I wonder...

I wonder...

What is the story of Jason?

Jason's story starts off on a low note and does not get much higher either. Jason was a royal-born child, the son of the King of Iolus. Jason's half-uncle Pelias sought to take the throne from Jason's father, Aeson, and he succeeded. Aeson was thrown into a deep dungeon. The royal successors of Aeson were all thought to be killed, except Jason. Jason's mother had taken him to a cave thinking it would save him from the wrath of the new king. In the end, it did. Jason's mother faked his death to Pelias and he believed her. But the cave, it was home of Chiron the Centaur.

Centaurs were often seen and known to be short-tempered drunks, in one word; uncivilised. Chiron was quite different though. He was intelligent and a teacher of many other famous heroes including Ajax, Achilles, Heracles and others too.

Hera wanted Jason to grow and overthrow Pelias for a single reason, Hera hated Pelias. Hera hated the new king because while he worshipped all of the gods, he ignored her, brushed her off, this angered Hera beyond rage. This insult was worthy of death. But, Hera decided to do this carefully. She needed a true hero, and Jason was her hero. Once she knew that he had a gold heart, then and only then did she bestow all of her divine aid to help him. Jason left Chiron’s care and set off to reclaim his throne. At this point, Hera decided to test the young boy. On his way to his kingdom, Jason came across Hera, disguised as an old woman, who asked for help crossing the stream. It was up to him to continue his course and pay her no mind or help the old lady.

Jason, with a heart of gold, helped Hera across the stream by taking her on his back.  Not long after this, he began to feel like he would not be able to complete the task because the old woman was heavier than he imagined he even lost one of his sandals. Once he had crossed the river Hera secretly blessed Jason and openly thanked him. 

Losing one of his sandals would not have been such a big deal if Pelias had not consulted an oracle. The oracle said that Pelias should be aware of a stranger with a single sandal. Jason, blind to the fact that he had just met the Queen of Olympus and she had blessed him, continued on his journey.

When Jason arrived in Iolus he found Pelias still a king and the rightful king, his father, still imprisoned. He made his intentions very clear to the king, saying he was there to reclaim his land. Once Pelias noticed that Jason had only one sandal, he was invited to dine with the king, and Jason let his guard down.

Pelias asked his nephew if he thought he was fit to be a king.

Jason said that he could handle whatever situation that might be presented to him.

The king asked him about the kinds of dilemmas that rulers of kingdoms find themselves in. 

One thing that King Pelias asked his nephew was how he would get rid of a person who was giving him trouble without killing him.

Jason, being eager to prove himself worthy of a title such as king, suggested that such a person should be sent on a quest to obtain The Golden Fleece.

Saying this Jason had laid out his own future. Pelias suggested that to prove himself, why doesn't he go on a quest to obtain The Fleece. Pelias knew how many hadn't succeeded in this mission and believed that a mere mortal, was not going to be the first. 

Pelias told Jason that this would be his quest, a quest to make him a hero amongst all and a king amongst his own people, and after thinking about the idea, Jason agreed to his proposition.

One of the things Jason was missing, was a ship and a crew. Many heroes joined him, including Heracles himself. Hera had asked that Athena, goddess of craft, would make sure that the ship was worthy, and Athena decided to help. The newfound group of heroes was called the Argonauts and the ship named, Argo.

When all preparations are finished they set sail for Colchis, where an inhabitant is the Golden Fleece. The ships first destination was an island called Lemnus, where they found only women because the women killed all the men. This happened after Aphrodite cursed them after they worshipped her wrong. The crew stayed the night and stayed some months afterwards, laying with the woman and creating a race called the Minyans.

Their next stop was an island called Doliones, where the people welcomed them warmly, by King Cyzius. The king told them that supplies could be found past Bear Mountain, where a race of Gegeines lived. Thankfully, Heracles was able to kill them before they got to the ship.

Jason set sail shortly after their battle but made a mistake, it may have been a storm, that caused them to go back to Doliones. The good people of this land, confused by the night, thought Jason and his crew were enemies. They attacked the crew and many of them died in the midst of the confusion. The Argonauts stayed for their funeral before continuing.

Jason's remaining crew made it to the next destination, Thrace, where they met King Phineus. The king was cursed by Zeus to have a band of harpies follow him and prevent him from eating. The crew assisted the king with his problem and Phineas decided to help the crew in return, he told the Argonauts where Colchis lay and how to pass through the Symplegades, the Clashing Rocks. These were huge rock cliffs that would move and crush anything that passed between them. Phineus told Jason to release a dove and see if it would make it through, an omen for what would happen to the ship. The dove successfully passed, losing only a few tail feathers; so, when the ship travelled through the rocks, only minor damages were caused to the ship.

The band of the Argo eventually reached the land ruled by King Aeetes, Colchis. The Golden Fleece was in the possession of the king, gifted to him by Phrixus when he reached Colchis on a flying golden ram. Aeetes said he would give the fleece to Jason if he succeeded in completing three seemingly impossible tasks.

1. Plough a field with a team of Khalkotauroi, fire-breathing oxen.
2. To sow dragon teeth and fight the stone warriors that emerged.
3. Take the Golden Fleece from a sleepless dragon.

Hera, still in favour of Jason, decided to ask a favour of Aphrodite to make Medea, daughter of King Aeetes, fall in love with Jason. Aphrodite forewarned Hera of Medea's power as a sorceress, but no further did she intervene. Medea, madly in love with Jason, assists Jason with each of the tasks.

She gives him a fire-proof salve to protect him from the Khalkotauroi's fire.

She tells him how to defeat the stone warriors, she told him to discreetly throw a rock into the crowd to make the army all turn on each other.

For the final task, she gives him a sleeping potion to spray into the mouth of the dragon just a the dragon attempts to eat him.

The pair take the fleece and flee to the Argo, where Medea joined them, Aeetes tried to pursue them, but Medea killed her brother his corpse falling into the ocean, knowing her father would give his corpse kept for a proper burial, this stopped Aeetes pursuit of the Argonauts. Zeus was angered by the murder and sent a number of storms to throw the ship off of its course. To redeem themselves, they stopped at the island of Aeaea, where the nymph Circe lived to be purified of the murder. 

On their continued voyage, they also met the Sirens that caused ships to crash onto the reefs, as their captivating voices mesmerised the crew; Orpheus, however, played the lyre and completely covered their voices, managing to evade the ill fate. Near Crete, they met Talos, a giant bronze man, who guarded the island and threw stones at anyone who dared approach. Medea cast a spell on him and the crew managed to remove the plug that kept Talos' ichor (divine blood) in his single vein. Leaving him to bleed to death.

Jason returns to Iolcus after his long journey marching to the king holding The Golden Fleece. Pelias refused to give up his throne so Medea devised a plan to get Pelias’s own daughters to kill him. Medea said she could restore youth and demonstrated on Jason’s elderly father Aeson and promised to do the same for Pelias, his daughters killed him and she ignored them. Medea and Jason were banished from Iolcus as murderers by Pelias’s eldest son Acastus, who took the throne.

The couple fled to the kingdom of Corinth, where Jason after ten years of a happy marriage and raising children with Medea, fell in love with the king's daughter, Creusa and they got engaged. Medea and Jason had been married on the voyage (I had trouble with this part) and this angered Medea after everything she had sacrificed and done for him. As a revenge, Medea killed Creusa by giving her a dress that stuck to her and set her on fire, her father Creon was also burned while trying to save his daughter. Medea then killed her sons that she had with Jason, fearing he would kill them as retaliation. She then abandoned Jason, flying to Athens on a dragon chariot sent by her grandfather, the sun god Helios.

Years later, Jason managed to reclaim the throne of Iolcus with the help of his friend, Peleus who later became a king and father of Achilles. However, he remained lonely, having lost the favour of Hera after breaking his vows to Medea. He died while sleeping under the stern of his ship Argo, which had rotted, fell on him, killing the great hero, Jason.

Now I wonder...

What is the story of Heracles?

(P.S this was 1716 words including this)