Jason and the Argonauts
  • Home
  • About the Book
  • The Myth
    • Overview >
      • Lemprière's Summary
      • Hawthorne's Version
      • Schmitz's Summary
      • Bulfinch's Summary
      • Berens' Summary
      • Colum's Golden Fleece
    • Heroes & Villains >
      • Iolcians >
        • Aeson
        • Alcimede
        • Pelias
      • Argonauts >
        • Argonaut Biographies
        • Jason >
          • Jason as Diomedes
        • Heracles
        • Castor and Pollux
        • Boread Twins
        • Orpheus
      • Colchians >
        • Aeetes
        • Medea
        • Absyrtus
        • Circe
      • Others >
        • Hypsipyle
        • Phineus
        • Cyzicus
        • Amycus
        • Glauce
    • Gods & Monsters >
      • Gods >
        • Zeus
        • Hera
        • Poseidon
        • Athena
        • Aphrodite
        • Helios
        • Ares
        • Hades
        • Hecate
      • Monsters >
        • Cheiron
        • The Harpies
        • The Sirens
        • Stymphalian Birds
        • Fire-Breathing Bulls
        • The Sown-Men
        • The Dragon
        • Talos
    • Places >
      • Maps
      • Iolcus (Iolkos)
      • Lemnos
      • Samothrace
      • Cyzicus
      • Symplegades
      • Colchis
      • Lake Tritonis
    • The Argo >
      • Argo Navis
      • Argo and the Ark
    • The Golden Fleece >
      • Fleece as Pure Fiction
      • Fleece as Purple
      • Fleece as Gold Mining
      • Fleece as the Name Ram
      • Fleece as Royal Power
      • Fleece as Book
      • Fleece as Rain Cloud
      • Fleece as Covenant
      • Fleece as Blonde Hair
      • Fleece as Solar Symbol
      • Fleece as Hittite Sack
      • Fleece as UFO
    • The Myth in Context >
      • Argonautica and Odyssey
      • Argonautica and the Heroes >
        • Jason and Perseus
        • Jason and Heracles
        • Jason and Theseus
      • Argonautica as Catabasis
      • Argonautica and India
      • Argonautica and Africa
      • Argonautica and Bible
  • Texts
    • Pre-Greek Influences >
      • Epic of Gilgamesh >
        • English Translation of Gilgamesh
        • Aelian on Gilgamesh
      • Inanna and Dumuzi >
        • Ishtar's Descent into Hades
        • Lucan's De Dea Syria
      • Isis and Osiris
      • Teshub and the Dragon
      • Eshmun
      • Kresnik, Perun and Jarilo
      • Amirani
      • Linear B Texts and Oral Traditions
    • Greek Sources >
      • Ancient Fragments
      • Pindar's Pythian 4
      • Euripides' Medea
      • Lycophron's Alexandra
      • Apollonius' Argonautica >
        • Book I
        • Book II
        • Book III
        • Book IV
      • Diodorus Siculus' Library
      • Apollodorus' Library
      • Orphic Argonautica >
        • Orphic Argonautica Summary
        • Date of the Orphic Epic
    • Latin Sources >
      • Latin Fragments
      • Seneca's Medea
      • Ovid >
        • Metamorphoses
        • Heroides
        • Tristia
      • Valerius' Argonautica
      • Hyginus' Fabulae
      • Geta's Medea Cento
      • Justin's Epitome
      • Lactantius' Narrationes
      • Dares Phrygius
    • Medieval and Modern Sources >
      • First Vatican Mythographer
      • Second Vatican Mythographer
      • Dante's Inferno
      • Boccaccio's Genealogy
      • Chaucer's Good Women
      • Gower's Confessio Amantis
      • Lydgate's Troy Book
      • Lefèvre's History of Troy
      • Lefèvre's History of Jason
      • Pomey's Pantheum
      • Grillparzer's Medea
      • Morris' Life and Death of Jason
    • Scholarship >
      • Isaac Newton
      • Antoine Banier
      • Charles Dupuis
      • F. A. Paley
      • E. H. Bunbury
      • Andrew Lang
      • F. Max Müller
      • William Ridgeway
      • Arthur Drews
      • J. Rendel Harris
    • Popular Culture >
      • Orders of the Golden Fleece
      • Jason and Alchemy
      • Wieland's History of the Abderites
      • Planché's Golden Fleece
      • The New Argonauts
      • Mythology on the Half-Shell
      • Hawthorne's Golden Fleece
      • Modern Argonauts (Cartoon)
      • A Fleece of Gold
      • Orzesko's Argonauts
      • Jason: A Romance
      • Images from Medea
    • Filmography >
      • Giants of Thessaly (1960)
      • Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
      • The Merry Chronicle (1986)
      • Jason and the Argonauts (2000)
  • Galleries
    • Argonaut Geography
    • Argonauts in Ancient Art
    • Argonauts in Medieval & Modern Art
    • Ancient Greece
    • Ancient Near East
  • Free eBooks
  • About the Author
    • Author Biography
    • Media Inquiries
    • Contact Jason
Heroes & Villains

AESON

Picture
Medea restores Aeson, print by Monsiau



John Bell
Bell's New Pantheon (1790)



AESON, son of Cretheus, by Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus king of Elis, was also brother of Pheres and Amythaon, and father of Jason by Polymela, or according to others, Alcymede. On the return of Jason from the Colchian expedition, Medea, at his request, is said, by means of her magic skill, to have restored Aeson from extreme old age to youth and vigour. Some however contend, that Aeson died before Jason came back, being forced to drink bull's blood by Pelias the usurper. Ovid, Apollodorus, and Pausanias suppose, that Aeson and Pelias were still alive at the return of the Argonauts, and that Aeson, through the debility of age, being hardly able to support himself, Jason desired Medea his wife to employ some secret art to restore him to youth and strength. On this she left the palace, and mounting a chariot drawn by winged dragons, which descended from heaven in her sight, she traversed several countries, and, gathering herbs of all kinds, composed a potion, then drew out the blood which flowed in Aeson's veins, and injected the fluid she had thus prepared. As soon as the mixture began to circulate through the old king's body, his beard and his grey hairs began to darken, the wrinkles of his face disappeared, and he recovered his pristine animation. Mythologists give explications of this fable, on the supposition that Aeson was thus restored, and that both he and Pelias were alive at the return of the Argonauts from Colchis; but unluckily these explications rest upon nothing, and the fable, which was only invented to make Medea pass for a great sorceress, has no foundation in history. Aeson had been forced by Pelias to drink bull's blood, and was dead before Jason's return; as was also his wife, who had strangled herself for grief. Pelias himself was likew ise dead before the return of the Argonauts, of which his funeral games, celebrated by those heroes, are a convincing proof.


Source: John Bell, Bell's New Pantheon; or, Historical Dictionary of the Gods, Demi-Gods, Heroes, and Fabulous Personages of Antiquity, vol. 1 (London: British Library, 1790).
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.



Back
Picture
© 2014 Jason Colavito. All rights reserved.