Jason in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Jason

66 passages from 11 ancient authors that tell of Jason, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Jason was a hero in Greek mythology, the leader of the Argonautic Expedition in the quest of retrieving the Golden Fleece. He was the son of the king ... For the story in one place, read our article on Jason.

Hesiod (1)

Hesiod, Fragments 1.1–13Deucalion, Hellen and their descendantsThe Catalogue of Women opens with the descendants of Deucalion and Hellen, saying that Deucalion was the son of Prometheus and Pronoea, that Hellen fathered Dorus, Xuthus and Aeolus, and that Thyia bore Magnes and Macedon to Zeus. The fragments then turn to the Aloiadae, Eurynome, Endymion, the sons of Actor and Molione, Periclymenus, and the sons of Neleus whom Heracles killed. Most are short quotations from later writers who cite Hesiod for a name or a descent.

Homer (1)

Homer, Iliad 7.433–482The Achaeans build the wall; Poseidon's angerThe Achaeans build the wall and the ditch with stakes while the gods look on. Poseidon complains to Zeus that men will forget the wall that he and Apollo built for Laomedon, and Zeus tells him to level the Achaean wall once they have gone home. The army feasts through the night while Zeus thunders in a sign of trouble.

Apollodorus (2)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 1.9.23–28Jason and Medea: the Golden Fleece, the return and CorinthAt Colchis Aeetes sets Jason the tasks of yoking the fire-breathing bulls and sowing dragon's teeth, and Medea's drugs bring him through; she then helps him take the fleece. Medea kills her brother Apsyrtus to delay pursuit, and the Argo sails on to Circe, the Sirens, the Phaeacians, Crete (where Talos is killed) and Iolcus. Medea tricks the daughters of Pelias into boiling him, and when Jason marries Glauce at Corinth she destroys the bride and her father and kills her own sons. She flees to Athens and marries Aegeus, bears Medus, and finally returns to Colchis to restore Aeetes.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 1.9.16–22Jason and the Argonauts: the voyage to PhineusPelias is warned against the man with one sandal and sends Jason to fetch the Golden Fleece from Colchis. Argus builds the Argo, the crew is listed, and the ship calls at Lemnos, at the land of the Doliones where Cyzicus is killed by mistake, and at Mysia, where Hylas is lost and Heracles is left behind. Polydeuces kills Amycus of the Bebryces, and at Salmydessus Zetes and Calais drive the Harpies from the seer Phineus, who tells the crew how to pass the Clashing Rocks.

Pindar (2)

Pindar, Pythian Odes 4.143–299Pythian 4: for Arcesilas — the Argonauts and the golden fleeceJason offers Pelias the flocks and herds but asks for the sceptre and throne of his father Aeson, and Pelias answers softly, sending him to fetch the golden fleece and the spirit of Phrixus. Jason gathers the Argonauts, including Orpheus, Echion and Eurytus, who sail after his prayer to Zeus. At Colchis Aeëtes sets him a task, and with Medea's charms Jason wins the fleece, kills the serpent and carries Medea off, and the ode ends with a plea that Arcesilas recall the exile Damophilus.
Pindar, Pythian Odes 4.1–142Pythian 4: for Arcesilas — Medea's prophecy and Jason at IolcusPindar honours Arcesilas, king of Cyrene and victor in the chariot race, and recalls the word that Medea spoke at Thera, that her companions' descendants would colonise Libya, so that Arcesilas is eighth in the line from Battus. He then turns to Jason, who arrives at Iolcus wearing one sandal and astonishes the crowd in the market-place, and who says that he has come to recover his father's honour. His kinsmen Pheres, Amythaon, Admetus and Melampus gather to him, and he leads them to the hall of Pelias and begins his appeal to the king.

Euripides (13)

Euripides, Medea 1361–1419Exodos: Jason mourns and Medea foretells his deathJason begs to be allowed to touch and bury his dead sons, and Medea refuses. She says that she will bury them herself in Hera's sacred field and found a yearly rite in Corinth to atone for the murder, and that she will go to Athens to live with Aegeus. She foretells Jason's death, struck by a piece of the Argo, and the Chorus ends the play on the unexpected ways of the gods.
Euripides, Medea 545–626Second episode: Jason's defence and Medea's rejection of his helpJason argues that he married the princess so that he and his family could live in comfort and so that his sons by Medea would have brothers of royal rank, and he says that she has no need of more children. He offers her money and letters to friends abroad to help her in exile, but Medea refuses to take anything from him and sends him back to his new bride.
Euripides, Medea 866–975Episode: Medea feigns reconciliation and sends gifts to the brideMedea calls Jason back and pretends that she was wrong to be angry, and asks him to persuade the king to let the children stay. She will send them with a robe and a golden crown as a gift for the bride, and Jason, deceived, agrees to ask his bride to plead for them.
Euripides, Medea 1293–1360Exodos: Jason learns his sons are dead and confronts MedeaJason arrives in haste to save his sons from the vengeance of the royal house, and learns from the Chorus that Medea has already killed them. Medea appears and says that the Sun, her grandfather, has given her horses to carry her out of reach. Jason rages at her as a lioness and a murderess, and she answers that she has wounded him as he wounded her.
Euripides, Medea 1–130Prologue: the Nurse laments Medea's plightThe Nurse wishes the ship Argo had never sailed and tells how Medea, who followed Jason from Colchis, has been betrayed now that he has married the daughter of King Creon. The children's Attendant tells her what he has heard, that Creon means to banish Medea and her sons, and the Nurse sends the boys inside. Medea's cries of grief and anger are heard from within the house, and the Nurse fears what she may do.
Euripides, Medea 446–544Second episode: Medea reproaches JasonJason says that Medea's own rash words brought her exile, and that he is willing to help her. Medea answers with a list of what she did for him, among them saving his life from the fire-breathing bulls and the dragon, helping him win the Fleece, and persuading the daughters of Pelias to kill their father, and she asks where she can now go. The Chorus calls such quarrels terrible, and Jason begins his reply.
Euripides, Medea 759–865Medea reveals her plan; third choral song in praise of AthensWith a safe refuge assured, Medea tells the Chorus how she will take her revenge: she will send her children with poisoned gifts to the princess, and then kill the children as well. The Chorus pleads with her not to kill her sons, and sings in praise of Athens and its famed wisdom, asking how such a city could receive a murderess.
Euripides, Medea 131–212Parodos: the women of Corinth hear Medea's criesThe Chorus of Corinthian women hear Medea's cries from the house and ask the Nurse what is wrong. Medea, still inside, calls on Themis and Zeus as guardians of oaths and prays for the ruin of Jason and his bride. The Chorus asks the Nurse to bring her out, and the Nurse goes in to try, while the Chorus hears Medea invoke Themis again.
Euripides, Medea 358–445Medea plans revenge; first choral song on broken oathsThe Chorus pities Medea, who says that she has won a day in which to kill Creon, his daughter and Jason, and considers the possible ways of doing it. She decides to poison them, calls on Hecate, and resolves that she will not be mocked. The Chorus sings that the rivers flow back to their sources, that men's oaths have failed, and that the honour of women is changing.
Euripides, Medea 627–758Second choral song; Aegeus promises Medea refuge in AthensThe Chorus prays that love may come in moderation and that it may never be exiled from its own country, since no sorrow is worse than the loss of a fatherland. Aegeus, on his way home from the oracle at Delphi where he asked how he might have a child, meets Medea and hears her story. She offers to cure his childlessness, and he swears by Earth and the sun-god Helios to give her refuge and never to give her up to her enemies.
Euripides, Medea 1081–1135Fifth choral song on children; Medea awaits the newsThe Chorus reflects that those who have never had children are happier than parents, who must worry how their children will turn out and whether death will take them. Medea waits for news from the palace and sees Jason's servant, the Messenger, approaching in haste. He tells her to flee, and she asks to hear how the princess and Creon died.
Euripides, Medea 1231–1292Medea kills her sons while the Chorus lamentsMedea tells the Chorus that she is resolved to kill her sons, and urges on her own heart. The Chorus calls on the earth and the sun to look down on her, and prays that she may be stopped. The children's cries are heard from inside, and the Chorus compares Medea to Ino, who also killed her children, the one other woman it knows who did so.
Euripides, Medea 976–1080Fourth choral song; the children return and Medea decides to kill themThe Chorus sees no hope for the children, for the bride and for Medea. The children's Attendant then brings word that the princess has accepted the gifts and that the children are no longer to be exiled, and Medea weeps. In two long speeches she argues with herself, pulled between her love for her sons and her wish to hurt Jason, and at last she decides on the killing.

Apollonius Rhodius (33)

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.306–447Jason is chosen leader and Argo is launchedJason walks to the shore at Pagasae, where the heroes assemble and he asks them to choose the bravest as leader. They offer the command to Heracles, who refuses and names Jason instead. Argo is launched and the heroes draw lots for their benches, and Jason sacrifices to Apollo while the seer Idmon reads the omens as good and foretells his own death in Asia.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.1–166Hera and Athena ask Cypris to make Medea love JasonThe poet calls on Erato, and Hera and Athena decide to go to Cypris to ask her to make Aeetes' daughter Medea fall in love with Jason. Cypris finds her son Eros playing dice with Ganymede, and persuades him with the promise of a ball that once belonged to Zeus.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.1163–1277Hecate's rites and the arming of Jason and AeetesJason tells the heroes Medea's counsel, and Telamon fetches the dragon's teeth from Aeetes. By night Jason sacrifices to Hecate, and in the morning Aeetes arms himself and goes to the field of the contest. Jason steeps his weapons in the charm, and Idas cannot break his spear.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.1278–1407Jason yokes the fire-breathing bullsJason anoints himself, faces the bulls, yokes them and ploughs the field of Ares. He sows the dragon's teeth, throws a stone among the Earthborn men who spring up, and they kill each other. Aeetes goes back to the city in anger.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.92–211Jason takes the Golden FleeceJason swears to marry Medea, and they go to the grove of Ares, where Medea charms the sleepless serpent with her spells. Jason takes the Fleece from the oak, and the two return to the ship, where he tells the heroes they must set sail at once.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.299–438The banquet and Aeetes' demandsAt the banquet Aeetes questions his grandsons, and Argus tells how his ship was wrecked and why the Argonauts have come. Aeetes grows angry and agrees to give up the Fleece only if Jason will yoke the fire-breathing bulls, plough the field of Ares and sow the dragon's teeth, and Jason accepts.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.439–575The heroes decide to ask Medea for helpMedea, tormented by love, fears for the stranger's life. Argus tells Jason that Medea knows magic and should be asked for help, and after Peleus, Telamon and Idas offer to face the contest, an omen of a dove escaping a hawk, which Mopsus reads as the will of Cypris, persuades the heroes. Idas scorns the plan, and Argus is sent back to the city.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.234–305The Argonauts leave Iolcus; Alcimede's lamentThe heroes go through the city to the ship at Pagasae while the townspeople wonder at Pelias' purpose and the women pity Alcimede. Alcimede clings to Jason, wishing she had died before this day, and Jason comforts her and tells her to trust the oracles and Athena.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.721–909Jason and Hypsipyle on LemnosJason puts on the purple mantle that Athena gave him, woven with scenes such as the Cyclopes at their forge, and goes to the city. Hypsipyle tells him how the women drove out the men and offers him her father's rule. The Argonauts linger on Lemnos until Heracles rebukes them, and Hypsipyle bids Jason a tearful farewell.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.912–1025Jason and Medea meet at the temple of HecateArgus leads Jason and Mopsus towards the shrine of Hecate, and a crow, speaking for Hera, mocks Mopsus; he sends Jason on alone. Jason and Medea meet in silence, and he begs her for help, speaking of Ariadne and Theseus. She gives him the charm.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.1026–1162Medea's charm and the lovers' partingMedea tells Jason how to use the charm: sacrifice to Hecate by night, anoint himself and his weapons, and throw a stone among the Earthborn men. They exchange promises to remember each other, Jason speaks of Iolcus and Ariadne, and Medea reproaches him before they part; she returns home in distress.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.350–444Medea and Jason plan the death of ApsyrtusMedea is angry that the heroes may hand her over to her brother, and she curses Jason and threatens to burn the ship. Jason calms her, and they agree to lure Apsyrtus into a trap with gifts and a message.

21 more passages of Apollonius Rhodius that name Jason

Theocritus (1)

Theocritus, Idylls 13.1–75Idyll 13: HylasThe poet tells Nicias that Love was not first born for them, for Heracles, who killed the lion, loved the boy Hylas. When the Argo stops, Hylas goes to fetch water and the nymphs of the spring draw him in. Heracles searches for him in a fury, and the Argo sails without him.

Diodorus Siculus (5)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.50.1–4.53.7The Argonauts III: Medea, Pelias and the return to IolcusWhile the Argonauts are away Pelias puts Jason's father and brother to death, and Jason's mother kills herself. Medea promises to kill Pelias by a trick: she fashions a hollow image of Artemis and, appearing as an old woman made young by drugs, persuades his daughters to boil their father, and the Argonauts then take the palace. Jason gives the kingdom to Acastus, marries Pelias' daughters to notable men, dedicates the Argo at the Isthmus and settles at Corinth, and as the chiefs part Heracles proposes an oath of mutual aid and the games at the Alpheius that he names Olympia.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.54.1–4.56.8Jason and Medea at Corinth; the Argonauts' alleged return routeAfter ten years Jason takes Glauce, daughter of Creon, and Medea burns the palace and kills her children before escaping to Heracles at Thebes. The historian gives the later fortunes of Medea and her son Medus, remarks on the invented marvels of the tragic poets, and records the Argonauts' alleged return route by way of the Tanaïs and the ocean, with place-names in Italy and Libya that are said to prove it.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.40.1–4.44.7The Argonauts I: Jason and the voyage to PhineusJason, nephew of Pelias, has a great ship built on Mount Pelion and gathers the chiefs of Greece, with Heracles among them. On the way they rescue Hesione at Sigeium, come through a storm thanks to Orpheus' prayers to the gods of Samothrace, and reach Phineus, whose sons are freed by the Boreadae and Heracles. They then put in on the coast of the Tauric Chersonese, where strangers are sacrificed to Artemis.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.45.1–4.49.8The Argonauts II: Colchis, Medea and the golden fleeceThe historian explains the custom of the Colchi of killing strangers by the story of Aeëtes and his brother Perses, and gives the traditions about Medea and about Phrixus and the ram with the golden fleece. With Medea's help the Argonauts take the fleece; the king of the Colchi falls in the fighting, and the chiefs sail home by way of Byzantium and Troy.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.31.1–4.33.12Heracles: servitude, Troy, Elis and SpartaAfter his labours Heracles gives Megara to Iolaüs and asks for Iole, daughter of Eurytus; he is refused, falls ill, and is told by Apollo to be sold as a slave to pay the sons of Iphitus. He then makes war on Laomedon at Troy and gives the kingdom to Priam, fights Augeas and the Eleans, and defeats the sons of Hippocoön at Sparta, restoring Tyndareüs. The section ends with Augê's secret child.

Ovid (4)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.1–158Jason and MedeaThe Argonauts, after freeing King Phineus from the Harpies, reach Colchis, and Jason demands the Golden Fleece from King Aeetes, who sets him impossible tasks. Medea, the king's daughter, falls in love with the stranger, torn between love and duty, and at last gives way, deciding to save him if he will swear to marry her. She gives him a charm to protect him against the fire-breathing bulls, and he yokes them, ploughs the field, sows the dragon's teeth, and kills the armed men that spring from them by throwing a stone among them. Medea then lulls the dragon to sleep, and Jason takes the fleece and sails away with her to Iolcus.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.159–296Medea rejuvenates AesonJason, home in Thessaly with the fleece, asks Medea to give some of his own years to his father Aeson. Medea, on the night of the full moon, calls on Hecate and gathers magic herbs, and drains the old man's blood and fills his veins with a potion. Aeson regains the vigour of a young man, and Dionysus (Bacchus), watching, asks Medea to do the same for his nurses.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.264–444The Calydonian boar huntArtemis (Diana), angered at being forgotten at the harvest rites, sends a huge boar to ravage the fields of Calydon, and Meleager gathers heroes from all Greece to hunt it. The hunters include Theseus, Jason, Castor and Pollux, and the huntress Atalanta, whose beauty and skill the others admire. Atalanta first wounds the boar, and Meleager kills it, and awards the head and hide to her. Meleager's uncles, jealous of Atalanta, snatch the prize from her, and Meleager kills them in a rage.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.297–403Medea and the daughters of PeliasMedea, to punish Pelias, who had wronged Jason's family, pretends to have quarrelled with Jason and persuades Pelias' daughters to cut up their old father and boil him in a cauldron, promising to make him young. She shows them how a ram is made young again by the same method, but she leaves out the magic herbs for Pelias, and the daughters kill him. Medea flees in a chariot drawn by dragons and flies over Greece, over the places of many transformations, and takes refuge with Aegeus, king of Athens.

Pausanias (3)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.3.1–11Corinth: the agora, the spring Pirene and the children of MedeaPausanias continues through Corinth: the bronze Athena, the temple of Octavia, the portal with chariots of the Sun, and the spring Pirene with its link to Corinthian bronze. He lists images of Hermes, Poseidon and Palaemon, the baths and fountains, and the road to Sicyon with the Glauce basin and the tomb of Medea’s children. He recounts the varied stories of Medea, Jason and her children, drawn from the Naupactia, Eumelus and others.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.17.1–11Olympia: the Heraeum’s images and the Chest of Cypselus, first fieldPausanias lists the images in the temple of Hera, among them Zeus and Hera, the Seasons, Themis, the Hesperides and works by Praxiteles, and then describes the cedar Chest of Cypselus, in which the infant Cypselus was hidden. He explains the inscriptions in boustrophedon and describes the first field of its reliefs, the chariot race of Pelops and Oenomaus, the house of Amphiaraus and the funeral games of Pelias.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.18.1–8Olympia: the Chest of Cypselus, second and third fieldsPausanias describes the second field of the chest, with Night nursing Death and Sleep, Justice and Injustice, Idas and Marpessa, Alcmena, Menelaus and Helen, Medea, the Muses, Atlas and Hercules, and Perseus pursued by the Gorgons. The third field shows armies meeting, which he reads as the migration of Melas to Corinth.

Parthenius of Nicaea (1)

Parthenius of Nicaea, Love Romances 26.1–28.1Apriate and Trambelus; Alcinoe; Clite and CyzicusTrambelus, son of Telamon, throws Apriate of Lesbos into the sea when she resists his ambush, and later, wounded in battle against Achilles, is mourned by him with a great barrow. Alcinoe, punished by Athena for cheating the spinner Nicandra, sails away with the stranger Xanthus and, repenting, throws herself into the sea. Clite, newly married to Cyzicus, hangs herself after he is killed fighting the heroes who sailed with Jason.