Jason
Also known as: son of Æson · Family: Argonauts · Role: leader of the voyage for the Golden Fleece · First appears: Fable 61
Jason, son of Æson, leads the voyage for the Golden Fleece. Calaïs and Zethes, his winged sons, later embark with him in search of it, while Juno favors Jason. At Colchis, he asks Æetes for the fleece and accepts the dangerous labors set as conditions.
Medea falls in love with Jason, and he begs her assistance while promising marriage. She agrees to save him, gives him enchanted herbs, and teaches him their use; protected by her incantations, he yokes the flaming bulls, ploughs the sacred field, and turns the Earth-born warriors against one another until they perish. Jason returns victoriously to Iolcos with Medea as his wife, “bearing with him the giver of the prize as a second spoil.”
Medea later avenges the injuries Pelias had done to Jason’s family by making him the victim of his daughters’ credulity. At Corinth, during Medea’s absence, Jason marries Creon’s daughter, after which Medea murders the two children she had by Jason before him and flees. In another episode, Jason offers the spoil of his right to Atalanta, saying, “let my glory be shared by thee.”
Relationship record
Life events
- Calaïs and Zethes embark with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece.(Fable61)
- Jason demands Phryxus’s Golden Fleece, and Æetes imposes many dangerous labors as conditions.(Fable62 · 📍 Colchis)
- With: Æetes
- “And while they go to the king, and ask the fleece that once belonged to Phryxus, and conditions are offered them, dreadful for the number of mighty labors;”
- Medea agrees to save Jason after he promises to marry her.(Fable62 · 📍 Colchis)
- With: Medea
- “By my agency thou shalt be saved; when saved, grant what thou hast promised.”
- Medea gives Jason enchanted herbs and teaches him how to use them.(Fable62 · 📍 Colchis)
- With: Medea
- “Being believed {by her}, he immediately received some enchanted herbs, and thoroughly learned the use of them, and went away rejoicing to his abode.”
- Protected by Medea’s incantations, Jason yokes the flaming bulls and ploughs the field.(Fable62 · 📍 sacred field of Mavors)
- “He even strokes their hanging dewlaps with a bold right hand, and, subjected to the yoke, he obliges them to draw the heavy weight of a plough, and to turn up with the share the plain {till now} unused to it.”
- Jason turns the Earth-born warriors against one another, and they perish in mutual combat.(Fable62 · 📍 sacred field of Mavors)
- “The Earth-born brothers perish by mutual wounds, and fall in civil fight.”
- Jason carries Medea away as his wife and returns victoriously to Iolcos.(Fable62 · 📍 port of Iolcos)
- With: Medea
- “and proud of the spoil and bearing with him the giver of the prize as a second spoil, he arrives victorious, with his wife, at the port of Iolcos.”
- Jason marries Creon’s daughter during Medea’s absence.(Fable64 · 📍 Corinth)
- With: Creon
- “where, finding that Jason, in her absence, has married the daughter of king Creon”
- Medea murders her children by Jason before him.(Fable64 · 📍 Corinth)
- With: Medea
- “She then murders the two children which she had by Jason, before his face”
Fable 61
- with Calaïs (They embark together in search of the Golden Fleece.) “By her he has two sons, Calaïs and Zethes, who have wings, like their father, and afterwards embark with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece.”
- with Zethes (They embark together in search of the Golden Fleece.) “By her he has two sons, Calaïs and Zethes, who have wings, like their father, and afterwards embark with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece.”
Fable 62
- parent: Æson “the son of Æson”
- courtship with Medea “Medea falls in love with Jason”
- married with Medea “proud of the spoil and bearing with him the giver of the prize as a second spoil, he arrives victorious, with his wife”
- with Juno (interaction) “Juno, favoring Jason”
- admired: Medea “But when the stranger began to speak, and seized her right hand, and begged her assistance with a humble voice, and promised her marriage;”
- admirer: Medea “Why, royal maiden, art thou burning for a stranger, and why coveting the nuptial ties of a strange country?”
Fable 63
- married with Medea “O wife, to whom I confess that I owe my safety, although thou hast granted me everything, and the sum of thy favors exceeds {all} belief;”
- parent: Æson “the son of Æson {addresses Medea}”
- enemies with Pelias “she avenges the injuries which he had done to the family of Jason, by making him the victim of the credulity of his own daughters”
Fable 64
- with Medea (Medea and Jason had children together.) “She then murders the two children which she had by Jason, before his face, and takes to flight.”
Fable 73
- parent: Æson “The son of Æson, too, hurled his javelin”
- with Atalanta (interaction) “Receive, Nonacrian Nymph, the spoil that is my right; and let my glory be shared by thee.”
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Extracted from the original text of The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Made with Rho MD.