J is for Jason

Jason is a Greek hero known for leading the Argonauts on his quest for the golden fleece. In the spirit of short posts, this is a very condensed version of the story.
See page for author [CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons
To claim his rightful throne, Jason had to go on a quest for the golden fleece. He took a group called the Argonauts with him, named after their ship, the Argo. Jason faced many challenges on his way to Colchis, and once he got there he was faced with three tasks to obtain the golden fleece. Hera persuaded Aphrodite to convince her son, Eros (Cupid) to make the King of Colchis' daughter, Medea, fall in love with Jason, and therefore help him with his tasks.
Once they'd completed these tasks, they went back and Jason became engaged to Creusa to strengthen his political ties. Medea took revenge on Jason by sending Creusa a cursed dress as a wedding gift, which stuck to her body and burned her to death as soon as she put it on. Her father, the King of Corinth, also burned to death trying to save her.
Medea then killed her and Jason's two sons, fearing that they would be murdered or enslaved because of her actions. By the time Jason found out, Medea had fled. Jason lost his favour with Hera after breaking his vow to Medea, and died lonely and unhappy when the stern of the rotting Argo fell on him as he slept.

Comments

  1. Dani11 April 2013 at 14:06

    Deaths back then were so interesting. I like the story of Jason, that, and he actually had a name that was easy. haha
    Dani @ Entertaining Interests
    #warriorminion

    ReplyDelete
  2. S. L. Hennessy11 April 2013 at 14:11

    I love Jason. He's my second favorite hero after Odysseus.

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  3. Anonymous11 April 2013 at 14:12

    That's pretty depressing! Poor Jason

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  4. Unknown11 April 2013 at 14:24

    What a sad story! It's a wonder than anyone names their son Jason after hearing that story.

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  5. Mina Burrows11 April 2013 at 15:09

    So tragic. :( Some people are never satisfied with what they have.

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  6. jaybird11 April 2013 at 16:30

    Love the story of Jason. Tragic, of course, but an epic tale for sure.

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  7. SK Anthony11 April 2013 at 16:39

    So sad :(

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  8. MaryAnn Pope11 April 2013 at 16:51

    Yeah, you don't find very many happy endings in Greek mythology. I've never heard Jason's whole story. Thanks for sharing.

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  9. Unknown11 April 2013 at 17:24

    Man those mythology stories are brutal! At least he's not Prometheus or Scisifus (sp?) everyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy dayyyyyyyyyyy....

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  10. Outcast11 April 2013 at 17:51

    Jason is one of my favourites Laura, absolutely love his story and I really enjoyed the film adaption too.

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  11. MadelineAnn11 April 2013 at 20:09

    Lovely précis! I really like that they now think there really were golden fleeces - you put your sheepskin rug in the river and it catches the grains of gold being washed down from gold-fields upstream!

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  12. Anonymous12 April 2013 at 00:10

    Interesting. i didn't know jason was the name of a Greek God. You learn something new every day!

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  13. Jeff Hargett12 April 2013 at 00:35

    Jason was always one of my favorite tales.

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  14. Unknown12 April 2013 at 00:42

    Another great post! Very interesting and sad.

    Karen

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  15. Alex J. Cavanaugh12 April 2013 at 00:52

    Glad the movie version didn't have his sons dying.

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