Jason and the Argonauts is a famous myth, written in 4th century BC by Apollonius. In the myth Jason was the son of the king in Iolcus, but his uncle, Pelias had usurped the throne. But Pelias lived in fear because he was scared of losing what he had taken so unjustly. Pelias kept Jason's father a prisoner and would have murdered Jason at birth, but Jason's mother deceived Pelias by mourning as if Jason had died. Meanwhile Jason was carried to the cave of Chiron the Centaur. Chiron was famous for teaching and helping many great heroes so he taught Jason everything. When Jason became older, Jason set out like a "proper" hero to claim his rightful throne.
He met his uncle and demanded that he to give up the thorn but he refused but he did promise Jason that is he gets the legendary golden fleece. An impossible quest. But that didn't stop Jason. Great heroes couldn't resit to go on this quest so Jason hired and made a crew of them, including the all mighty Hercules who has the strength of a thousand men. Orpheus who's music can cut as sharp as knifes and the great huntress Atalanta. The Argonauts.
He had faced many difficult challenges through out the journey like the harpies and the clashing rocks. When he arrives upon the land where the golden fleece was, the king of the land offered a deal with Jason, if he could accomplish the tasks set out for him, he would kindly give the fleece to him. Meanwhile the king's daughter fell in love with Jason, helping him with all the tasks. Without her, Jason would be nowhere. After Jason and the Argonauts had the fleece, Jason promised to love Media, the daughter of the king, for the rest of his life. But when he breaks the promise back at his homeland with another princess. Media found out and cursed him but the discovery impacted her so much that her whole life changed, turning from good to evil. Jason didn't live long after he's gained the golden fleece because his death was caused by his our ship, the Argo, when a piece of oak fell on his hand, knocking the life out of him.
Who was Jason? Was he really a hero? Who were the real Argonauts? question not yet answered. I think there is no right or wrong answer to these questions, for examples; we'll never know if Hercules really existed or was made up. Only a fool would answer with a yes or no because he has no evidence unless he built a time machine and was able to control time and space to go back in time to check. And there are so many versions of the story, changing only by a little though but still has the main idea. With more than one version, it suggests to me that the story might be made up but the video we watch -The Real Jason and The Argonauts Part 1- says that most myths are based on true facts. What do you think?
For centuries, people think it was just a old legend but with modern day technology and the help of archaeologists, we were able to find evidence of Jason. Stones and artifacts were dug up by archaeologists and some of them had "history" carved on to them. And with high tech scanning, archaeologists found lost ruins, buried under tons of rock and soil. They were able to uncover a part of the city where Jason lived. History and geography supports the statement that Jason was real. But are you convinced?
