Iolcus

Iolcus (Greek Iaolkos, also spelled Iolcos) was an ancient city in Magnesia, in Thessaly, on the Gulf of Pagasae. In Greek mythology it was the home of King Pelias and of Jason, and the starting point of the voyage of the Argo to fetch the Golden Fleece from Colchis. Medea later brought about the death of Pelias here, and Jason and Medea were driven out of the city afterwards.

Location

Homer lists Iolcus, “well-built Iaolkos”, among the towns that sent ships to Troy under Eumelus, the son of Admetus and Alcestis, the most beautiful of the daughters of Pelias (Homer, Iliad 2.711–715). Strabo places the city twenty stadia from Pagasae, the seaport of Pherae, and says it had been razed to the ground since early times; it was from there, he says, that Pelias sent out Jason and the Argo (Strabo, Geography 9.5.15). Apollonius says the people of Iolcus followed the heroes through the town to the ship at Pagasae in Magnesia (Apollonius, Argonautica 1.237–238).

The Royal House of Iolcus

Apollodorus says that Cretheus founded Iolcus and married Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus; they had three sons, Aeson, Amythaon and Pheres (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.11). Homer tells that Tyro bore Pelias and Neleus to Poseidon, and that Pelias lived in spacious Iolcus rich in flocks, while Neleus lived in sandy Pylos (Homer, Odyssey 11.254–257). Pelias was king of Iolcus after Cretheus, and Aeson’s son Jason lived there (Library 1.9.16). In Pindar, Jason says on his return that Pelias, trusting his own reckless heart, had taken the rule by force from his parents, the rightful kings (Pindar, Pythian 4.106–110).

Pelias and Jason

Pelias received an oracle that he would be killed by the advice of a man he would see coming from the people with only one sandal (Apollonius, Argonautica 1.5–7). Pindar gives the oracle in the same way: Pelias was to guard himself against the man with one sandal, whenever he came from the mountain steadings to the sunlit land of famous Iolcus, whether stranger or citizen (Pindar, Pythian 4.71–78). When Pelias was sacrificing to Poseidon, Jason came to the feast, having crossed the river Anaurus and lost one of his sandals in the mud (Argonautica 1.8–17). Pelias noticed him and asked what he would do, if he had the power, to a man who was destined to be killed by one of his citizens. Jason answered that he would send him to fetch the Golden Fleece, and Pelias then told Jason to go for it (Library 1.9.16).

Both Apollodorus and Apollonius say that the ship was built by Argus on the advice of Athena (Library 1.9.16; Argonautica 1.18–19). The voyage itself is told on the page of the Argonauts.

Medea and the Death of Pelias

While the Argonauts were away, Pelias, in despair of their return, was ready to kill Aeson. Aeson asked to be allowed to die by his own hand and drank bull’s blood in a sacrifice. Jason’s mother cursed Pelias and hanged herself, and Pelias killed the young son she left behind (Library 1.9.27). When Jason came back and gave up the fleece, he asked Medea to find a way to punish Pelias. She went to the palace and persuaded the daughters of Pelias to cut up their father and boil him, promising to make him young again with her drugs; to win their trust she cut up a ram and made it into a lamb. They believed her and killed their father (Library 1.9.27). Euripides alludes to the same event, saying that Medea persuaded the daughters of Pelias to kill their father and then lived in Corinth with Jason (Euripides, Medea 9–11), and Pindar calls Medea the “slayer of Pelias” (Pindar, Pythian 4.250).

After Pelias

Medea did not become queen of Iolcus. Acastus, the son of Pelias, buried his father with the help of the people of Iolcus and expelled Jason and Medea from the city. They went to Corinth (Library 1.9.27–28; Euripides, Medea 9–12). Later, Peleus, Jason and the Dioscuri sacked Iolcus, and Peleus killed Acastus’ wife Astydamia (Library 3.13.7).

Iolcus Sources

Homer, Iliad 2.711–715; Homer, Odyssey 11.254–257; Pindar, Pythian 4.71–78, 4.106–110 and 4.250; Apollonius, Argonautica 1.1–19 and 1.237–238; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.11, 1.9.15–16, 1.9.27–28 and 3.13.7; Euripides, Medea 1–12; Strabo 9.5.15.

See Also: Aeson, Pelias, Jason, Golden Fleece, Argonauts, Aeetes, Medea, Dioscuri, Peleus