Jason and the Argonauts What is the Argonautica

Jason and the Argonauts

• What is the Argonautica? (Title of epic poem in corporating myth of Jason and the Argonauts [lit. “sailors” [nautai] of the Argo”] • How does the Argonautica compare with the Odyssey? • Does the Argonautica correspond to any actual voyages of the Greeks? • Who is the “author” of the Argonautica? Different versions, most famous now of Apollonius of Rhodes

Origin of Golden Fleece (see Hyginus 2, 3 in Anthology p. 217) • Athamas and Nephelê have children Phrixus and Hellê. • Athamas remarries, new wife Ino (sister of Semele and Agave) • Ino wishes to get rid of stepchildren Phrixus and Helle; roasts all seeds so that crops fail, produces fake Delphic oracle calling for sacrifice of Phrixus by Athamas • Motif of human sacrifice and substitution/abduction (cf. myth of Iphigenia, d. of Agamemnon, Abraham and Isaac in Old Testament) • Escape of children on golden ram, Helle falls off into sea • Phrixus reaches Colchis, where he sacrifices the ram. Fleece (skin) is dedicated to Ares. • aetiology of Hellespont (pontos, “sea” of Helle) • Detail of golden fleece: fleece and purification? Fleece and gold dust in rivers? Connection with Hittite myth of Teshub and the skin bag (kursa)? • General connection with Greek colonization of the Black Sea region?

Athamas, ram, Phrixus, Helle. Red figure vase, Lucania, mid 4 th c. BCE.

Phrixus and the Golden Ram

Jason’s family and events in Iolkos • Pelias usurps the throne from his brother Aison/Aeson • Aeson sends his son Jason off to be educated by the centaur Chiron away from danger of Pelias. [Why have a centaur as a teacher? ] • Now grown up, Jason returns wearing one sandal (and confirming an oracle that a one-sandaled man will end Pelias’ life) • Confrontation and agreement: Jason manipulated into fetching the golden fleece

Voyage of Argo • construction by Argus [lit. “swift, shining”] of Argo [from same root as name Argus]] under instruction of Athena and special speaking prow of oak from Dodona (place of oracle of Zeus). • All-star crew includes: Heracles, Orpheus (singer with power to move animate and inanimate [trees, rocks], Dioscuri [Castor and Polydeuces], Boreads [Zetis and Calais], Theseus [in some versions], and many more heroes with special powers • [How is this different from labors of Heracles and Theseus? Why so many heroes? • Selected episodes: • Island of Lemnos and the Lemnian women, queen Hypsipyle. Offense against Aphrodite, foul smell and desertion by husbands, killing of husbands. • [Doliones], [Bebryces and their king, Amycus] • Heracles and Hylas and the nymphs • Phineus and the Harpies (“snatchers”), his prophecy about the Symplegades.

Map of first part of journey of the Argonauts

Myth associated with Lemnos • Women of island refuse worship of Aphrodite • Afflicted by foul smell • desertion by husbands, introduction of Thracian women as concubines • killing of husbands and fathers by Lemnian women • Only Hypsipyle hides her father • Society of females (cf. Amazons) led by Hypsipyle • Arrival of Argonauts, sex with women

Ritual associated with Lemnos • Fire ritual (Lemnos is sacred to Hephaistos, blacksmith god) • Women of Lemnos extinguish all fires and separate themselves from the male population. • For nine days they sacrifice to subterranean and other secret deities. • A sacred ship brings new fire to Lemnos from Delos (sanctuary of Apollo). • The new fire is distributed to craftsmen and households, and the island returns to normal life. • cf. festival of Skirophoria at Athens: Women separated themselves from men, abstained from sex, ate garlic and wore no perfume • What connections can we draw between this ritual and the myth of the Lemnian women?

Heracles and Hylas • Hylas as young man on cusp of adulthood (ephebe) • Relationship between Heracles and Hylas as typical relationship between older and younger male with erotic elements • Nymphs (Gr. numphê, “young woman (unmarried), young wife”), local goddesses associated with local landscape, mountains, rivers, streams, caves. • Positive and negative aspects of nymphs in myth and cult. Why can they be dangerous? Comparison with the Sirens. • Death by drowning as sign of hero cult. More common for heroines than heroes? • Reason for removal of Heracles from the subsequent adventures of the Argonauts? Look at variants preserved by Apollodorus (Anthology p. 26)

Hylas and the Nymphs: 19 th c. CE painting by Waterhouse

Phineus and the Harpies • Phineus as blind prophet, punishment—for what? Mistreatment of sons? Variants in Apollodorus (Anthology, p. 26) • Harpuiai (lit. “snatching women” [fem. ])/Harpies and snatching of food, pollution with foul odor. Food in context of sacrifice to the gods, and inability to sacrifice properly. • Connotations of this root harp- in Greek: snatching as abduction, usually of women (cf. “snatchings” of women in Herodotus’ introduction, and snatching winds which take young women away). One variation has them abduct Phineus himself. • aid from the Boreads (sons of the North Wind [Gr. boreas], Zetis and Calais), pursuit and conditions of pursuit (Apollodorus, Anthology p. 26) • Phineus’ prophecy about the Symplegades.

Phineus at sacrifice and the Harpies (Harpuiai). Kleophrades painter, Athenian red figure hydria, c. 480 BCE

Boread (right) pursues Harpies (Harpuiai). Phineus painter, Chalcidian black figure eye cup, c. 530 -520 BCE

Symplegades • passage through the Symplegades, wandering “clashing ones” (sun - “together’ plêg- “clash, strike”), help of Athena. Cf. similar rocks (Planktai, “wandering” [rocks]) in Odyssey – avoided by Odysseus and his men. • Connection with colonization of Black Sea region in 7 th c. BC? • Device of sending a dove through first, rocks become fixed after Argo goes through.

Jason in Colchis • Arrival in Colchis on the river Phasis, love and advice of Medea [Medeia], d. of local king, Aietes (cf. Ariadne motif), who is hostile to Jason and the Argonauts • Who is Medea? Why is she necessary? Why does she do what she does? • genealogy of Medea (see following slide): granddaughter of (god) Sun (Helios), niece of Circe the sorceress (cf. Odyssey) • Aeetes and the oracle, assignment of tasks: yoking of fire-breathing bulls, sowing of dragon’s teeth. Cf. myth of Cadmus and the dragon’s teeth, connection with creation of autochthonous inhabitants of a land. • How is this achieved? • Greek dragons chiefly as snake-like, chthonic/underworld connection. Meaning of drakôn, root drk: “watching”, gaze of serpent. • Taking of the fleece from the dragon: how is this achieved? Variants in the myth, is preserved only in visual form (vase painting by Douris).

Genealogy of Medea

The same motif in another myth: Cadmus sows dragon’s teeth. Late 15 th c. CE illuminated manuscript.

Jason regurgitated by the Dragon, with Athena. By Douris, 5 th c. BCE Athenian red-figure kylix (wine cup).

Jason reaches for the Golden Fleece (note serpent coiled around tree). Athena to right, anonymous Argonaut, Argo with small head on prow. By Orchard painter, Athenian red figure column krater, 5 th c. BCE

Return journey of the Argo • flight of the Argo and its strange course (see map), other versions exist. • Variants concerning killing of Apsyrtus, brother of Medea, either by Jason or Medea (Apollodorus) • encounter with Circe, Scylla and Charybdis, Phaeacians - cf. Odysseus. • episode in Libya and Lake Tritonis, overlap with Heracles and the garden of the Hesperides [not mentioned in Apollodorus] • Crete and the bronze giant Talos, Medea, and the ichor plug (ichor: bodily fluid in gods, corresponding to blood in mortals) • return to Iolcus.

Talos, the bronze giant of Crete, surrounded by Argonauts. Athenian red figure krater, c. 4 th c. BCE