Chapter 12: Iason and the Argo
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♠ Py 4.211-19 – Pindar, Pythian Odes
But that voyage of the demigods put an end to them. And then the Argonauts came to Phasis, where they clashed with the dark-faced Colchians in the realm of Aeetes himself. And the queen of sharpest arrows brought the dappled wryneck from Olympus, bound to the four spokes [215] of the indissoluble wheel: Aphrodite of Cyprus brought the maddening bird to men for the first time, and she taught the son of Aeson skill in prayerful incantations, so that he could rob Medea of reverence for her parents, and a longing for Greece would lash her, her mind on fire, with the whip of Persuasion. Greek Text
♠ Ol 13.53-54 – Pindar, Olympian Odes
I shall tell of Sisyphus, who, like a god, was very shrewd in his devising, and of Medea, who resolved on her own marriage against her father’s will, and thus saved the ship Argo and its seamen. Greek Text
♠ Py 4.220-42 – Pindar, Pythian Odes
And she quickly revealed the means of performing the labors set by her father; and she mixed drugs with olive oil as a remedy for hard pains, and gave it to him to anoint himself. They agreed to be united with each other in sweet wedlock. But when Aeetes placed in their midst the adamantine plough [225] and the oxen, who breathed the flame of burning fire from their golden jaws and stamped at the earth in turn with their bronze hoofs, he led them along and single-handedly brought them under the yoke. And he drove them, stretching the furrows straight, and split the back of the clodded earth, a fathom deep. Then he spoke in this way: “Let your king, [230] whoever commands the ship, complete this work for me; then let him carry off the immortal coverlet, the fleece gleaming with its golden fringe.” When he had spoken thus, Jason threw off his saffron cloak and, trusting in the god, set his hand to the task. The fire did not touch him; he followed the advice of the foreign woman who knew every kind of remedy. He grasped the plough, and bound the necks of the oxen in the irresistible [235] harness, and prodding their strong-ribbed bulk with the unceasing goad the powerful man accomplished the allotted measure of his task. And Aeetes wailed, though his cry was silent, amazed at Jason’s strength. His companions stretched their friendly hands towards the mighty man, [240] and crowned him with garlands of laurel, and greeted him with gentle words. Greek Text
♠ Σ AR 3.1354 – Scholia to Apollonios of Rhodes, Argonautika – Scholia in Apollonium Rhodium vetera, p. 257-58, ed. C. Wendel. Berlin 1935.
same as
♠ fr 19 PEG [dubium] – Poetae Epici Graeci 1, p. 114, ed. A. Bernabé. Leipzig 1987.
♠ Pherekydes 3F22 FGrH – Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 1, pp. 67-68, ed. F. Jacoby, 2d ed. Leiden 1957.
♠ fr 341 R – Sophokles, Kolchides – Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta vol. 4, p. 319, ed. S.L. Radt. Göttingen 1977.
♠ Py 4.249 – Pindar, Pythian odes
Jason killed the gray-eyed serpent with its dappled back by cunning. Greek Text
♠ Pherekydes 3F112 FGrH – Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 1, p. 90, ed. F. Jacoby, 2d ed. Leiden 1957.
♠ Pherekydes 3F31 FGrH – Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 1, p. 69, ed. F. Jacoby, 2d ed. Leiden 1957.
♦ Vatican, Museo Gregoriano Etruscan 16545: interior of Attic red-figure cup by Douris with fleece on an tree in left background; in foreground, large snake disgorges limp Iason (named) while armed Athena with owl looks on
Monumenti inediti pubblicati dall’Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica vol. 2 (1834-1838), pl. 35
Digital LIMC and links to entries in printed LIMC
Beazley Archive Pottery Database
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Artistic Sources edited by R. Ross Holloway, Elisha Benjamin Andrews Professor Emeritus, Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown Univ., and Frances Van Keuren, Prof. Emerita, Lamar Dodd School of Art, Univ. of Georgia, February 2026
Literary sources edited by Elena Bianchelli, Retired Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, March 2022.
