Jason and the Golden Fleece

Jason was the son of Aeson, an expelled king of Thessaly, who was unjustly overthrown from his throne by his half brother Pelias.

Upon his birth, Jason’s parents pretended that Jason had died at birth and secretly gave the child to the wise Centaur Chiron (half man half horse) to be protected from the enemies. Jason grew up safely in the Mountains of Pelion under the guidance of the gentle Centaur.

By the age of twenty, Jason decided to return to his father's kingdom to re-claim his family's throne. On his way, Jason encountered a helpless old woman and offered to carry her across a river. The old woman was the goddess Hera in disguise who was putting Jason's kind soul to a test. While crossing the river, Jason lost his sandal and therefore arrived at Iolcus with only one sandal.

When Pelias saw Jason he became very frightened because once a prophecy had warned him he would lose his throne from the "one sandaled". In order to protect himself, Pelias gave Jason an impossible feat: to bring back the Golden Fleece from the divine forest of Ares in Colchis. To accomplish this, Jason needed to pass the Black Sea between Colchis and Thessaly and to take the Golden Fleece away from its fierce guarding dragon that never slept.

Determined to reclaim his throne, Jason agreed to retrieve the Golden Fleece. The journey would be long and the mission tedious and of great difficulty, so Jason found a strong ship named the “Argo” and brave shipmates. The comrades that were chosen for the journey took the name Argonauts. All of them were volunteers and were exceptionally strong and brave warriors.

While the ship of Argo was sailing along, Jason and the Argonauts went through numerous adventures, but since they were always honest and cooperative, they were given a lot of valuable information for their course and could pass any obstacle they encountered on their way. For Example, clashing rocks guarded the straits between Colchias and Thessaly. The rocks would close together and smash any ship sailing through. Jason had been told by a blind prophet he assisted how to fool the rocks. He sent a bird ahead of him, the rocks crashed in on it and when they reopened the ship sailed through.

When they reached Colchis, they encountered Aetes, the King of Colchis. The king pretended to be friendly at first, although he didn't really want to give up the Golden Fleece. He therefore gave Jason an impossible task: to harness two fire-breathing bulls and plow the field with them, then to sow the field with the teeth of a dragon, while armed men would be growing like plants.

The feat seemed to be impossible, but Jason was not alone. Medea, the daughter of Aetes who possessed magic powers, had fallen in love with Jason and helped the hero by giving him a magic stone to throw at the armed men. By doing so, Jason managed to accomplish Aetes' order successfully.

However, Aetes then went back on his word and set his army to attack the Argo at night. Medea, who knew about her father's plan, quickly brought Jason to the grove where the Golden Fleece was hanging. She sang the dragon to sleep with a lullaby and Jason quickly seized the Golden Fleece and ran back to the ship. Jason and the Argonauts rowed away and Medea went with them. When Jason returned with the golden Fleece to Pelias, Jason was returned to his rightful place as King and Medea became Jason’s wife.