Greek mythology is the body of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. It was a part of the religion i...
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The myth says that in the land of Iolcus, the modern city of Volos, there lived Pelius and his half-brother Aeson, born of the same mother Tyro, but of different fathers, Pelias of god Poseidon and Aeson of Cretheus, who was the King of Iolcus. After the death of Cretheus, Pelias usurped the throne from Aeson, the rightful heir and had him imprisoned. His plan was to murder all of the relatives of Aeson and even banish his twin brother Neleus. In despair over Aeson's situation, his wife Alcimede died, but before she had already secretly given birth to the son of Aeson, named Jason. Fearing Pelias would also kill the boy, Jason was sent away to Mount Pelion, to live with the Centaur Cheiron, a strange creature half-man half-horse. Centaur Cheiron became his tutor and Jason grew up to be a fine young man. Meanwhile, in Iolcus, Pelias, still fearing he would lose his kingdom, approached the oracle at Delphi and was told to beware of a man with one sandal. Unknown to Pelias, this was going to be Goddess Hera's revenge. Many years ago he had angered Hera by committing the despicable act of killing his stepmother Sidero at the goddess's altar and by prohibiting the people from worshipping the Goddess. Hera had vowed to avenge herself such ignominy and she chose to do this through Jason. When he became twenty years old, Jason set out to reclaim the throne and kingdom of Iolcus from his uncle. While he was walking to Iolcus, across the river Anauros, Jason came across an old woman trying to cross over to the other side. Being a good-natured young man, Jason helped the woman across but the water drew away one of his sandals. The old woman thanked him and Jason continued on his journey unaware that he had helped Hera, Queen of the Gods, who had disguised herself into an old woman as part of her plan to punish Pelias, this arrogant mortal. Hera knew of his quest, but little did Jason know of the Gods participation in it. At Iolcus, a celebration was being held to honor the sea god Poseidon, Pelias' father. Jason's arrival and his claim to the throne shocked Pelias who started seeing the old prophecy come true: here was the man with one sandal. To get rid of this dangerous stranger, Pelias agreed to abdicate the throne only if Jason brought him the Golden Fleece from the faraway land of Colchis, thought to be an impossible task. He was sure that Jason would never return and that he would remain king of Iolcus forever.
The Story of The Golden Fleece Well before the time of Jason, there lived two children, the boy Phrixos and his sister Helle, who were born of the union of King Athamas of Orchomenus and the cloud goddess Nephele. However, the King was seduced by the Queen of Thebes, Ino, and took her for his second wife. Ino, being jealous of his children, tricked Athamas into sacrificing them to the gods, as a sign of appeasement to end the long famine that was ruining their land. All of a sudden, during the sacrifice, a winged creature with a golden fleece appeared and took the two children away on its back to the far away land of Colchis. While flying over the sea, tragically Helle fell off the creature's back and drowned. The sea where Helle fell was named Hellespont after her. The creature carried Phrixos safely to Colchis, where he later married the daughter of King Aeetes, sacrificed the creature to the gods and offered the king the Golden Fleece to give thanks for his hospitality. Sometime later, King Aeetes happened to hear a prophecy that not only foretold the loss of his kingdom to a stranger wishing to steal the Golden Fleece but also a betrayal by some member of his family. Aeetes killed Phrixos because he believed that he was the stranger man of the prophecy and nailed the Golden Fleece to a tree. He then had the tree and the Golden Fleece guarded by two fire breathing, bronze-hoofed bulls, known as the Khalkouri, and a dragon, to prevent anyone from stealing the fleece.
