Jason and the Golden Fleece

“As a lonely young girl falls with relief upon her grey-haired nurse and cries—she has no longer anyone else to care for her, but drags out a wearisome life at the beck and call of a stepmother. Just now she has been battered by the lady’s many reproaches, and as she grieves her heart within her is held fast in the bonds of its misery, and she has not the strength to sob forth all the sorrow that throbs within—just so did Alkimede weep bitterly as she held her son in her arms.”

Like Homer, Apollonius incorporates similes throughout his epic but in different ways and for different purposes. In this simile, he compares Jason’s mother lamenting to a young girl crying because her stepmother treats her badly. The domestic scene in the simile reflects a peacetime setting, as opposed to Homer’s tendency to emphasize the brutality of war through his similes. 

“He checked his lyre and his divine voice, but though he had finished, the others all leaned forwards, ears straining under the peaceful spell; such was the bewitching power of the music which lingered amongst them.”

In Greek mythology, Orpheus’ heroic power is his gift of music. He is also associated with a religious cult. Aspects of both associations make their way into Apollonius’ epic. In this passage, he bewitched his own crew with the power of his song. Later, they will row to his music, which is compared to “young men who dance in Phoibos’ honour at Python or perhaps Prtygia or by the waters of the Ismenos, and to the music of the lure beat the ground around the altar with the rhythmic tap of their swift feet” (16). Orpheus’ presence across the epic is one of protection and calm.

“As when bees pour from a hive in the rocks to surround the beautiful lilies with their buzzing, and the dewy meadow rejoices as the bees flit from place to place gathering their sweet crop, so did the women press around the men, weeping and embracing them as they said good-bye, and they prayed to the blessed gods to grant them a safe return home.”

In Book 2 of the Iliad, Homer famously describes the Argives surging out of their camps to meet with their leaders. Here, Apollonius both draws on and subverts Homer’s use of the bee simile. In this scene, it is the heroes’ mothers who are surging out to see their men off, as they embark on their journey. The joy of the bees contrasts with the grief of the women who worry for the outcome of the quest, a tension Apollonius invokes repeatedly in the epic.

“Herakles slew Melekleş and Megabrontes. Sphodris was slaughtered by Akastos; Peleus destroyed Zeal’s and the bold Gephyros, while Telamon of the strong spear killed Basileus. Promeus was Idas’ victim, and Hyakinthos Klytios’, while Megalossakes and Phlogios fell to the two sons of Tyndareus. Next to them the son of Oineus destroyed bold Itymoneus and Partakes, leader of men. All of these are still glorified by the inhabitants with the honours due to heroes.”

This excerpt describes the Doliones that the Argonauts killed. It mimics the style of Homer, who lists names of warriors and the men they killed, but also subverts that style. Here, the Argonauts have killed their own friends, not fighters from the opposing army. After the Argonauts and Doliones realize what happened, they come together to mourn and perform funeral honors for the dead. Homer’s Iliad also ends with reconciliation, but it is tragically temporary.

“As when a bull is stung by a gadfly and rushes off, abandoning the meadows and the marshes, and has no thought for the keepers or the herd, but runs without resting or sometimes stops and lifts its broad neck to bellow in distress at the bite of the cruel fly, so in his rage did Herakles’ legs move swiftly and without pausing, but sometimes he would break off his labour and in a loud voice give off cries which reached far into the distance.”

This simile exemplifies the way Apollonius, consistent with Hellenistic poetics, provides humorous portraits of gods and heroes that bring them closer to humans. The mighty Herakles, in his grief and rage at having lost Hylas to an amorous nymph, rushes about as incoherently as a bull being menaced by a stinging fly. Where Homer and the Athenian tragedians tended to magnify heroes’ suffering, Apollonius pokes fun at it.

“In a moment they had found a suitable place nearby, and made all their companions sit down in two groups on the sand. To look upon, Amykos and Polydeukes were quite different in physique and stature. One was like the monstrous offspring of awful Typhoeus or even one of the children whom Gaia herself once bore in her anger against Zeus. But the other, the line of Tyndareos, was like that star in the heavens whose sparkling rays are brightest as it rises through the darkness of evening.”

This passage describes the one-on-one combat between Polydeukes and Amykos, which the latter forces on the Argonauts as a law of his land. The scene evokes the one-on-one combat between Menelaus and Paris in Iliad Book 3, but again Apollonius plays on the traditional motif. As in the Iliad, the two sides sit in the sand, but Homer’s combatants are both warriors with an excellence, albeit a difference excellence. In contrast, Apollonius exaggerates the differences between his two combatants, casting one as monstrous and the other as divinely blessed (via the comparison to a star).

“As when on a winter’s day the sudden attack of grey wolves causes panic among countless sheep in their stalls; the wolves have slipped by the keen-scented dogs and the shepherds also, and as they search for the first victim their gaze roams everywhere, while the sheep stumble over each other as they are hemmed in on every side—just so did the Argonauts cause grim panic in the insolent Bebrykians. As when herdsmen or beekeepers smoke out a great swarm of bees from a rock, and for a while the bees buzz furiously in confusion the hive, but finally, overcome by the murky smoke, they dash out of the rock—just so the Bebrykians did not stand their ground for long, but scattered throughout their territory, bearing the news of Amykos’ death.”

In this excerpt, Apollonius layers two similes onto each other, a technique also used by Homer. Again, the similarity between the techniques draws attention to how differently each poet deploys it. Homer layers similes to emphasize and elongate an especially important or dramatic moment, as when he famously uses five similes in a row to describe the Achaeans swarming into battle in Book 2. Conversely, Apollonius’ similes do not build on each other, creating the sense of unstoppable force, but instead contrast the Argonauts with the Bebrykians in a way that is favorable to the former.

“He had not the slightest thought even for Zeus himself as he unerringly revealed to men the god’s holy mind. Therefore Zeus sent a long old age upon him and took away the sweet light of his eyes.”

This passage describes Phineus, the seer who helps the Argonauts plot their course to Colchis with his prophecies. Ancient Greek mythological narratives often portray seers as blind, typically as compensation for the gift of prophecy. Here, Apollonius makes blindness Phineus’ punishment for revealing more than he should about Zeus’ prophecy. This is consistent with Apollonius’ apparent preface to foreground human actions. The gods still play important roles, but their reactions and contributions tend to follow rather than drive human motivations.

“There in former times Dipsakos received the son of Athamas in his house when he was fleeing on the ram from the city of Orchomenos. Dipsakos’ mother was a nymph of the meadows, and he had no liking for wanton violence, but lived quietly with his mother and grazed his flocks on the banks of his father’s waters.”

As the Argonauts travel east to Colchis, they pass numerous places associated with mythical figures and events that tie the Greek-speaking world to places and people across a broad geographical space. Here, the myth invoked concerns Phrixus’ flight to safety on the golden ram whose fleece the Argonauts seek to secure. If the Homeric epics narrate a foundation for hero cult and the origins of Panhellenism, Apollonius offers a foundation myth that ties the East to Greek speakers’ cosmology. The characterization of Dipsakos also highlights the pastoral and domestic, both concerns of Alexandrian poets like Apollonius and Theocritus.

“Under his feet the whole island shook and waves washed over the dry land. At the sight of him the Argonauts were struck helpless with amazement; no one dared to look directly into the god’s brilliant eyes, but they stood looking down at the ground, and he passed through the air far away out to sea. After a long silence Orpheus finally addressed the heroes as follows:

‘Come, let us call this the holy island of Apollo of the Dawn.’”

This passage describes Apollo appearing to the Argonauts in his true form, another play on and divergence from the gods in Homer, where they appear to humans often but in the guise of mortals. On the one hand, given the Hellenistic tendency to shrink the distance between gods and mortals, it may seem contradictory for Apollonius to portray Apollo in this way. However, that Apollo can appear to the Argonauts in his true form suggests the gods’ true form is not so distant, forbidding, and unknowable, as appears in Homer and the tragedians.

“Soon they heard Prometheus’ wretched groans as his liver was torn out; the air resounded to his cries until the saw the flesh-devouring eagle darting back from the mountain along the same path.”

As the Argonauts approach the Caucasian mountains, they pass over the site where Prometheus is being punished. The recitation of this myth seems to place a time stamp on the Argonauts’ journey, since Herakles eventually releases Prometheus from his punishment during his later labors. In addition, it places Greek speakers in the east geographically, locating their mythic past across a broad expanse, which potentially suggests a justification for expansion of the Greek-speaking world.

“So he spoke, and the gods sent them a sign of their favour. A timid dove fled from the assault of a hawk and dropped in terror from the sky into the lap of the son of Aison, while the hawk impaled itself on the ship’s sternpost.”

In this scene, Jason suggests that he will attempt to secure the fleece by peacefully appealing to Aietes before resorting to violent and/or subversive schemes. The escape of the dove again plays on omens in Homer that feature innocent creatures being devoured by predators. In Homer, the predator’s victory over the innocent is read as a sign of impending success. Here, Apollonius turns the tables, and it is the dove’s escape and the predator’s destruction that herald divine approbation.

“[Medea] imagined that the stranger undertook the challenge not at all because he wanted to recover the fleece—it was not for that that he had come to Aietes’ city—but to take her back to his own home as his properly wedded wife.”

Apollonius’ epic has been credited for its emotional and psychological insight into first love. Here, he describes Medea fantasizing that she, not the fleece, is what brought Jason to Colchis. In characteristic Apollonian fashion, the whimsy and charm of this portrayal are set against the more sinister aspects of Medea’s character. Within the epic, these are expressed in her practice of magic, knowledge of drugs, and destructive urges. Beyond the epic, audiences of Apollonius’ epic would likely have been aware of Euripides’ Medea, in which she murders her own children with Jason to punish him for his betrayal.

“Words rose to the very tip of her tongue, but then flew back again deep into her chest; often they rushed up to her lovely mouth to be uttered, but then went no further and were never spoken.”

This excerpt describes Medea struggling to find words to express herself when her sister asks why she is so distressed. The description evokes a somewhat arcane expression from Homer to describe speech: “winged words.” In oral cultures, speech may have been associated with breath, with words being held in the chest (the seat of contemplation and consciousness, associated with both emotional and intellectual functions) or breathed out. Apollonius draws on this concept but adapts it to portray Medea’s indecision and deliberation about how to appeal to her sister.

“It sprang up new-formed when the flesh-tearing eagle caused bloody ichor from the suffering Prometheus to drip to the ground on the Caucasian crags.”

Here, Apollonius describes the origins of the drug Medea gives to Jason to grant him temporary invulnerability. Tying the drug to an immortal’s punishment and suffering both explains its power and underscores its sinister origins. Medea is a young girl in love who is also conversant in dangerous and powerful drugs. Apollonius will exploit this connection repeatedly for the remainder of the epic, evoking the Medea of Euripides’ eponymous tragedy.

“Leaving the palace she mounted on the swift wagon, and with her mounted two maidservants, one on each side. She herself took the reins and in her right hand grasped the well-fashioned whip.”

This passage describes Medea as she sets off for Hekate’s shrine, where she will meet Jason to give him the protective drug. The description mirrors a passage in Odyssey Book 6, in which Nausicaa, a young princess with marriage on her mind, sets off from her palace with her maidens. She will find and help protect Odysseus in his vulnerable state, but their relationship will not be consummated or have a tragic end. Apollonius exploits his audiences’ epic expectations but puts them to a different purpose, as Medea’s protection of Jason will come with a steep price for both him and her.

“In Hellas, no doubt, honouring agreements is a fine thing; but among men Aietes is not as you describe Minos, Pasiphae’s husband, nor am I the equal of Ariadne. Therefore do not speak of friendly hospitality.”

During their first face-to-face interaction, Medea is filled with grief—from her anxiety about going against her father, the intensity of her feelings for Jason, and her anticipation that he will soon leave Colchis. She asks him to tell her about his homeland, and he tells her a story about Theseus and Ariadne, who, like Medea, acts against her father’s intention to help a hero. Jason’s wish here is that Aietes would be like a Hellenic king, who keeps agreements and shows hospitality. Scholars have noted that Medea’s response highlights a perceived difference in Apollonius’ time between the lands the Hellenic empires conquered and their own values.

“Leave those gusts flapping aimlessly, my poor friend, and your message-bearing bird as well—your talk is as idle as the wind. If you reach that area and the land of Hellas, you will be honoured and respected among women and men; they will pay court to you reverently like a god, because it was thanks to you that their sons returned home safe, and their brothers, kinsmen, and husbands in their prime were saved from disaster. In our lawful marriage-chamber you shall share my bed, and nothing will separate us in our love until the appointed death enshrouds us.”

Here, Jason cajoles Medea with flattery and promises of glory, if only she will help him and the Argonauts escape Aietes’ violent intentions. Throughout the epic, he is portrayed as at times hapless, weak, and lacking in judgment. Earlier, he describes Medea as “gentle and kindly,” and the prediction in this passage, for audiences aware of Euripides’ Medea, is the opposite of what comes to pass (89). Apollonius’ repeated references to Euripides’ tragedy and foreshadowing of Jason and Medea’s destructive ends may be understood as a cautionary note on the potential hazards of conflicting value systems.

“So she spoke, seething with grim anger. She longed to set fire to the ship, to destroy everything before their eyes, and then throw herself into the consuming flames.”

When the Colchians catch up with the Argonauts, and Jason submits to the ruling of a local king to determine whether Medea will be sent back to them, Medea is enraged. She berates and threatens the Argonauts, accusing them of having lied to and betrayed her. Jason urges her to be calm, explaining that their appeal to the king is buying them time to decide their next move and reiterating his commitment to her, but her impulse is destruction. The Alexandrian poets influenced the Roman poet Virgil; this description of Medea echoes in his depiction of Dido’s suicide in the Aeneid.

“Reckless Eros, great curse, greatly loathed by men, from you come deadly strifes and grieving and troubles, and countless other pains on top of these swirl up.”

Apollonius’ description of Eros as a curse reflects the paradoxical way it was understood in Homer (via Helen) and Hesiod (via Pandora). Homer and Hesiod tend to foreground divine force: Eros cannot be resisted, and any attempt to do so will destroy the one who attempts to, as evidenced in Aphrodite’s deadly threat to Helen when she attempts to resist the force of love in Iliad Book 3. Apollonius’ consistency foregrounds human motivations over divine force. Only after Medea has raged against and threatened the Argonauts if they betray her love for Jason does Apollonius mention Eros.

“She made a mistake when she first gave him the magical drugs against the bulls; soon after that, she tried to cure one ill by another—as we often do in our foolishness—and she fled from the bitter anger of her violent father.”

In this excerpt, Arete appeals to her husband, king Alkinoos, to help Medea, arguing that she simply made a mistake and then, to correct one mistake, made another, even bigger one. Arete’s characterization focuses on a chain of human errors caused by emotional attachment, something that could happen to anyone rather than being a fatal flaw unique to Medea. This episode represents another way that Apollonius foregrounds human motivation over divine will. In Homer, heroic excess and error is so entangled with divine forces that the two cannot be separated. In Apollonius, the gods still exert an influence, but they tend to follow descriptions of human behavior rather than frame it.

“With these words he sprang up and, filthy with dust, shouted over the wastes to his companions, like a lion which roars as it seeks its mate through the forest; at the sound of its deep voice the mountain-glades far away resound, and the cattle in the fields and the herdsmen of the cattle shudder with fright. But Jason’s voice did not terrify the Argonauts, as it was a comrade calling to his friends.”

Lion similes are pervasive in Homer’s Iliad and make few but notable appearances in the Odyssey. In battle contexts, warriors are compared to lions to emphasize their predatory effectiveness. In the Odyssey, lion similes are deployed to demonstrate either the inappropriateness of warrior behavior in peacetime (for example, Odysseus compared to a lion when confronted with Nausicaa and her maidens) or to turn the tables and make the predator the prey (for example, when Penelope, under siege by the suitors, is compared to a lion surrounded by hunters). As always, Apollonius subverts his audience’s expectations, comparing Jason to a lion, then undercutting the analogy by deeming it ultimately irrelevant. 

“Her mind set upon evil, she cast a spell upon bronze Talos’ eyes with her malevolent glances; against him her teeth ground out bitter fury, and she sent out dark phantoms in the vehemence of her wrath.”

The passage describes Medea casting the evil spell on Talos, by which she effectively murders him. Her glances and incantations bewitch him so that he behaves erratically and hurts himself in the one place on his body that is vulnerable. Scholars have noted that the description of the process reflects how it was understood in the historical period.