Hello everyone! I’m back, back again. With another mythology post.
You see, in a life where you can start an argument with “It’s like supply and demand but the people are the supply and they’re all dead” (WE WERE TALKING ABOUT THE BLACK DEATH OK), it’s good to get a book and try to not think about that.
Because I enjoy Greco-Roman mythology, I tend to do this with classics works eg. Homer’s Odyssey. I am both interested in the subject and study it to play Certamen, it helps me to read Classics works.
And a few days ago, I got the Argonautica, also known as Jason and the Golden Fleece, by Apollonius of Rhodes to help with my studying of mythology.
Admittedly, my translation (by Richard Hunter) is difficult. It uses the Greek spellings of the names (i.e. Circe = Kirke, Caeneus = Kaineus) which threw me off a little bit. Additionally, small footnotes are added for translations of epithets instead of a clarifying glossary near the beginning (like having to flip all the way back to the book to find out “son of Leto” was just gonna be noted as “Apollo” without elaboration…like no story??)
In any case, I found out some interesting things about Jason’s family tree. Things that are not clarified (as far as I can tell) in my copy.
[This helps me a lot as family trees are often lead-ins to Certamen questions! Thus.]
[NOTE – Although I refer to Ovid in this blog, I will be using Greek names for the gods as I am speaking in the context of the Argonautica, a Greek source.]
WARNING FOR STANDARD GREEK MYTHOLOGY BELOW.
Let’s begin with Jason’s family wreath.
The farthest ancestor my book tracks is Aeolus/Aiolos, who, with further research, is not the same as the king of the winds!
This Aeolus is actually a king of Thessaly, a region in central Greece. NOT the king of the winds who received Deiopea to make a storm and make trouble for Aeneas.
Anyway, Aeolus has three mentioned sons in my book: Salmoneus, Kretheus/Cretheus, and Athamas.
Let’s talk about Athamas, king of Boeotia, next.
Athamas may sound familiar. This is because this Athamas is the same as the husband of Ino, a daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, and the mother of Learchus and Melicertes/Melicerta. The Ino who, according to Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the Odyssey, was transformed into the sea goddess Leucothea. Melicertes was transformed into the sea god Palaemon, and both were saved by Aphrodite convincing Poseidon to turn them both into immortals.
However, what you might not know (and what I didn’t know) is that this Ino is part of the myth of Phrixus and Helle!
See, Phrixus and Helle were also children of Ino, but by another woman named Nephele–the cloud nymph Ixion seduced to create Centaurus, the ancestor of the Centaur race!
(I swear all of mythology is basically crossover fics)
Anyway, this was before Ino, so after Athamas married Ino, Ino wanted only HER children to have claim to the throne, so she managed to convince Athamas that he had to sacrifice Phrixus and Helle to Zeus if he wanted to save the land from famine.
So Athamas tries to do this, but Zeus and Hermes save the children and a golden ram named Chrysomallos/Chrysomallus comes to fly Phrixus and Helle away. However, during the journey, Helle falls off Chrysomallus into a body of water and dies, giving the water the name “Hellespont.” This body of water is a topic in many myths, along with the idea of someone dying in a body of water then getting that body named after them.
Anyhow, Phrixos lands in east Aia (I don’t know the Anglicized name) and sacrifices Chrysomallos, hanging the ram’s GOLDEN FLEECE (important) in a grove sacred to Ares. The king of Aia, Aeetes, the son of Helios (and brother of Circe! Her mom was Perse) gave Phrixus his daughter Chalkiope in marriage. Chalkiope is also the sister of Apsyrtus and Medea! (<- important woman)
So Jason has some famous in-laws. But what about the man himself?
Well, remember that Salmoneus guy I told you about? (He was struck down by Zeus because he tried to roleplay as legit Zeus and ordered worship but that’s not important)
What IS important is his daughter. Salmoneus’s daughter is Tyro, a figure alluded to by Antinous in the Odyssey whilst comparing Penelope’s beauty (not important).
Anyway, Poseidon catches sight of Tyro and she bears Neleus and Pelias. BUT Tyro is also married to Kretheus (yes, the one I mentioned earlier, family wreath), with whom she has Aeson/Aison.
Aeson married Alcimede/Alkimede, and they have JASON. (<- SUPER IMPORTANTTT)
This teeny lineage problem is what causes the premise of Jason. Kretheus, the king of Iolcus/Iolkos, passes away, and instead of the throne going to Aeson, it goes to Pelias. Then the Argonautica happens.
But there you go! That’s Jason’s family tree (and some of Medea’s) explained.
If this helped you at all, leave a comment! If I made a mistake, feel free to correct me but have a source that is NOT Percy Jackson or Gyro and the Argonauts </33
I hope you all enjoyed! Valete omnes!