The myth of Jason and the Argonauts - Iseult Gillespie

Hercules, the strongest man alive with
a mighty heart to match.

Orpheus, charmer of nature
and master of music.

Castor and Pollux, the twin tricksters
hatched from an egg.

The Boreads, sons of the North Wind
who could hurtle through the air.

For untold times these heroes had roamed
ancient Greece,

creating new legends wherever they went.

But none of their adventures was so great
as when they joined forces

for the sake of a young man named Jason.

Years before, Jason’s uncle Pelias had
ruthlessly usurped the throne of Thessaly

from Jason’s grandfather.

When Jason returned to his
father’s stolen court,

the cowardly king set him a seemingly
impossible task:

cross the teeming seas to Colchis,

and steal the golden fleece of a flying
ram from under King Aeetes’ nose.

If Jason retrieved the Fleece,

Pelias promised to relinquish the throne.

Touched by his heroic mission,

the Gods spread Jason’s call for help,

and soon he had assembled
a not-so-motley crew.

These heroes, alongside countless sailors,
soothsayers, and rebel demigods,

named themselves the Argonauts
after their sturdy ship.

But the path ahead was marked with
untold terrors–

enough to test even the fiercest heroes.

Their first stop was Lemnos, an isle of
women who had killed all the island’s men.

As punishment, Aphrodite had cursed them
with a sickening stench–

but that didn’t stop Jason fathering twins
with the queen.

The rest of the crew also found themselves
embroiled in new romances;

until Hercules chastised them
for not behaving like heroes.

Eventually, they sailed on
to the Mount of Bears,

an island where a group of ancient,
six-armed monsters

lived alongside the peaceful Doliones.

While the clan welcomed the Argonauts
with open arms,

the monsters surged down from the
mountains

and hurled rocks at the docked ship.

Hercules held them off single-handedly,

before his comrades joined the fray.

Bolstered by their victory, the triumphant
heroes sailed onward–

only to be blown back to the island
several stormy nights later.

In the tempest, the Doliones thought these
new arrivals invaders.

The Argonauts were similarly unaware of
their surroundings,

and fought blunderingly in the dark,
slaying wave after wave of foe.

But the morning light
revealed a horrible truth:

their victims were none other
than their previous hosts.

Yet again, Jason had allowed
the crew to be distracted,

this time at a terrible cost.

Ashamed at his conduct, he resolved
to focus only on the Fleece,

but even this haste proved ruinous.

When Hercules’ squire was abducted
by a water nymph,

Jason sailed on– oblivious to the
absence of his most powerful crewmate.

The remaining Argonauts continued
their quest,

until stopping at the sight of an old man
surrounded by a swirl of harpies.

This was Phineas, a seer cursed by Zeus
to endure old age, blindness,

and endless torture for giving
away his prophecies.

Moved by his plight, the wind brothers
set upon the flock,

providing Phineas with a brief respite
from his punishment.

In return,

the seer told them how to overcome
the terrifying trial that lay ahead:

the Symplegades, a pair clashing rocks
that reduced ships to splinters.

But first, the Argonauts would have to
maneuver past the mouth of hell,

around the island of the bloodthirsty
Amazons, and under psychedelic skies.

These adventures cost the crew both
in men and morale–

and some feared they might
be losing their minds.

Upon, reaching the clashing rocks,
the exhausted crew quaked with fear.

But Phineas’ advice rang in their heads.

The Argonauts released a single dove

and sped through in its wake
to emerge unscathed.

With this narrow escape, the Argonauts
finally had Colchis in their sights.

Yet while Jason rested and celebrated
with his crew,

he could feel his time among them
was drawing to a close.

As the fleece gleamed in his mind, he knew
he would have to retrieve it alone.

But he could not guess

that this final task would have
the most horrible price of all.