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ARGONAUTS ('Apyovavrat, the sailors o...

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 479 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ARGONAUTS ('Apyovavrat, the sailors of the "Argo ") , in See also:Greek See also:legend a See also:band of heroes who took See also:part in the Argonautic expedition under the command of See also:Jason, to fetch the See also:golden fleece. This task had been imposed on Jason by his See also:uncle See also:Pelias (q.v.), who had usurped the See also:throne of Iolcus in See also:Thessaly, which rightfully belonged to Jason's See also:father Aeson. The See also:story of the fleece was as follows. Jason's uncle See also:Athamas had two See also:children, Phrixus and Helle, by his wife Nephele, the See also:cloud goddess. But after a See also:time he became enamoured of Ino, the daughter of See also:Cadmus, . and neglected Nephele, who disappeared in anger. Ino, who hated the children of Nephele, persuaded Athamas, 1 See also:Sir See also:James See also:Dewar, Compt. Rend. (1904), 139, 261 and 241.by means of a false See also:oracle, to offer Phrixus as a See also:sacrifice, as the only means of alleviating a See also:famine which she herself had caused by ordering the See also:grain to be secretly roasted before it was sown. But before the sacrifice the shade of Nephele appeared to Phrixus, bringing a See also:ram with a golden fleece on which he and his See also:sister Helle endeavoured to See also:escape over the See also:sea. Helle See also:fell off and was drowned in the strait, which after her was called the See also:Hellespont. Phrixus, however, reached the other See also:side in safety, and proceeding by See also:land to Aea in See also:Colchis on the farther See also:shore of the Euxine Sea, sacrificed the ram, and hung up its fleece in the See also:grove of See also:Ares, where it was guarded by a sleepless See also:dragon. Jason, having undertaken the quest of the fleece, called upon the noblest heroes of See also:Greece to take part in the expedition.

According to the See also:

original story, the See also:crew consisted of the See also:chief members of Jason's own See also:race, the Minyae. But when the legend became See also:common See also:property, other and better-known heroes were added to their number—Orpheus, See also:Castor and Polydeuces (See also:Pollux), Zetes and See also:Calais, the winged sons of See also:Boreas, See also:Meleager, See also:Theseus, Heracles. The crew was supposed to consist of fifty, agreeing in number with the fifty oars of the " Argo," so called from its builder See also:Argos, the son of Phrixus, or from 1Lp-y6s (See also:swift). It was a larger See also:vessel than had ever been seen before, built of See also:pine-See also:wood that never rotted from See also:Mount See also:Pelion. The goddess See also:Athena herself superintended its construction, and inserted in the See also:prow a piece of See also:oak from See also:Dodona, which was endowed with the See also:power of speaking and delivering oracles. The outward course of the " Argo " was the same as that of the Greek traders, whose settlements as See also:early as the 6th See also:century B.C. dotted the See also:southern shores of the Euxine. The first landing-See also:place was the See also:island of See also:Lemnos, which was occupied only by See also:women, who had put to See also:death their fathers, husbands and See also:brothers. Here the Argonauts remained some months, until they were persuaded by Heracles to leave. It is known from See also:Herodotus (iv. 145) that the Minyae had formed settlements at Lemnos at a very early date. Proceeding up the Hellespont, they sailed to the See also:country of the Doliones, by whose See also:king, See also:Cyzicus, they were hospitably received. After their departure, being driven back to the same place by a See also:storm, they were attacked by the Doliones, who did not recognize them, and in a See also:battle which took place Cyzicus was killed by Jason.

After Cyzicus had been duly mourned and buried, the Argonauts proceeded along the See also:

coast of See also:Mysia, where occurred the incident of Heracles and See also:Hylas (q.v.). On reaching the country of the Bebryces, they again landed to get See also:water, and were challenged by the king, Amycus, to match him with a boxer. Polydeuces came forward, and in the end overpowered his adversary, and See also:bound him to a See also:tree, or according to others, slew him. At the entrance to the Euxine, at Salmydessus on the coast of See also:Thrace, they met See also:Phineus, the See also:blind and aged king whose See also:food was being constantly polluted by the See also:Harpies. He knew the course to Colchis, and offered to tell it, if the Argonauts would See also:free him from the Harpies. This was done by the winged sons of Boreas, and Phineus now told them their course, and that the way to pass through the Symplegades or Cyanean rocks—two cliffs which moved on their bases and crushed whatever sought to pass—was first to See also:fly a See also:pigeon through, and when the cliffs, having closed on the pigeon, began to retire to each side, to See also:row the " Argo " swiftly through. His See also:advice was successfully followed, and the " Argo " made the passage unscathed, except for trifling damage to the stern. From that time the rocks became fixed and never closed again. The next halting-places were the country of the Maryandini, where the helmsman Tiphys died, and the land of the See also:Amazons on the See also:banks of the Thermodon. At the island of Aretias they drove away the Stymphalian birds, who used their feathers of See also:brass as arrows. Here they found and took on See also:board the four sons of Phrixus who, after their father's death, had been sent by Aeetes, king of Colchis, to fetch the treasures of See also:Orchomenus, but had been driven by a storm upon the island. Passing near Mount See also:Caucasus, they heard the groans of See also:Prometheus and the flapping of the wings of the See also:eagle which gnawed his See also:liver.

They now reached their See also:

goal, the See also:river Phasis, and the following See also:morning Jason repaired to the See also:palace of Aeetes, and demanded the golden fleece. Aeetes required of Jason that he should first yoke to a plough his bulls, given him by See also:Hephaestus, which snorted See also:fire and had hoofs of brass, and with them plough the See also:field of Ares. That done, the field was to be sown with the dragons' See also:teeth brought by Phrixus, from which armed men were to See also:spring. Successful so far by means of the mixture which See also:Medea, daughter of Aeetes, had given him as See also:proof against fire and See also:sword, Jason was next allowed to approach the dragon which watched the fleece ; Medea soothed the See also:monster with another mixture, and Jason became See also:master of the fleece. Then the voyage homeward began, Medea accompanying Jason, and Aeetes pursuing them. To delay him and obtain escape, Medea dismembered her See also:young See also:brother Absyrtus, whom she had taken with her, and See also:cast his limbs about in the sea for his father to pick up. Her See also:plan succeeded, and while Aeetes was burying the remains of his son at Tomi, Jason and Medea escaped. In another See also:account Absyrtus had grown to manhood then, and met his death in an encounter with Jason, in pursuit of whom he had been sent. Of the See also:home-See also:ward course various accounts are given. In the See also:oldest (See also:Pindar) the " Argo " sailed along the river Phasis into the eastern See also:Oceanus, See also:round See also:Asia to the See also:south coast of See also:Libya, thence to the mythical See also:lake Tritonis, after being carried twelve days over land through Libya, and thence again to Iolcus. Hecataeus of See also:Miletus (Schol. Apollon.

Rhod. iv. 259) suggested that from the Oceanus it may have sailed into the See also:

Nile, and so to the Mediterranean. Others, like See also:Sophocles, described the return voyage as differing from the outward course only in taking the See also:northern instead of the southern shore of the Euxine. Some (pseudo-See also:Orpheus) supposed that the Argonauts had sailed up the river Tanals, passed into another river, and by it reached the See also:North Sea, returning to the Mediterranean by the Pillars of See also:Hercules. Again, others (See also:Apollonius Rhodius) laid down the course as up the See also:Danube (Ifter), from it into the Adriatic by a supposed mouth of that river, and on to Corcyra, where a storm overtook them. Next they sailed up the See also:Eridanus into the Rhodanus, passing through the country of the Celts and Ligurians to the Stoechades, then to the island of Aethalia (See also:Elba), finally reaching the Tyrrhenian Sea and the island of See also:Circe, who absolved them from the See also:murder of Absyrtus. Then they passed safely through Scylla and Charybdis, past the See also:Sirens, through the Planctae, over the island of the See also:Sun, Trinacria and on to Corcyra again, the land of the Phaeacians, where Jason and Medea held their nuptials. They had sighted the coast of See also:Peloponnesus when a storm overtook them and drove them to the coast of Libya, where they were saved from a quicksand by the See also:local See also:nymphs. The " Argo " was now carried twelve days and twelve nights to the See also:Hesperides, and thence to lake Tritonis (where the seer See also:Mopsus died), whence See also:Triton conducted them to the Mediterranean. At See also:Crete the brazen Talos, who would not permit them to land, was killed by the Dioscuri. At Anaphe, one of the See also:Sporades, they were saved from a storm by See also:Apollo. Finally, they reached lolcus, and the " Argo " was placed in a groove sacred to See also:Poseidon on the See also:isthmus of See also:Corinth.

Jason's death, it is said, was afterwards caused by part of the stern giving way and falling upon him. The story of the expedition of the Argonauts is very old. See also:

Homer was acquainted with it and speaks of the "Argo" as well known to all men; the wanderings of See also:Odysseus may have been partly founded on its voyage. Pindar, in the See also:fourth Pythian See also:ode, gives the oldest detailed account of it. In Greek, there are also extant the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius and the pseudo-Orpheus (4th century A.D.), and the account in See also:Apollodorus (i. 9), based on the best extant authorities; in Latin, the See also:imitation of Apollonius (a free See also:translation or See also:adaptation of whose Argonautica was made by Terentius See also:Varro Atacinus in the time of See also:Cicero) by See also:Valerius See also:Flaccus. In See also:ancient times the expedition was regarded as a See also:historical fact, an incident in the opening up of the Euxine to Greek See also:commerce and colonization. Its See also:object was the acquisition of See also:gold, which was caught by the inhabitants of Colchis in fleeces as it was washed down the See also:rivers. Suidas says that the fleece was a See also:book written on See also:parchment, which taught how to make gold by chemical processes. The rationalistsexplained the ram on which Phrixus crossed the sea as the name or See also:ornament of the See also:ship on which he escaped. Several interpretations of the legend have been put forward by See also:modern scholars. According to C.

O. See also:

Muller, it had its origin in the See also:worship of See also:Zeus Laphystius; the fleece is the See also:pledge of reconciliation; Jason is a propitiating See also:god of See also:health, Medea a goddess akin to See also:Hera; Aeetes is connected with. the Colchian sun-worship. See also:Forchhammer saw in it an old nature symbolism; Jason, the god of healing and fruitfulness, brought the fleece—the fertilizing See also:rain-cloud—to the western land that was parched by the See also:heat of the sun. Others treat it as a See also:solar myth; the ram is the See also:light of the sun, the See also:flight of Phrixus and the death of Helle signify its setting, the recovery of the fleece its rising again. There are numerous See also:treatises on the subject: F. Vater, Der Argonautenzug (1845) ; J. Stender, De Argonautarum Expeditione (1874) ; D. Kennerknecht, De Argonautarum Fabula (1886) ; M. Groeger, De Argonautarum Fabularum Historia (1889) ; see also See also:Grote, See also:History of Greece, part i. ch. 13; See also:Preller, Griechische Mythologic; articles in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie, See also:Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie, and Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire See also:des Antiquites.

End of Article: ARGONAUTS ('Apyovavrat, the sailors of the "Argo ")

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