POPULAR CULTURE

The Argonaut myth has served as inspiration for many later works, both those that take their direct inspiration from the story of Jason and those that use the myth in a more symbolic way. This section collects some of the many uses of themes, motifs, and ideas from the Argonaut myth in popular culture.

European knights and an English brotherhood
The Orders of the Golden Fleece
1430 to Today

The Argonauts and the Philosopher's Stone
Jason and Alchemy
Johann Rudolph Glauber and Ben Johnson (17th century)

A satire on stupidity set in the Temple of Jason
The History of the Abderites
Christoph Martin Wieland (1774)

A comic play about a bad marriage
The Golden Fleece: A Classical Extravaganza
James Robinson Planché (1845)

A poem of the Gold Rush
The New Argonauts
William Allen Butler (1848)

A satiric take on Medea
Mythology on the Half-Shell: Medea
Puck (1877)

A romance with a symbolic garment
The Golden Fleece: A Romance
Julian Hawthorne (1879)

A political cartoon
The Modern Argonauts
Oliver Herford (1886)

A novel of greed and the Golden Fleece
Argonauts
Eliza Orzeszkowa (1899)

An early example of a self-help book:
A Fleece of Gold: Five Lessons from the Fable of Jason and the Golden Fleece
Charles Stewart Given (1905)

A modern romance paralleling the ancient myth
Jason: A Romance
Justus Miles Forman (1909)

Euripides' play in popular culture
Images from Medea
18th to 20th century performances