Jason, son of Aeson, a
king in Greece. Aeson's throne had been taken away from him by his half
brother Pelias, and Jason, the rightful heir to the throne, had been sent
away as a child for his own protection. When Jason grew to manhood, however,
he courageously returned to Greece to regain his kingdom. Pelias pretended
to be willing to relinquish the crown, but said that the young man must
first undertake the quest of the Golden Fleece, which was the rightful
property of their family. Pelias did not believe that Jason could succeed
in the quest, nor that he would come back alive, but the young man scoffed
at the dangers ahead. Jason assembled a crew of heroic young men from all
parts of Greece to sail with him on the ship Argo. After a voyage of incredible
perils, the Argonauts reached Colchis, the country in which the Golden
Fleece was held by King Aeëtes. Aeëtes agreed to give up the
Golden Fleece if Jason would yoke two fire-breathing bulls with bronze
feet, and sow the teeth of the dragon that Cadmus, the founder of Thebes,
had long before slain. From the teeth would spring up a crop of armed men
who would turn against Jason. Jason successfully accomplished this task
with the aid of Medea, the king's daughter. Unknown to Jason, the goddess
Hera had intervened in his behalf by making Medea fall in love with him.
Medea gave Jason a charm to sprinkle on his weapons that would make him
invincible for the day of his ordeal and helped him steal the fleece that
night by charming a sleepless dragon that guarded it. In return for her
help, Jason promised to love Medea always and to marry her as soon as they
were safely back in Greece. Carrying the fleece and accompanied by Medea,
Jason and his crew managed to escape from Aeëtes. On reaching Greece,
the crew of heroes disbanded, and Jason with Medea took the Golden Fleece
to Pelias. In Jason's absence Pelias had forced Jason's father to kill
himself, and his mother had died of grief. To avenge their deaths, Jason
called upon Medea to help him punish Pelias. Medea tricked Pelias's daughters
into killing their father, and then she and Jason went to Corinth, where
two sons were born to them. Instead of feeling grateful to Medea for all
she had done, Jason treacherously married the daughter of the king of Corinth.
In her grief and despair, Medea employed more sorcery to kill the young
bride. Next, fearing that her young sons might be left alone for strangers
to mistreat, she killed them. When the furious Jason determined to kill
her, she escaped in a chariot drawn by dragons.
Jocasta, wife of Laius,
king of Thebes, and mother of Oedipus, king of Thebes. When an oracle foretold
that Jocasta's son would kill his father, Laius had the child's ankles
pierced and abandoned him on a mountain. The infant, rescued by a shepherd
and given the name Oedipus, was adopted by Polybus, king of Corinth. Later,
when the oracle at Delphi proclaimed that he would kill his father and
marry his mother, Oedipus, not wanting any harm to come to Polybus, left
Corinth. On the road to Boeotia, Oedipus quarreled with and killed a stranger
he mistook for a robber. The victim was his true father, Laius. Believing
her son dead, Jocasta did not recognize Oedipus when he reappeared in Thebes
as a young man. The youth saved the city from the sphinx and, as a reward,
was married to Jocasta, who bore him four children. When she learned that
Oedipus was her son as well as her husband, Jocasta committed suicide in
horror and despair at their incestuous relationship.
