Argonauts
- For other uses of this term, see Argonaut.
In Greek mythology, the Argonauts (Ancient Greek: Αργοναύται) were a band of heroes who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, the Argo which in turn was named after its builder Argus. Thus, "Argonauts" literally means "Argo sailors". They were sometimes called Minyans, after a prehistoric powerful kingdom of the area.
Story
After the death of King Cretheus, the Aeolian Pelias usurped the Iolcan throne from his half-brother Aeson and became king of Iolcus in Thessaly (near the modern city of Volos). Because of this unlawful act, an oracle had warned him that a descendant of Aeolus would seek revenge. Pelias put to death every prominent descendant of Aeolus he could reach, but spared Aeson at the dramatic pleas of his mother Tyro. Pelias, however, kept Aeson prisoner and forced him to renounce his inheritance. Later, Aeson married Polymele, who bore him a son named Diomedes. Pelias intended to kill the baby at once, but Polymele summoned her kinswomen to weep over him, as if he were a still-born. She faked a burial and smuggled the baby to Mount Pelion, where he was raised by the centaur Chiron, who renamed the boy Jason.
When Jason was 20 years old, he went to consult an oracle who ordered him to dress himself as a Magnesian, wear a leopard skin and carry two spears. Then he should head to the Iolcan court. Jason did as he was told. Now a new oracle warned Pelias to be on his guard against a man with one shoe. One day, Pelias was presiding over a solemn sacrifice to Poseidon, which some neighboring kings attended. Among the crowd there stood a tall youth in leopard skin with only one sandal. Pelias came to recognize him as his nephew. Jason had lost his sandal while crossing the muddy Anavros river. He helped an old woman who was begging to be transported. That woman was Hera under disguise, who wanted to punish Pelias for having neglected the customary sacrifices to her. When Pelias met Jason, he could not kill him on the spot, for some prominent kings of the Aeolian family were there. Instead, he approached the youth and asked: "What would you do if an oracle announced that one of your fellow-citizens were destined to kill you?". Jason replied that he would send him to go and fetch the Golden Fleece, not knowing that Hera had put those words in his mouth.
Jason learned later that Pelias was being haunted by the ghost of Phrixus, who had fled from Orchomenus riding on a divine ram to avoid being sacrificed, and took refuge in Colchis where he was later denied proper burial. According to an oracle, Iolcus would never prosper unless his ghost was taken back in a ship, together with the golden ram's fleece. This fleece now hung from a tree in the grove of the Colchian Ares, guarded night and day by a dragon that never slept. Pelias swore before Zeus that he would give up the throne at Jason's return, while expecting that Jason's attempt to steal the Golden Fleece would be a fatal enterprise. Hera, however, would act on Jason's favour during this perilous journey.
Jason was accompanied by some of the principal heroes of ancient Greece. The number of Argonauts varies, but usually totals between 40 and 55; traditional versions of the story place their number at 50. (* The numbers 10, 20 50, 100 etc. used in Greek Mythology mean "many" - see Asopides )
Some have hypothesised that the legend of the Golden Fleece was based on a practice of the Black Sea tribes of placing a lamb's fleece at the bottom of a stream to entrap particles of gold being washed down from upstream. This practice was still in use in recent times, particularly in the Svaneti region of Georgia.
The crew of the Argos
There is no definite list of Argonauts. This is because there were many "Argonautic" expeditions organized by many heroes who lived in different times. These heroes were kings of important prehistoric cities and used many ships with hundreds or even thousands of soldiers. "Trojan War" (a myth) was the last expedition to Asia (not just Troy).
The Argonautic expedition of Jason with Argo is a myth which reflects all other expeditions. Heracles, as an example, did not participate in this voyage (under Jason's commands), because Argo could not hold his "weight", or because, at that time, he was too busy "serving" queen Omphale of Lydia. Perseus and Bellerophon lived long before Heracles and Jason. Dioscouroi (= the sons of Zeus - Castor and Polydeuces) from Sparta organized their own expeditions. Two of their ηνίοχοι (heniochoi = "coachmen"), the brothers Cercas and Amphistratus, stayed in Colchis and gave their names to the people Heniochoi and Cercetae in the region east of the lake Maeotes (Sea of Azov). Odysseus, Philoctetes, Menelaus, Diomedes and others lived long after Heracles and Jason and built many cities around the world after the "fall of Troy" (around 1200 BC).
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Spoken-word myths — audio files
| Argonaut myths as told by story tellers |
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| 1. Heracles in Mysia (Hylas episode), read by Timothy Carter, music by Steve Gorn, compiled by Andrew Calimach |
| Bibliography of reconstruction: Homer, Odyssey, 12.072 (7th c. BC); Theocritus, Idylls, 13 (350 - 310 BC); Callimachus, Aetia (Causes), 24. Thiodamas the Dryopian, Fragments, 160. Hymn to Artemis (310 - 250? BC); Apollonios Rhodios, Argonautika, I. 1175 - 1280 (c. 250 BC); Apollodorus, Library and Epitome 1.9.19, 2.7.7 (140 BC); Sextus Propertius, Elegies, i.20.17ff (50 - 15 BC); Ovid, Ibis, 488 (AD 8 - 18); Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica, I.110, III.535, 560, IV.1-57 (1st c. AD); Hyginus, Fables, 14. Argonauts Assembled (1st c. AD); Philostratus the Elder, Images, ii.24 Thiodamas (AD 170 - 245); First Vatican Mythographer, 49. Hercules et Hylas |
| 2. Orpheus and the Thracians, read by Timothy Carter, music by Steve Gorn, compiled by Andrew Calimach |
| Bibliography of reconstruction: Pindar, Pythian Odes, 4.176 (462 BC); Roman marble bas-relief, copy of a Greek original from the late 5th c. (c. 420 BC); Aristophanes, The Frogs 1032 (c. 400 BC); Phanocles, Erotes e Kaloi, 15 (3rd c. BC); Apollonios Rhodios, Argonautika, i.2 (c. 250 BC); Apollodorus, Library and Epitome 1.3.2 (140 BC); Diodorus Siculus, Histories I.23, I.96, III.65, IV.25 (1st c. BC); Conon, Narrations, 45 (50 - 1 BC); Virgil, Georgics, IV.456 (37 - 30 BC); Horace, Odes, I.12; Ars Poetica 391-407 (23 BC); Ovid, Metamorphoses X.1-85, XI.1-65 (AD 8); Seneca, Hercules Furens 569 (1st c. AD); Hyginus, Poetica Astronomica II.7 Lyre (2st c. AD); Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.30.2, 9.30.4, 10.7.2 (143 - 176 AD); Anonymous, The Clementine Homilies, Homily V Chapter XV.-Unnatural Lusts (c. 400 AD); Anonymous, Orphic Argonautica (5th c. AD); Stobaeus, Anthologium (c. 450 AD); Second Vatican Mythographer, 44. Orpheus |
The Argonauts in literature
- Hercules, My Shipmate (1945) by Robert Graves
- The Greek Myths by Robert Graves
- Jason and Medeia by John Gardner -- a modern, epic poem in English.
- The Argonautica by Gaius Valerius Flaccus -- a first-century AD Latin epic poem.
- The Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes -- a Hellenistic, Greek epic poem.
The Argonauts on film
Two movies titled Jason and the Argonauts have been made.
Jason and the Argonauts (1963), directed by Don Chaffey, shows Jason hosting Olympics-like games and selecting his crew from among the winners. Jason is very satisfied with his crew.
A Hallmark presentation TV movie, Jason and the Argonauts (2000), on the other hand, shows Jason having to settle for men with no sailing experience. This includes a thief who says "Who better than a thief to grab the Golden Fleece?"
A movie titled "Vesyolaya hronika opasnogo puteshestviya" (Amusing Chronicle of a Dangerous Voyage) was made in the Soviet Union in 1986 starring a famous Russian actor Alexander Abdulov. (imdb)
The Argonauts on radio
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation featured Jason and the Argonauts in its children's radio broadcasting in Australia. "The Argonauts' Club" ran from 1933 until its closure on 2 April 1972. Children listened to the afternoon radio program and interacted with the presenters, whose leader was "Jason", by sending in stories, poems, and art works, some of which were described on air. Their interaction helped them gain status within the organisation, such as the Order of the Dragon's Tooth and the Order of the Golden Fleece; but children were always only known by their Ship and number (Oar) in its crew. The format was devised initially by author Nina Murdoch. The longest serving presenter, and "Jason" throughout the show's run, was Athol Fleming who died in May of 1972.
Also, The Argonauts are referenced in the They Might Be Giants song Birdhouse in Your Soul. Kate Bush also refers to argonauts on various songs.
See also
- Argo Navis
- Jason for more details on the quest for the Golden Fleece
- Toronto Argonauts, a Canadian Football League Team
External links
- Argunautika by Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre
- Timeless Myths: Argonauts
Sources
- Orpheus, Argonautica
- Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica I, 23-227;
- Apollodorus, Bibliotheke I, ix, 16.
- Strabo 11,496
- Ptolemy Geography 5, 9.9 and 25
- Ken Inglis, This is the ABC: The Australian Broadcasting Commission 1932-1983, 2006
- Angelopoulos, Athanasios G., New Lexicon of the Greek Mythology (2000) - ISBN 960-7931-28-9