CMLT316 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Iolcos, Pelias, Euphemus
3 Jun 2018
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Class 19: The Age of Heroes; Jason and Medea
The Legend of Jason
The Argonauts
● Joined for the sake of heroic arete (excellence)
● Performed a series of parerga (additonal labors) along the way
○ Hypsipyle and the Lemnian women
■ Jason and his men landed on Lemnos
■ The women there did not worship Aphrodite
■ As punishment, the goddess made them all smell bad
■ Husbands wouldn’t sleep with them, took mistresses, so they killed them
■ Jason had a child with Hypsipyle
○ Phineus and the Harpies (Zetes and Calais)
■ Phineus was a blind prophet, cursed by the gods for telling the future
■ Everyday he would set a full table outside, only to have the Harpies eat
and defile his food
■ Zetes and Calais )those guys with the wings) chase off the Harpies
○ Symplegades (Euphemus)
■ In English, Symplegades means “the smashers”
■ Two rocks that crashed together, destroying two ships
■ Sent a dove through, which made it safely: indicated that they could too
■ In some versions, Euphemus (the fast runner) ran ahead of the ship
across the water
■ Once they passed through, the rocks forever stopped
Enter Medea
● Princess of Colchis
● Probably a teen at the time of Jason’s arrival
● As a Colchian, she was non-Greek “eastern”
● Granddaughter of Helios, niece of the sorceress Circe
● Priestess of Hecate (i.e. trained as a sorceress herself)
Jason at Colchis
● King of Colchis Aeetes agrees to give Jason the Golden Fleece if he performs a set of
impossible tasks
○ Fire breathing bulls
○ Army from the soil
○ Serpent protecting the tree
● Medea (the princess) helps Jason in each of these
Jason at Medea Escape
● Pursued by Cocheans after Jason claims the Golden Fleece
● At lead of chase was Apsyrtus (Medea’s brother)
● Either killed in ambush or dismembered
● Parerga (side-quests)
○ Visit Circe (Medea’s aunt)
○ Planctae - wandering rocks
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Class 19: the age of heroes; jason and medea. Joined for the sake of heroic arete (excellence) Performed a series of parerga (additonal labors) along the way. Jason and his men landed on lemnos. The women there did not worship aphrodite. As punishment, the goddess made them all smell bad. Husbands wouldn"t sleep with them, took mistresses, so they killed them. Phineus and the harpies (zetes and calais) Phineus was a blind prophet, cursed by the gods for telling the future. Everyday he would set a full table outside, only to have the harpies eat and defile his food. Zetes and calais )those guys with the wings) chase off the harpies. Two rocks that crashed together, destroying two ships. Sent a dove through, which made it safely: indicated that they could too. In some versions, euphemus (the fast runner) ran ahead of the ship across the water. Once they passed through, the rocks forever stopped.
