by Neil Smith
There was a single mast hoisted by ropes into the vertical position and secured by a mast box amidships, and a basic rudder system at the rear, made up of a tiller and steering oar. The single large sail was sewn from linen patches and operated by leather or papyrus ropes running fore and aft. The navigator pulled on the ropes to set the sail into the wind as desired. The ship also weighed very little, and was designed with a shallow draught. That made it difficult to negotiate rough seas, but was ideal for the river work so often found in the story of Jason and his Argonauts.
After a brief rest, the reunited crew of the Argo decided to head out to sea, hoping to get back on track with their quest.
The Argo sailed away, all day and into the night. Unfortunately, the wind turned the ship around in the dark, so that when the tired Argonauts threw their hawsers onto the rocks and stepped ashore, they were unaware they had returned to the land of the Doliones. They weren’t alone in their error, as the Doliones didn’t recognize the returning Argonauts, believing them instead to be a Macrian war party. The Doliones hastily donned their armour and armed themselves before rushing down to repel the intruders.
The ensuing fight was fierce but short: the Doliones found themselves hopelessly outmatched by the Argonauts. Heracles killed two, as did Peleus; Acastus and Telamon took down one warrior apiece. More Doliones fell, but their greatest loss was their king, killed when Jason drove a spear through his breastplate. The rest fled back to the city as fast as they could run.
It was only when the sun came up that both sides realized their grievous error. The Argonauts were particularly shocked to discover the body of Cyzicus lying in front of them. For the next three days, they lamented along with the remaining Doliones. The king’s body was buried with full funeral rites, his tragic death compounded by his new bride committing suicide in her grief.
Violent storms raged over the island for the next twelve days, preventing the Argo from sailing. On the twelfth night, while the Argonauts slept under the watchful guard of Acastus and Mopsus the seer, a bird hovered over Jason’s head. Mopsus heard the bird’s claim that the storm would soon abate, and immediately woke his captain. He told Jason that he must climb to the temple on Mount Dindymum and ask for help from Rhea, the mother of the gods.
The news energized Jason, who quickly woke the rest of the crew and told them of the prophecy. Some of the men gathered two oxen, and, after rowing the ship round to the next harbour, the Argonauts set off up the mountain. When they reached the summit, the crew set up an altar of stones and raised a fire for the sacrifice. While Jason offered libations, the others danced around in their armour, banging their swords on their shields. This pleased Rhea greatly, and she gave the Argonauts a sign by growing flowers round their feet and bringing out the woodland animals. The goddess also caused a spring to gush, forever after known as the Spring of Jason.
Satisfied, the Argonauts trekked back down the hill to the Argo. The storms abated overnight and the grateful heroes finally left the Island of Bears.
The Loss of Heracles
Despite not being the leader of the expedition, the great warrior Heracles had been the most influential crewmember. It was Heracles who stood guard whenever the ship was brought to anchor, and he had acted as the moral guide in Lemnos, reminding the Argonauts of their mission to bring back the Golden Fleece. At sea, when the wind dropped, Heracles powered the Argo from his rowing position amidships. Not surprisingly, therefore, it was mainly through Heracles’s strength that the Argo raced away from the Island of Bears, towards the Mysian mainland. Then, suddenly, to the legend’s amazement, his oar broke in the increasingly rough sea.
Like most ships of the time, the Argo stayed within sight of land whenever possible. (Mary Evans Picture Library / Alamy)
This forced Jason to pull in near the outfall of the River Cius, but thankfully on land belonging to the friendly Mysians. The natives brought food and supplies down to the ship, and the Argonauts got on with preparing an appropriate feast for the occasion. The single-minded Heracles, however, only had thoughts for getting wood to make a new oar.
While the others prepared the feast, Heracles walked off into the woods, looking for a suitable tree without too many leaves or branches. He soon located a useful candidate for his oar, laid down his bow and quiver, and took off his lion-skin cloak. He swung his bronze-tipped club at the base of the tree to loosen it; then, anchoring himself to the ground in a wide stance, Heracles pulled the trunk from the ground. Pleased with his work, he gathered his equipment and cloak, and, with the tree balanced on his shoulder, began his trek back to the ship.
Heracles’s youthful assistant Hylas had watched his hero walk off into the forest, and then busied himself getting ready for Heracles’s return. He picked up his bronze pitcher and made his way to a spring that lay not too far inside the tree line. As Hylas knelt down to fill the pitcher, he did not see the water nymph rising nearby. Hylas’s youth and beauty struck the water nymph with such force that she could not resist. She had to have him, and she reached up for a kiss, placing one arm round the startled young man’s neck while the other drew him down into the water.
Back at the camp, Polyphemus was also waiting for Heracles when he heard Hylas cry out. Polyphemus drew his sword and ran into the woods, believing wild animals or robbers had attacked the youth. Rather than finding Hylas, however, Polyphemus ran into Heracles, whom he quickly told of his fear for Hylas. The legendary hero dropped the tree in sudden rage and sprinted along the path in the direction from which the startled cry had come, but the boy was nowhere to be seen. Heracles searched through the night, his shouts echoing through the trees, but none of the other Argonauts heard his cries, or knew what was going on down the beach from where they spent the night resting from their feast.
When dawn came, Tiphys urged the crew on board to catch the wind. The excited Argonauts drew up the anchors, cast off the lines, and hoisted the sail, which the wind filled to carry the Argo out to sea. Only then, with the Poseidian headland well behind them, did they notice the absence of Heracles, Hylas, and Polyphemus. Jason sat in shocked silence and horror at the loss of their talismanic hero. Telamon, however, thought he saw another motive in his captain, and turned on him, accusing Jason of deliberately leaving Heracles behind so that the legend could not steal all the glory if the mission proved successful. He jumped up and dashed towards Tiphys to make him turn the ship round and fetch Heracles.
Zetes and Calaïs tried to stop Telamon but, as they did, Glaucus, a god renowned for his prophetic abilities, rose from the sea and grabbed the ship’s keel. He pointed out to the frightened Argonauts that to go back for the missing men was to interfere with Zeus’s wishes: Heracles’s destiny was to complete his twelve labours, while Polyphemus would found a great city. Glaucus then plunged back into the sea, rocking the little boat and its shaken crew. Glaucus’s words had their desired effect on Telamon, and he immediately apologized to Jason, who equally quickly forgave the hotheaded Argonaut.
With calm restored on board, the Argo once more caught the wind and sailed on through the night, drawing Jason ever nearer to his rendezvous with the Golden Fleece.
BOOK II: THE VOYAGE TO COLCHIS
The Bebrycian Boxing Match
The Argonauts sailed until they beached for the night on land belonging to Amycus, the arrogant king of the Bebrycians. Amycus believed that no one could beat him at boxing, and had decreed that anyone attempting to leave his lands must fight him first. The king’s many victories over his neighbours led him to believe that these newcomers would prove equally weak, and he set off down to the beach to confront the Argonauts. Jason’s crew grew steadily angrier as they listened to Amycus’s challenge. Polydeuces in particular became incensed, and he stepped forward to champion the Argonauts. Amycus glared like a cornered lion while Polydeuces took off his fine cloak, a present from a Lemnian woman. The king’s cloak was of much rougher cloth, like the man himself, and he threw it down in contempt.
The
two warriors, now both fully committed to the fight, drew apart to choose a place on even ground. The rest of the Argonauts and Bebrycians lined up opposite each other, behind their respective champions.
Polydeuces looked an unlikely champion; although large enough to fight anyone, his ferocity lay hidden behind his youth and seeming innocence. He stood ambivalently to the side, flexing hands that were knotted and hardened from rowing the Argo. Amycus, on the other hand, could barely contain his brutality. The king stood ready to tear this upstart limb from limb if he had to, and his eyes shot hatred toward the young Argonaut. Then Amycus’s henchman Lyeoreus stepped forward and placed two pairs of dry, rawhide gauntlets at the feet of the two fighters. Amycus picked his gloves up, his eyes never leaving Polydeuces, and he taunted the younger man, telling him that he was about to receive a severe lesson from a mighty warrior. Polydeuces did not respond, but merely smiled while Castor and Talaus fitted his gauntlets. With a final flex of his fists, Polydeuces stepped back to wait for the charge he knew was coming from the bullish king.
The statue of the ‘Thermae Boxer’ from the 3rd-2nd century BC provides a good example of the boxing gloves worn by the Ancient Greeks.
Amycus crashed into Polydeuces like a stormy sea hitting the shore, his fists pummelling the Argonaut, blow after blow landing in unending attack. Polydeuces parried and pushed back against the onslaught, his punches slicing through the king’s rushing fists. Both men stood their ground, exchanging hit for hit, blow for blow. Heads butting, teeth rattling, punch after punch landed in search of the kill. The men and women on both sides cheered as their champions drew apart for a moment, but just a moment, before they lunged forward again to resume their death match. The battering continued, the weary fighters exchanging furious punches, pain and desperation etched on their faces.
BRONZE AGE WARFARE
Placing the voyage of the Argonauts in its correct historical context affects the range and nature of the weapons and armour available to Jason’s warriors. Moreover, later interpolations into the legend may have introduced anachronistic methods of fighting not appropriate to Jason’s era. As a result, we cannot know for certain what the Argonauts wore in combat, but we can hazard an educated guess.
The common weapons of the late Bronze Age were the spear, sword, dagger, and bow. Spears were probably the most common but lacked uniformity. Earlier spears held leaf-shaped blades up to 50cm long, but later spearheads were half that size and much narrower, suggesting they were lighter, and some might have been thrown in the style of javelins. Warriors may also have carried a pairing of a heavy spear and a lighter one. Swords too became shorter, from 90cm to 40cm, on average. Daggers, on the other hand, became longer, obscuring the differences between the two bladed weapons. We are told that one Argonaut sailed with a huge double-edged axe, perhaps emphasizing his legendary status, but these were not common weapons. The use of bows developed from hunting, and therefore most warriors would be familiar with their use, and they would have been the primary ranged weapon.
Plate armour in the form of cuirass, bracers and greaves was in use in Bronze Age warfare, but a small raiding party such as the Argonauts would have decried its use. They probably favoured more lightweight personal protection such as bronze greaves for their lower legs, a thick padded linen cuirass likely with a single bronze shoulderpiece, and probably bronze or leather forearm protectors. Head protection was afforded by leather helmets covered in boar ivory or small bronze discs; the full bronze helmets associated with later Greek hoplites were not yet developed.
Finally, the Argonauts carried shields, though exactly what kind is difficult to ascertain. Two types of shield were common in the Greek Bronze Age. Tower shields were large, hide-covered and wooden-framed, with flat bottoms and arched tops. The other shield was the figure-of-eight shield that was similarly wooden-framed and hide-covered. Either shield would have offered significant protection, and both were particularly useful for crouching behind with spear or sword at the ready.
The Boxing Match of Polydeuces and Amycus. Boxing is a reoccurring theme in the myths and legends of Ancient Greece. Most famously, it appears in the Iliad as one of the games held to honour Patroclus after his death. It is in his honour that boxing is later added to the Olympic Games.
Then, sensing his time had come, Amycus closed in for the kill. He stretched up on his toes to bring his fist down on the impertinent youth’s head in a fatal hammer blow. At the last second, Polydeuces swerved, taking the king’s strike on his shoulder while landing his own lightning counterpunch just above Amycus’s ear. The bones inside the king’s ear shattered, and he dropped to his knees. Swaying there, he then rolled on to the ground, his life already departed.
The Bebrycians stood mute, in shock, staring at their dead king for a moment, before picking up their spears and clubs and rushing at the unarmed Polydeuces. They were quick, but the Argonauts were quicker, drawing their swords and taking up positions in front of their champion. Castor struck first, cleaving an attacker’s head in two. Polydeuces still had enough fight in him to drop-kick one man and then punch another so hard he tore off the man’s brow above his eye. The Bebrycians drew blood too, but the battle ended when Ancaeus raised his massive war-axe and plunged into the barbarians, followed by Jason and two other furious Argonauts.
The leaderless tribesmen cowered under this sudden onslaught, then broke and fled. The Argonauts followed up their victory by plundering all around. One commented that if they had not abandoned Heracles there would have been no challenge from Amycus; others argued, however, that this latest test was the will of Zeus. The Argonauts returned to the beach to make their offerings to the gods and tend their wounded.
They set sail the next morning into the treacherous Bosporus, relying on Tiphys’s navigational skills to steer the Argo towards a safe harbour opposite Bithynia. Here they would encounter a tortured old man, and learn their destiny.
Polydeuces and Amycus by José Daniel Cabrera Peña.
Phineas and the Harpies
By any standards, Phineas had lived a strenuous existence. He had been given the gift of prophecy as a young man but, through divining the future indiscriminately, he had usurped a critical power of Zeus. Divine retribution came in the form of blindness and perpetual old age, to which Zeus added still more torment by means of the vile flying creatures known to all as the Harpies.
Whenever local people asked Phineas to divine the will of the gods, and left offerings in payment, the Harpies descended from the skies, tearing away the old man’s food with their hooked beaks and leaving behind such a stench that any remaining scraps became so foully tainted that no one would come near Phineas to help him eat.
By the time the Argonauts approached his home, Phineas survived in a wretched state; his body, caked in filth, trembled with age, starvation and weariness, held together only by the strength of his gift. Hope burst within Phineas, however, upon hearing the trampling feet of his latest visitors, because Zeus had also declared that a band of warriors would help him finally taste his food. Phineas shuffled to the door, sat down, and waited.
The old prophet’s physical condition shocked the Argonauts when they reached his home. Phineas took no notice of their concerns, and spoke resolutely. He knew who they were, and of their dangerous mission, but he begged them to first help alleviate his misery at the hands of the Harpies. Phineas added that an oracle had foretold that the sons of Boreas – Zetes and Calaïs – would do the deed. The old man’s appeal reduced the adventurers to tears, and they all wanted to help him, but they were still wary of offending the gods.
In 1984, British writer and explorer Tim Severin retraced the voyage of Jason from Iolcus to Colchis in a specially built replica of the Argo. The next year, he released his book The Jason Voyage, recounting the the journey. (Topfoto)
Zetes chasing after a harpy by José Daniel Cabrera Peña.
Zetes stepped forward and, taking Phineas’s hand, asked for reassurance that it was safe to give the
ir assistance. The prophet replied that he would take responsibility for their actions and that the gods would not harm them. The brothers, comforted by the prophet’s guarantee, drew back to plan the demise of the Harpies.
Zetes and Calaïs prepared an ambush for the Harpies by setting out a feast for Phineas in the customary fashion. When Phineas ambled up to the food, the warriors drew their swords and hid nearby. Barely had Phineas touched his first bite when the Harpies plunged through the clouds, with their talons and beaks extended to grab the food. The Argonauts leaped out of hiding, but the Harpies were too quick and grabbed all the food, leaving behind their distinctive stench.
Determined to end the Harpies’s reign of terror on the old prophet, the winged brothers took off in pursuit. Hunters and hunted swooped through the sky, Zetes and Calaïs closing with every wing-beat until they came within inches of latching on to the terrified Harpies. Then, all of a sudden, the goddess Iris appeared. She told the two men that to kill the Harpies would indeed go against the will of Zeus, but she pledged that if the brothers spared them, she would see that they never came near Phineas again. Zetes and Calaïs, their mission accomplished, turned back to tell their comrades the good news.
While they waited for the brothers to return, the rest of the Argonauts tended to Phineas by bathing him and preparing one of Amycus’s sheep for a suitable victory feast. The prophet, freed from his curse, ate ravenously alongside Jason’s crew before joining them in their vigil for the returning Zetes and Calaïs. Suitably fed and rested by the fire, and surrounded by the Argonauts, Phineas began to speak. He first warned the men that he had learned his lesson about the use of prophecy, which only Zeus could impart in full. Therefore, what he had to tell them about their continuing journey must, by necessity, be incomplete. That said, he continued, they would soon come to the Symplegades, rocks at the junction of two seas.