Jason

Question 1

Describe Jason’s family tree

Answer 1

Aeson, rightful king, is driven from the throne by Pelias

• Jason is sent away for protection
• He is raised in countryside by Chiron (the centaur, like in Herakles and Achilles)

Question 2

Describe Jason’s prophecy

Answer 2

• Pelias receives a prophecy that a youth with a single sandal would overthrow him
  
  • Jason comes of age and heads home to Iolcus
  • Crossing a river, he loses a sandal and wins friendship of Hera
    
    • Divine test: Hera in disguise as an old lady, Jason carries her across the river! What a guy!
• When Jason returns Pelias sends him on an impossible quest to hopefully kill him: retrieve the Golden Fleece

Question 3

What is the Golden Fleece?

Answer 3

• Fleece of a magical flying ram that carried Phrixus and Helle, brother and sister, children of a minor goddess, who were fleeing from an evil stepmother in Greece
  
  • Helle fell into the sea, which was after named Hellespont (pontos = sea)
  • Phrixus settled in Colchis and sacrificed the ram to Poseidon
• The fleece was hung in a tree and is guarded by a dragon
  
  • The fleece is a token of authority and kingship

Question 4

Describe Jason’s travels

Answer 4

• Jason travels on the very first chip to Colchis
  
  • The first ship (called Argo, meaning swift) is built with the help of Athena
  • Argonauts (people who sailed on Argo) included Herakles, Orpheus, and others (fathers of Trojan heroes)
• He establishes heroic authority based as he travels to far-off worlds

Question 5

Describe Medea’s role in Jason’s story

Answer 5

• She a descendent of Helios and a powerful witch
• She falls in love with Jason and uses her powers to help him perform the tasks set by Aeetes
  
  • Yoking fire breathing bulls, sowing dragon’s teeth, battling with sown men
• She also drugs the dragon guarding the Golden Fleece for Jason
  
  • Jason offers her marriage in return

Question 6

For taking the fleece, Medea and Jason are persecuted. What happens and where do they go?

Answer 6

• Medea flees with Jason to Iolcus and takes her younger brother Absyrtus
  
  • To avoid capture, she cuts her brother into pieces and scatters them into the sea so that Aeetes would have to stop and collect the pieces for proper burial

Question 7

How is Jason’s prophecy fulfilled?

Answer 7

• Medea offers a magical demonstration for Pelias’ daughter
• She boils an old ram alive and a young one jumps out
• She says his daughter can do the same to Pelias (spoiler: he is boiled to death)
  
  • They wish to take the throne
• Medea and Jason flee again to Corinth

Question 8

What happens at Corinth?

Answer 8

• Medea gives birth to two sons in Corinth
• Events of Euripides’ Medea (431 BCE)
  
  • Jason plants to marry the princess of Corinth
  • Medea kills the bride with magic and slays her own children! She destroys Jason’s chances for power and offspring

Question 9

How does Jason die?

Answer 9

• Killed by a falling plank from his rotting ship
• Overall, he is presented as a hero who is overinvolved with foreign female powers