The myth of Jason is probably familiar to many by name, but the details perhaps have become elusive as the myth has fallen into obscurity. Jason’s story appears in the seventh book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and Ovid begins from Medea’s point of view—her obsession for the strange hero who has come to win the Golden Fleece.
Jason’s story begins much before his arrival to Colchis, where the Golden Fleece was kept protected. Jason was born to Aeson and Alcimede. When the throne Iolcus was usurped by Aeson’s half-brother, Pelias, Jason’s parents came to fear for Jason’s life. Aeson and Alcimede sent Jason to live with the Centaur Cheiron. When Jason had grown into manhood, he returned to Iolcus. There are variations as to what happened when Jason returned to Iolcus, but what is certain is that Pelias sent Jason on a quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece—a task thought impossible.
Arrival in Colchis and the Retrieval of the Golden Fleece
Jason arrived in Colchis after many trials, and upon arriving Ovid says, “they went to King Aeëtes, claiming / the Golden Fleece he had obtained from Phrixus, / the king agreed to yield the fleece they sought— / but only on his term: he set three tasks, horrendous tests that Jason had to pass” (Ovid 7.12-16).
Jason’s tasks were to yoke two fire-breathing bulls and plough a field with them, followed by another field he must plough with the teeth of a dragon. In the wake of the plough, he must battle the host of enemies that arise from the earth. The final task was to put to sleep a dragon that protected the Golden Fleece in the grove of Aries. Ovid writes of Medea’s torn heart for Jason, writing her a monologue, “If I don’t take his part, he will be blasted by the bulls’ hot breath, and then face foes that he himself begets—sprung from the very soil that he will sow—or else fall prey to the voracious dragon” (Ovid 7.51-55).
Jason would have failed had Medea not provided help in the form of a salve which made Jason invulnerable for a day. Upon succeeding in his three impossible tasks, Jason took another reward: Medea for a wife.
Return to Devastation
Jason and Medea returned to Iolcus to find Jason’s entire family killed. His parents had committed suicide to avoid being murdered at the hands of Pelias. Pelias, then, met his end at the hands of his own daughters. Medea, being a skilled sorceress, showed the daughters of Pelias how to restore youth to a ram by cutting it up into pieces and boiling it in a cauldron with special herbs. The ram emerged the broth as a lamb, and the daughters were convinced that they could restore the youth to their aging father. However, when they killed him and cut him into pieces, he failed to reemerge from the cauldron.
Jason did not ascend to replace the usurper, and when Pelias’s son became king, Jason and Medea fled to Corinth under the protection of King Creon. According to Euripides, Jason deserted Medea for the daughter of Creon, which prompted Medea to murder Jason’s new bride, her father as well as the children Medea bore Jason. She fled to Athens, leaving Jason alone, despairing for his ruined life.
Hell Hath No Fury...
The actions of Medea call to mind the expression “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Medea acted out passion to assist Jason in his tasks to win the Golden Fleece. Had she not stepped in to help Jason, he would have failed. This brings to mind an interesting characteristic of Jason’s: He is opportunistic. He takes advantage of Medea, using her love for his own personal gain, then leaving her when a better opportunity presented itself. Some versions of the story have Jason committing suicide upon Medea’s flight, although he is also said to have been crushed by a beam from his old ship, the Argos.
Impossible Tasks
In mythology, sometimes the theme of impossible tasks appears, which the hero of the story is always capable of successfully completing. Another aspect of the impossible tasks is that one or more of the tasks has to do with agriculture. The plough and field have special connotations of shift between one form of civilization to one that is agriculturally driven. This can also be seen in “How Culhwch Won Olwen,” a Celtic myth from The Mabinogian. In both of these stories, the task set has the hero preparing the land for farming, ushering in an age when civilization has conquered and subdued nature for its own gain.
Sources
- March, Jenny. Cassell’s Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Cassell: London, 2001.
- Ovid, The Metamorphoses. Trans Allen Mandelbaum. Harcourt: New York, 1993.
Joshua Benson - As a librarian and student of literature, I delight in the facilitation of knowledge to the eager reader.
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