpent
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Jason mistreats Medea, but abandons her for a Greek princess, Medea is powerful woman of eastern descent, non-Greek, leaves her homeland for love
- Journey Home: stop at island of Crice, pass by sirens, protect them from Aeetes, even if they are married
- perform marriage in Phaeacia after which the Colchians stop chasing them
Arrival Home
- Pelias still refuses to give the throne
- Medea powerful witch, kills Pelias through trickery
- makes Aeson, Jason’s father yougn again by cutting him up and boiling him in a cauldron and does the same for a ram
- She convinces Pelias’ daughters to try the same on their father
- magic only works for Medea and Pelias dies
- Jason and Medea are drive to Corinth
- some say Medea was the queen because Aeetes was king there before he left for Colchis
- Euripides tragedy Medea focuses on the tragic affair of Jason and Medea
Betrayal and Murder of Children