Monday 2 December 2019

THE ARGONAUTS AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE




This month I'd like to share with all of you one of the myths and legends I'm fascinated by, especially because it is connected to one of the constellations, Carina, and its origin. Are you ready for an incredible adventure?


When Jason's uncle nastily usurps the throne of Thessaly from Jason's grandfather , he sets a condition: if Jason managed to retrieve the golden fleece he would give back the throne to its real owner . So Jason calls the strongest heroes of Greece to fulfill the mission : Hercules , Castor and Pollux , Orpheus and many others and navigate ahead to Colchis , a region East of the Black Sea . But the path is marked with untold terrors enough to test even  the fiercest heroes . The first stop was the isle of Lemnos, where the inhabitant are only women because they killed all the men,   and Aphrodite curses them with a nauseating stink ; nevertheless all the men of the crew fall in love and spend a lot of time on the isle, the only one who avoids the  charm is Hercules that helps the others to recover their reason and continue the mission.

Afterwards the crew has to face other risks :  humans with six arms , a swirl of harpies and the Amazons , a population of ruthless warrior women , this adventures cost the crew both in men and morale . Upon reaching the clashing rocks (a group of rocks that tighten hindering the entrance of boats in the Black Sea) but they manage to  surpass them using an advice of a seer called Phineas and the rocks for the humiliation remain "petrified" and don't close anymore . Finally they reach the fleece and with the help of Medea, Jason's wife, who makes the dragon  that guards it  fall asleep, they steal the fleece and bring it to Greece to recuperate the throne  from his uncle.



The boat , that was  built on purpose for the mission using the wood of a oak consecrated to Zeus , was left in the Corinth strait . One day Jason , reminding the heroic deeds  of past times  , went on the boat , but the fate reserves it a death that doesn't fit his figure of hero , in fact an old ruined girder breaks smashing and killing him , however the gods touched by the death of Jason transforms the boat into a constellation named Carina which means the keel of the ship .

Giordano C. 


1 comment:

  1. Wonderfull post Giordano, but for in my opinion the myth (especially Jason's death part) is too much simplified. But don't worry amd continue this way!

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