10: Classics Chapter 18: Spring 2010
Jason and the Myths of Iolcus
[Thebes: Antigon and Sophocles] I. Origin of the Golden Fleece II. Jason and the Argonauts III. Jason and Medea Get the Fleece
End of Chapter Seventeen
Oedipus and Thebes: Antigon
Thebes After the Seven
Oedipus sons now being dead, the kingship goes to Jocastas brother Creon Creon declares Eteocles a hero, Polynices a traitor, declares that anyone who buries a traitor is punishable by death
Right of the defeated to bury their dead generally granted in Greek world Circumstances of civil war make the question very difficult; Creon very loyal to Thebes
Sophocles Antigon (441 BCE)
Antigon defies Creons order, offers Polynices symbolic burial (last rites with a handful of dust) Claims that the laws of the gods demand burial and that those laws are greater than the laws of Creon and the city
Family vs. city; individual vs. group; woman vs. man Young vs. old; traditional vs. progressive
Both sides have speeches in which they defend their view; well balanced play
Sophocles Antigon (441 BCE)
Creon feels he has to kill Antigon, so condemns her to be shut up in a tomb Blood wont be on his hands (sound familiar?) Creons son Haemon (whos engaged to Antigon) tries to intervene, but Creon will not listen; he reveals himself to be a tyrant Antigon seems desirous of suicide and martyrdom, thinks death is glory Both sides have a point, but both seem too loyal to their own view: this is Sophoclean tragedy
Sophocles Antigon (441 BCE)
Tiresias warns Creon of divine consequences if he does not yield, so he yields
Free Antigon and then bury Polynices, says Tiresias
Creon buries Polynices and then goes to free Antigon: this order is his ultimate mistake
Is this pride? Bad luck? Or smart?
Creon finds that Antigon has hanged herself The grieving Haemon tries to kill Creon, but fails; kills himself; so does Creons wife Tragic hero really Creon, for he is forced to suffer while Antigon is almost eager to
Antigon: Revenge of the Parthenos?
Politically, Antigon is the conservative and Creon is the progressive
Sophoclean advantage: likely Creon
Philosophically, Creon advocates customary law (nomos) and Antigon natural law (physis)
Sophoclean advantage: likely Antigon
Gender-wise, Antigon is the untamed parthenos which no civic power can stop
Sophoclean advantage: very likely Creon
Sophocles the progressive man who yet believes in natural law? His hero = a flexible Creon?
Sophocles and Thebes
Our most influential evidence for Theban myth: Sophocles, obsessed with power of the divine Sophocles made Oedipus and Antigon so famous for us; Greeks found the Seven Against Thebes the highlight Sophocles explores limits of human greatness by contrasting human weakness with divine power
His heroes: strong characters who are flawed Perhaps Oedipus family is cursed, but Sophocles does not mention it
Sophocles denounces pride but praises strength
Chapter Eighteen
Jason and the Myths of Iolcus
Jason and the Argonauts
Group of heroic characters assemble to obtain great treasure (the Golden Fleece)
Like an action movie with big and famous cast
Set in the generation before the Trojan War
Story already said to be famous by Homer
Yet our best account an epic poem called the Argonautica, written around 250 BCE by Apollonius of Rhodes
Librarian of Alexandria, learned in literature An epic meant for reading (not listening) More of an emotional soap opera than Homer
Jason and Medea
Medea becomes Jasons companion during the quest for the Golden Fleece After they return together, they have adventures in Jasons hometown of Iolcus and then in Corinth
Euripides Medea (431 BCE) is THE great account of the events in Corinth Medea ends up in Athens, Theseus forces her out (go back to pages 402-3 in Powell)
Origin of the Golden Fleece
Athamas, King of Orchomenus in Boeotia, had two children by his first wife Nephel
Boy Phrixus and girl Hell
Athamas then dumps Nephel and marries Ino, who plots to kill Phrixus so that her son might inherit the throne Ino bribes the Oracle at Delphi to tell Athamas that he has to sacrifice Phrixus in order to end the famine at Orchomenus
Origin of the Golden Fleece
When Athamas leads Phrixus to the altar, a golden ram appears, the kids climb on, and the ram flies away (!) Hell falls off and drowns in the narrows separating Europe and Asia
Hence the narrows now called the Hellespont, which means the sea of Hell
The ram flies Phrixus to safety on the far eastern side of the Black Sea, to the city of Colchis Phrixus then sacrifices the ram to Zeus and gives the golden fleece to the local king, Aetes
Jason of Iolcus (in Thessaly)
Pelias, a son of Poseidon, stages a coup to become King of Thessaly Drives his twin brother out and imprisons his half-brother Aeson Aeson has a son Jason who is hidden away and raised by Chiron the Centaur
Chiron later killed by Heracles
Jason grows to manhood and returns to Iolcus to overthrow his uncle
Jason Provokes His Quest
Pelias learns from an oracle that a man with one sandal will cause his downfall Jason arrives with one sandal because he lost one while carrying an old woman across a stream on the way to Iolcus
The old woman is Hera in disguise, who becomes Jasons champion
Pelias recognizes the one sandal symbol, asks Jason what he would do if he could control the person who was going to ruin him Jason says: tell him to go get the Golden Fleece!
The Commissioning of the Argo
Pelias thus commands Jason to go get the Golden Fleece (cf. Perseus and Polydectes)
It seems Pelias was to yield the throne to Jason if Jason was successful
Jason has a ship built, the biggest and best ever made up to that time: could hold 50 men (!) The ship is built by a man named Argus (Swift) and named the Argo for its builder
Its crew = the Argonauts of (sailors the Argo)
Jason collects the best warriors of the day to be his companions; a tremendous cast of characters
(Some of) The 50 Argonauts
Heracles, though he doesnt stay with them long Orpheus, the great musician The Dioscuri (Castor & Polydeuces), brothers of Helen and sons of Zeus The Boreads (Zetes and Calas), sons of Boreus, the North Wind Peleus, father of Achilles Meleager, hunter of the Calydonian Boar Admetus, husband of Alcestis Augeas, whose stables Heracles cleaned Jason and Argus and others
Map 1
Orchomenos in Boeotia Iolcus Plain of Thessaly
Map 2
Iolcus Lemnos Hellespont Clashing Rocks Black Sea
Early Adventures of Jason and the Argonauts
The women of Lemnos
Had insulted Aphrodite, who punished them by causing their genitalia to stink Their husbands refused to have sex with them anymore and stole some Thracian women for sex and childrearing They ultimately responded in jealous rage and killed every male on Lemnos and every Thracian woman or child of a Thracian One exception: Queen Hypsipyl hid her father in a closet and so saved him
Early Adventures of Jason and the Argonauts
The women of Lemnos
When the Argo shows up, they assume it is Thracian vengeance and prepare to fight But when they meet the Argonauts, they seduce them immediately (but what about the smell?) New generation appears nine months later Only Heracles did not participate, because he wanted to stay on the Argo with his boy-love Hylas
Back at sea, Heracles pulls too hard and breaks his oar; they stop for him to cut a new one
Hylas goes for a drink and is abducted by water nymphs because of his beauty
John Waterhouse, Hylas and the Nymphs (1896)
Heracles goes looking for Hylas, is left behind His labors not yet complete
Phineus and the Harpies
The Argonauts come to the Bosporus (the strait that leads to the Black Sea, where Istanbul now is), city of Salmydessus King Phineus is being tormented there because he abused his power as a seer and told people more than he should
Blinded by Zeus, starving and old
Whenever he tried to eat, the Harpies would come and snatch it away, leaving only crumbs
Phineus and the Harpies
The Harpies = hostile human-headed female birds who stink and leave stench behind
Associated with storm winds and angry spirits
Argonauts agree to free Phineus from the Harpies if he tells them how to get into the Black Sea They set a trap by setting out a feast Harpies appear and are fought off (and killed?) by Zetes and Calas, the winged sons of Boreas the North Wind
They can fly faster than the Harpies
The Symplegades (The Clashing Rocks)
Phineus rewards them by telling them to send a dove through the Symplegades; if the dove makes it, they will also The Clashing Rocks seem to have been a timed smashing of a great pair of rocks amidst great swirling currents The dove just makes it, with its tail feathers clipped; the Argo likewise just makes it, with the very end of its stern clipped
Once navigated, Symplegades become fixed by fate
The Argonauts soon arrive in Colchis
Jasons Great Labor
Medea, daughter of King Aetes, is the first to see Jason Aphrodite sends Eros to make her fall totally in love with him; compare Ariadn with Theseus Aetes is expecting a stranger to be his downfall and sets a task for Jason if he wants the Golden Fleece He must yoke two fire-breathing bulls, and use them to plow a huge field in which he must plant the remaining teeth from the dragon that Cadmus killed Athena had somehow given half of these to Aetes Then he must kill the men which would sprout from the field (as happened in Thebes)
Jasons Great Labor
Medea offers to help Jason if he promises to marry her and take her back to Greece She is a sorceress, gives him a magical fireproof ointment that he can rub all over his body to protect him from the bulls He goes right to their cave, wrestles them down and into the yoke He plows the field, sows the teeth He then releases the bulls, waters the field
Jasons Great Labor
Once watered, the warriors start to grow Jason throws a rock among them, they start fighting among themselves over who threw it He later rushes in and finishes them off, many sliced into bits before they have fully emerged from the groud Jason thus completes his task, though Aetes still refuses to give up the Golden Fleece and plots to kill Jason Medea tips him off and helps him get the Fleece
Medea and the Golden Fleece
A huge dragon guards the Fleece, but Medea gives the dragon a potion and puts it to sleep Medea and Jason steal the Fleece and sail away Aetes chases the Argo but Medea again helps Jason She cuts up her brother Aspyrtus into pieces and throws them one by one into the water Aetes stops to pick them up and so the Argo has the time to escape back to Greece Hence Jasons ultimate success is largely, if not entirely, dependent on Medeas help
Jason as a Deflated Hero?
Apollonius poem Argonautica ends with the return of the Argonauts to Greece Apollonius portrayal of Jason emphasizes his emotional states and indecision Jasons response to learning of his great labor: depression and despair Medea the more powerful and stronger member of the couple (Scandalous? Witchy? Appealing?)
Very different poetic tastes in Hellenistic Age Homeric heroism regarded as crude and simple
Jason as a Deflated Hero?
Apollonius writing for a literate audience who would appreciate the twists and variations on the standard hero theme His focus was more on individual emotions, precious descriptions, learned detail Greatly influenced subsequent epic and poetry, especially Vergil and his Aeneid, who sought to combine effects from Homer and from Apollonius Yet to us, Apollonius often felt to be too lavish and melodramatic
The most dramatic episode in the story of Jason and Medea still to come, however,