Jason and the Argonauts
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  • 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
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        • 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
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    • Author Biography
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Galleries

The Geography of the Argonauts' Journey

Aegean Sea


The Argonauts voyage around and beyond the ancient Greek world was the subject of geographic speculation as far back as records exist. Poets and historians debated the exact route, and no two agreed fully. Herodorus believed the Argonauts simply traveled along the coast of Asia Minor and returned the same way. Apollonius had them travel through the Danube and around Italy, while the Orphic Argonautica sent them as far afield as Ireland. This slideshow presents images of some of the locations associated with the many routes of the Argonauts.

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The Argonauts in Ancient Art

Jason and Medea


The story of the Argonauts and Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece is among the oldest in all Greek myth, attested from the time of Homer and likely dating back to the late Mycenaean period. When Archaic Greek art began to depict scenes from mythology, the episodes in Jason's journey were among those immortalized on pottery and in sculpture. This selection of Greek and Roman pieces depicts scenes from the stories of Jason and Medea and the Argonauts' adventures.

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The Argonauts in Medieval and Modern Art

Arrival of Argonauts

The story of the Argonauts' adventure continued to fascinate medieval and modern artists. However, due to the limited information about the myth available in the Middle Ages, medieval and early modern art tended to focus on the loves of Jason, Hypsipyle and Medea, rather than the exploits of the hero. Later art has tended to follow suit, emphasizing the emotionally fraught relationship between Jason and Medea more frequently than the heroic exploits of the Argonaut adventure that were more prevalent in ancient art. The art shown here is a sample of the large amount of medieval, early modern, and modern interpretations of the Jason story.

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Historic Images of Ancient Greece

Parthenon

Ancient Greece was the birthplace of democracy, the fountainhead of philosophy, and the home of a beloved mythology of gods and heroes. From its origins in the Bronze Age civilization of Mycenaean Greece down to the Roman conquest, ancient Greece tantalizes us with its architecture, its myths, and its accomplishments. In these rare photographs from the Library of Congress, we see the ruins of ancient Greece as they were first uncovered by archaeologists in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a place where myth and history meet.

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Historic Images of the Ancient Near East

Babylonian Portal Guardian



The Near East has long been a source of fascination because of its ancient cultures and its connection to the foundations of Western civilization, from the origins of civilization at Sumer to its influence on the development of the Jewish and Christian faiths and on ancient Greece and Rome. As discussed in my book, the Near East is the source of many key images and motifs in the Jason story. These rare photos from the Library of Congress show the Near East's archaeological sites as they were when first uncovered, before modern excavation and restoration efforts.

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© 2014 Jason Colavito. All rights reserved.