AR'GONAUTS Ok.'ApyovaiTat, Argo»a Uhl i i.e. "the sailors on the ship Argo"). A name given to those who, under command of Jason, undertook a voyage famous in Greek legend. The A rgo is mentioned in the Odyssey, and incidents of the story appear in the Hesi odic poems. Allusions, often contradictory and influenced by local legends, are scattered through the fragments of lyric poetry, and single episodes were used by the tragedians, though only the Medea of Euripides has sur vived. These fragments, and the somewhat more satisfactory scraps from the prose writers, are the chief sources for the earlier versions; but our most complete and valuable account is contained in the poem, in four books, by the Alexandrian librarian, Apollonius Rhodius, who tried to combine the mass of material with which his studies had made bins familiar into a connected and consistent narrative. A brief narrative is also found in the mythological handbook which goes under the name of Apol lodorns. In its main out-lines the story is as follows: l'elias, King of Ioleus, in Thessaly, having reason to fear his nephew, Jason, corn minded him to fetch from King iEetes. in Col (-his. the golden fleece of the rain which had borne away Phrixus and Ilene (q.v.). With the help of Hera and Athena, Jason and Argos, son of Phrixus, built a wonderful ship, strong and swift, but light, and with a piece of the oracular oak from Dodona in her keel, capable of delivering prophecies. About him ,Tason gathered a hand of heroes, whose names and number vary greatly, though the party is usu ally estimated to have comprised about fifty. The earlier versions seem to have placed the land of :Fetes in the far east, but the later riters placed it in Colehis, on the Black Sea. On the voyage the most notable adventures were: (1) The landing on Lemnos, where the Argonauts found a State of women. under Queen llypsipyle, all the men having been mur dered shortly before. Here they remained some time. and two sons were born to Jason and Hypsipyle. (2) Near the Bosporus Pollux con quered Amyeus. King of the Bebryees, in a box ing match, and so secured for his companions access to a spring. (3) In these same Thracian regions they found the blind prophet Phineus, tormented by the Harpies (q.v.). whom the
sons of Bdreas. Calais, and Zetes put to flight, and in return Phineus showed the Argonauts how to pass the ever-clashing rocks of the Sym plegades. (4) This adventure they accom plished by hard rowing, after they had been encouraged by the sight of a dove, which flew through the passage with only the loss of her tail feathers. When they arrived at Colehis, .-Eetes demanded that Jason should yoke fire hulls with brazen hoofs, plow with them a field, sow the dragon's teeth given him by Cadmus, and then destroy the crop of giants which would spring from such seed. All this Jason accomplished, with the help of .Eetes's daughter, Medea, who had fallen in love with the hero. With her help, also. he foiled further plots of the King, and securing the fleece by stealth, fled with Medea and her young brother. Pursued by .Fetes, Medea saved the Argonauts from capture by killing her brother and strew ing the fragments of his body into the sea, thus delaying her father, who piously collected his son's remains for burial. The return of the Argonauts was very diversely narrated. Some brought them by way of the Tanais into the Northern Sea, while others led them eastward to the ocean and back across Africa, carrying their ship through the Libyan desert on their shoulders. After many adventures they at length reached Tolcus. and delivered the fleece to Pelias. (For the further legends see articles :\ EDEA PELL A s. There are indications that both Jason and Aledea were originally worshiped as gods at Corinth and elsewhere. but later sank to the rank of heroes, and became connected with the common folk-tale of the lover who must per form impossible tasks to win his mistress, but who overcomes all obstacles by magic help. Whatever the origin of the story. there can be no doubt that it was developed under the influ ence of the voyages that marked the great period of Greek colonization in the Eighth and Seventh centuries n.e. The wonders and adventures en countered by the first explorers of the Black Sea and the west were thrown back into the mythical past, and told of gods and heroes—Hercules. Ja son. and Odysseus.