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My dear friends hello, nearly 8 months after my summary episode about greek mythology
I thought it was time to talk a bit more about stories, legends,
myths and heroes surrounding us. It was the time indeed but
I needed some warm up! So today I'm going to talk about Jason and his
famous Argonauts, gone to recover the famous Golden Fleece. TThe least we can tell
is that this odyssey is full of surprises and particularly
mouth-watering moments ... yummy!
Before learning a bit more about this wonderful story a couple thing
should be explained : who is Jason and what's the Golden Fleece ?
It all starts with Athamas the king of the city of Thebes who married the
cloud nymph Nephele. From this union two twins were born, Phryxus and Helle. After
a couple of happy years with the Care Bears the king got bored of his wife
whom he quickly expels to marry his new wife Ino. Then we got the
classical layout of court stories. A stepmother who married the king
to ensure her offspring. What does she do ? She conspires the make the kids
disappear. That's how during a severe drought
an oracle submits to the king Athamas the idea of sacrificing his two children to
resolve the situation. Myself I would have done the same if I lacked of soda,
we can't blame him ... So, the two kids are going to be tossed into the pot but their mother Nephele
send a ram with a golden fleece to save them. This one fly, grab them
and get them into a safe place. Unfortunately before they arrive, the poor Helle fall of the ram
and sink into the sea. Bad luck kid, you almost did it...
Phryxus arrived to the king Eetes who take care of him and
gave him his daughter to marry. As a thank the young man
offer the Golden fleece to the king who nail it the an oak and and put a dragon to guard it.
Nice eh?
The story of Jason come a bit after. Son of the king Esson who manages the city of Lolcos,
he get in trouble pretty early. Indeed his uncle Pelias, the stepbrother of the king,
usurps the throne and expels Eson and his son. To protect Jason, his father entrusts him
to the centaur Chiron, famed in all the Greece as the coach of the greatest heroes
of his time not only at intellectually but also at physically levels. Short anecdote,
Chiron trains Heracles, Hercules for the romans, and this who kills him
by accident during a combat against centaurs by shooting him with a poisoned arrow...
being killed by his own student ... fat chance. Let's get on with centaurs then. Once grown up
Jason decides to go back in his hometown to get back what's his by right. Pelias,
quite angry, had consulted the oracle after his coup. He had learn
that one day, a man would stand in front of him, wearing only one sandal
and who would put him to death for his deeds. Of course, due to a compete hazard,
Jason, just before getting to the throne room, helped an old lady to cross the street
and lost a sandal. Pelias get panicked as he sees his death coming and promises then Jason
to give him the throne back on one condition, Jason has to bring him the famous Golden Fleece
You see, everything is linked, I'm not telling lies just like
that...
Anyway, Pelias is fair-play and gives Jason the means to go and seek out
this Fleece. He builds him a mignifiscent boat called Argo, both imposing and sturdy.
Jason goes on the seas along with 50 comrades who also had been trained by
the centaur Chiron. They are the famous Argonauts among which we can find
Castor and Pollux, Theseus or Heracles the ladykiller.
They leave together toward Colchis, a region ruled by king Aeetes, to get
the most wanted Fleece back. During the journey, they will, of course, live a lot
of adventures, or it wouldn't be fun. However, if I get into details, it would take
30 more minutes, so let's get to the point.
Jason asks the king for the Golden Fleece, who appears to be ok, but in return, he
wants the young man to carry out a series of superhuman and dangerous tasks.
Firstly, he has to tame two angry bulls who throw fire out of their
nostrils. Then, he has to use the bulls to plow a field, actually made of acompletely
arrid soil, to plant dragon's teeth. This teeth would grow warriors
Jason will have to fight.
This is a bit far-fetched...
Anyway, Jason probably wanders how to achieve these tasks, but it was without taking
into account love, the most powerful force in the universe, which is coming to save
the world and the little children! I'm making this up, but this is mostly
what's happens. Medea, the king's daughter, is a magician and fall in love with Jason. She decides
to help him in his task. She offers him an ointment to counter the bulls's fire and
a stone Jason could throw at the newly born soldiers wich would make them
kill each others, making his task much more easy.
To sum up, Medea do all the job and Jason proudly comes to the king
asking for the Fleece, but the king is a bad looser and refuses to give it. He even plans
to kill Jason and his crew. Not a problem for our hero and his love
who go in the night getting the Fleece. That's the moment to remember what I said
earlier on the episode: the Fleece is protected by a dragon.
Do you feel the epic fight? Neither do I! Medea makes it sleep with her magic, Jason
gets the Fleece and that's done!
As they flee, Medea even kills her own brother just to held up
the soldiers behind them. If this is not dedication, I don't know what it is!
After this event, they go back to Iolcos to give the Golden Fleece to Pelias
and ther's different versions of what could have happened. Pelias could have killed
Jason's father and all his family, or he didn't do much and basically just
stayed on his throne. In any case, Medea, by revenge or by a trick,
provocks Pelias's death with her potions and this is Pelias's son, the
young Acastus, who gets to the throne. Either by fear of retaliation or out of guilt
of having killed the young man's father, the heroic couple decides to go in exile
to Corinth. They live there for nearly 10 years and have two beautiful children.
In my episode on journalism, I stated history sometimes worked on a cycle
basis and similar events repeats themselves. Well, in this case, it's more or less the
same thing. At the beginning of the Golden Fleece story, we have a king, her wife and
their two children living quietly before the king decides to take another
wife. At the end of this story, we've got Jason, Medea and their two kids and Jason
suddenly leaves her wife to marry Creusa, the king of Corinth's young daughter.
Nice fellow, isn't he? Her wife saved her life, betrays her father, kills her brother
out of love, she brings the dragon down, she gets rid of Jason's rival, and to thank her,
he gives her two kids and hop, leave you by the side of the road. There's moral values
we can count upon!
Anyway, Medea is a bit out of her mind and decides to put an end to this story in a finale worthy
of Game of Thrones. She offers a poisonned dress to the newly wed, who is all excited.
She puts the dress on...which catch fire. As she burns alive, the bride's father
tries to save her and burns with her. And in the end, that's the entire castle which burns
with their family. Medea allows herself a little break before she fetch
the kids she had with Jason and put them to death. Yes, she litterary
breaks bad.
That's how this beautilful story ends, with a pure and kindly morality... If
you cheat your wife, she'll kill your new partner, your kids and all the family in law.
If you want to learn more on this myth, there has been a lot of books and
the wikipedia page gives you a nice overlook of what will make you happy!
I will copy and paste it in the description for those who'd be curious.
If you liked this episode, leave me a thumb up, it always makes
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Thanks you and see you next time for new myths and legends!