by Smith, Neil
Death had not finished with the Argonauts this day, however. As they returned to the ship, Mopsus stood on the tail of a snake lying in the sand, causing it to whip back and bite the man’s leg. The snake’s poison immediately took effect, numbing the Argonaut’s body before its fatal last spasm. Jason and the other Argonauts grieved for their comrade and built a burial mound over his body, befitting his heroic status.
It was with heavy hearts that the crew boarded the Argo for the next leg of their journey.
The Tritonian Lake
The Argo sailed out into the Tritonian Lake on the edge of a southerly breeze. The Argonauts lacked direction, however, and could not find an exit to the ocean. With mounting frustration amongst its crew, the little ship meandered around aimlessly until Orpheus called for Jason to steer into shore. His plan was to make an offering to the gods in exchange for a path through to the sea. The sailors disembarked and conducted the ritual, and straight away Triton, the son of Poseidon, appeared. He introduced himself and offered a clod of earth to Euphemus.
Talos, the Bronze Man. According to various myths, Talos was created by either the god Hephaestus, or the inventor Daedalus, in order to guard Europa (a woman favoured by Zeus). Talos walked around the island of Crete three times a day, throwing rocks at any enemies that might approach.
Triton listened while Euphemus explained how they came to be in this predicament, then stretched out his hand to show them the path they must sail. Once in the ocean, he added, they should stay close to the coast until they reached a cape, then head straight out to sea to get home.
The Argonauts scrambled on board, eager to get underway. They did not see Triton enter the water behind them but nevertheless urged Jason to sacrifice their best sheep to him, which he promptly did by cutting its throat and throwing it over the stern. Triton was delighted and appeared to the Argonauts in his true form as half-man, half-sea serpent. He took up a position in front of the Argo and guided the ship out to the ocean where he disappeared under the waves.
The exuberant Argonauts spent the evening in the bay then sailed on at dawn the following morning, keeping the desert on their left. The Argonauts saw the headland receding, then a south wind carried them forward out to sea. When the wind died, they took to their oars, heading directly for Crete. But there a new danger awaited them.
Talos, the Bronze Man
The island of Crete was protected in unique fashion by a bronze giant called Talos. His armoured skin was invulnerable to mortal weapons, so that when the Argonauts tried to tie up on the shore Talos easily drove them away by throwing rocks. The Argonauts drew back the Argo to a safe range while they considered their options. What the Argonauts did not know was that Talos was created with a weak point on his ankle, where a lightly covered vein presented a life-threatening target.
It was Medea who stepped forward, ordering the Argonauts to stay out of range while she dealt with the problem. The crew watched in fascination as Medea began to chant ritual incantations that conjured death-spirits from Hades. She kneeled, fastening her stare on Talos’s eyes, all the while praying and singing in a furious temper before unleashing phantom demons against the bronze giant. Talos responded with greater efforts at throwing rocks, straining to sink the Argo.
The giant’s obsession proved his downfall when, distracted, he caught his ankle on a pointed boulder that ripped open his exposed vein. Talos’s molten blood poured out on to the sand, and he staggered for a few moments, growing weaker by the second, until, finally, he crashed to the ground. The jubilant Argonauts rode ashore in safety and, before they sailed the next morning, set up a shrine to Athena for their deliverance.
Darkness and Light
The Argo sailed all that day and into the night, but the Argonauts grew increasingly fearful when the stars and moon did not show to help them navigate. The chaos of darkness sent the sailors into new fits of anguish, and some even wondered if they were alive or dead. Finally, Jason held out his hands and called on Apollo, as god of the sun, to save them. Straight away, Apollo came down to the Melantian rocks, from which he held up his silver bow and cast a beam of light out to sea. The Argonauts could now see the tiny island of Hippuris and rowed quickly across to drop anchor. Dawn came soon after and the hugely relieved Argonauts built an altar to Apollo.
Jason returns to Iolcus with the Golden Fleece
This relief illustrates the tragic life of Medea after the quest for the Golden Fleece, which is most famously related in the play Medea by Euripides.
The Argonauts sailed on, passing along the coast of Greece without further incident until they came to the beach of Pagasae. Jason’s epic adventure to recover the Golden Fleece and return to claim his kingdom was nearly over.
The Return to Iolcus
For a couple whose love burned so brightly and who had overcome such adversity, Jason and Medea’s lives after the search for the Golden Fleece disintegrated into tragedy. When they arrived in Iolcus, Medea persuaded the usurper Pelias’s daughters that they could help rejuvenate their father by chopping him into pieces and placing his parts into a cauldron with some magical herbs. They quickly followed Medea’s recommendation, but too late they realized their role in regicide when Medea withheld the required herbs. Pelias’s son, Acastus, had seen the murder, however, and promptly drove Medea and Jason out of Iolcus. From there, the couple moved to Corinth where Medea gave birth to two sons. The idyllic love between Medea and Jason appeared as strong as ever, but then Jason made a fatal error.
For all his promises to Medea, Jason was still the son of a Greek king and she a foreign princess; it was only right, to Jason anyway, that he should marry into Greek royalty despite his promises of everlasting fealty to Medea. Therefore, Jason married Glauce, the daughter of King Creon of Corinth, hoping to keep Medea as his mistress. Medea flew into a rage, berating Jason for abandoning her. She could never return to Colchis and no one in Greece would have her, or so she thought. As luck would have it, the king of Athens arrived in Corinth and offered Medea protection if she would use her magic to give him children. Medea now set about plotting a vicious revenge on her unfaithful husband.
Medea paid a call on Jason to apologize for her previous behaviour and present a gift of a beautiful dress for Glauce. Jason delightedly took the dress to his new bride. Glauce was obviously enchanted by the dress and decided to wear it for her father to see. But Medea had laced the dress with a poison that burned; when Glauce put on the dress, the poison acted quickly, killing the princess in hideous fashion. Her father died too in his desperate efforts to save Glauce.
In the meantime, Medea killed Jason’s children with a knife so that he would be fully punished, then escaped to Athens. Jason did not follow; rather he stayed on until finally linking up with Peleus, who was a prince in his own right, and Telamon. They attacked Iolcus and restored Jason to his kingdom, but Jason had also upset his benefactor goddess Hera when he abandoned Medea.
His misfortunes continued, therefore, until finally a weary Jason fell asleep beside the rotting remains of the Argo on the beach, where it had been deserted after the search for the Fleece. While the former hero slept, the rotting stern broke off and killed him, an ignominious end to a life that would become legend.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary
Mozley, J. H. trans., Valerius Flaccus. Argonautica (Loeb Classical Library: Harvard University Press, 1936)
Murray, Gilbert trans., The Medea of Euripides (Oxford University Press: Project Guttenberg EBook www.guttenberg.org, 2011)
Oldfather, C. H. trans., Diodorus Siculus. Library of History Books II.35-IV.58 (Loeb Classical Library: Harvard University Press, 2006)
Race, William H. trans., Apollonius Rhodes. Argonautica (Loeb Classical Library: Harvard University Press, 2008)
Secondary
Casson, Lionel, The Ancient Mariners (Princeton University Press, 1991)
D’Amato, R., A. Salimbeti, Bronze Age Greek Warrior 1600–1100 BC (Osprey Publishing, 20
11)
Dickinson, Oliver, The Aegean Bronze Age (Cambridge University Press, 1994)
Hunter, Richard, The Argonautica of Apollonius (Cambridge University Press, 1993)
Mori, Anatole, The Politics of Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica (Cambridge University Press, 2008)
Osgood, Richard, Sarah Monks, Judith Toms, Bronze Age Warfare (Sutton Publishing, 2000)
Papanghelis, Theodore D., Antonios Rengakos Eds., A Companion to Apollonius Rhodius (Leiden; Boston, 2001)
Severin, Tim, The Jason Voyage: The Quest for the Golden Fleece (Simon & Schuster, 1985)
Shelmerdine, Cynthia W., The Aegean Bronze Age (Cambridge University Press, 2008)
Wachsmann, Shelley, Seagoing Ships & Seamanship in the Bronze Age Levant (Texas A&M University Press, 1998)
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