Jason and the Golden Fleece

The story of Jason and the Golden Fleece begins with Jason's birth in the land of Thessaly to Aeson, the king of Thessaly, and Alcimede. After Jason's birth, Pelias (Aeson's half-brother) decided to overthrow the king and then declare himself ruler of Thessaly. Once he gained control of the throne, Pelias began to kill as many of Aeson's descendants as he could, but he spared the former king's life. Fearing for their son, Alcimede and Aeson entrusted Jason's care and education to Chiron, the wise old centaur who had raised countless other heroes before Jason. Years later, Pelias--the new king of Thessaly--announced that he would be holding games in honor of the sea god Poseidon, his alleged father. Upon hearing this, Jason ventured to Iolcus, Thessaly's capital, where the games would be held. Along the way, he came across an old lady who asked him for his help in crossing the river of Anauros. Jason, being the polite young man that he was, happily carried the old woman across the river. However, the old woman was actually the goddess Hera in disguise, and once Jason had carried her to the other side of the river, she revealed herself to him and blessed him for the difficult quest that lay in his future. When Jason entered Iolcus, he declared himself to Pelias to be the son of Aeson and therefore the rightful heir to the throne. Nonetheless, Pelias was unwilling to part with his kingship unless Jason could obtain the Golden Fleece, a coveted object with mysterious magical properties. Pelias did not expect Jason to be successful but Jason, determined to retake his father's former position, accepted the quest. In preparation for the quest, Jason assembled a legendary group of heroes who would later come to be known as the Argonauts after their ship, the Argo, including Heracles (or Hercules), Peleus (Achilles' father), and Orpheus (who was not much of a warrior, but was nevertheless a famed musician). Once ready, Jason and the intrepid Argonauts soon embarked on their perilous quest for the Golden Fleece, which was believed to be located in Colchis. In their journey, the Argonauts encountered various obstacles hindering their path to the Golden Fleece, including husband-killing women on the Isle of Lemnos and six-armed giants, known as the Gegeines, on some other island. After these encounters, the Argonauts eventually reached the court of Phineas of Salmydessus in Thrace whose ruler, King Phineas, had committed some crime against Zeus and was now punished for it by Harpies (mythical flying creatures) that stole food from him everyday. Taking pity on the famished king, Jason slew the Harpies as they came to steal Phineas' food once again. Expressing his gratitude for Jason's noble deed, Phineas revealed to Jason the location of Colchis as well as how to pass through the Symplegades, huge rock cliffs that came together and crushed anything that traveled between them, which happened to be the only route to Colchis. After passing through the Symplegades hardly scathed, the Argonauts finally landed at Colchis where they were greeted by King Aeetes, the owner of the Golden Fleece. Jason told the king of his journey, but Aeetus was only willing to part with the fleece if Jason could perform three seemingly impossible tasks. Hera realized that Jason would not be successful with these tasks unless he received external assistance, so she persuaded Aphrodite to make Medea, Aeetes' daughter, fall in love with Jason and help him in obtaining the Golden Fleece. Jason's three tasks included plowing a field with fire-breathing oxen, fighting a groups of skeleton warriors, and overcoming a dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece. While these tasks presented a considerable challenge to Jason, he was able to claim the Fleece with Medea's help. Jason, Medea, and the rest of the Argonauts then sailed away as Aeetes pursued them, but they were able to escape. The return journey was not as perilous as the original journey had been, yet it nonetheless contained dangers. The Argonauts had to contend with the Sirens, for instance, whose sweet, mesmerizing voices led ships and their crews to watery deaths. With the help of Orpheus, however, who played beautiful music from his lyre during this time, the Argonauts made it pass the sirens. On their return to Thessaly, the Argonauts were welcomed home as heroes. Scheming with Jason in an effort to reclaim his rightful title as king, Medea used her knowledge of sorcery to fool Pelias' daughters into believing that by cutting their father up and then adding him to a cauldron that they would be able to make him younger. This plan did not make Pelias younger; rather, it (unsurprisingly) killed him. For their murder, Acastus, Pelias' son, drove Medea and Jason out of Thessaly and into exile. The couple then settled in Corinth, where Jason became engaged to Creusa, daughter of King Creon, to strengthen his political ties. Medea was not happy with this and confronted Jason for his treachery. Medea then gave Creusa a cursed dress as a wedding gift that stuck to her and burned her to death when she put it on. Before Jason was able to act, Medea fled to Athens. Jason was able to later reclaim Thessaly as his with the help of Peleus when the two attacked and then defeated Acastus. As a result of breaking his vow to love Medea forever, Jason lost his favor with Hera and died lonely and unhappy when one day, as he was sleeping underneath the rotting Argo, the stern fell on him and killed him.

I have never really been particularly interested in stories of love and revenge--or love stories in general. Of course, if such stories have least a little bit of action in them, like in the case of Jason and the Argonauts, I can usually disregard any rather unexciting plot lines. For instance, I do not believe that I would be able to tolerate The Notebook or any such overly sweet romantic novels and movies. Book and movies like Top Gun that combine just the right amount of action and romance, however, are very entertaining to me.