And those who dwell in the land of Colchis, the maidens fearless in fight; and the Scythian multitude that inhabits the most remote region of the earth bordering the Maeotic lake;
Apollodorus, Library (ed. Sir James George Frazer), book 1 (search)
t
than he bade him go in quest of the fleece. Now it was at Colchis in a grove of Ares, hanging on an oak and guarded by a sleepless
eight. Nevertheless Demaratus has recorded that Hercules sailed to Colchis; for Dionysius even affirms that he was the leader
of the Ad by the
Argo in Mysia, he made his way on
foot to Colchis （Theocritus
xiii.73ff.）. Herodotus says （Hdt.
1se he revealed to the children of Phrixus how they could sail from Colchis to Greece. The gods also sent the Harpies to him. These were winge river Phasis, which is in the Colchian land.As to
Jason in Colchis, and his winning of the Golden
Fleece, see Ap. Rhod., Argonrgon. v.177-viii.139; Ov. Met. 7.1-158. The adventures of Jason in Colchis were the subject of a play by Sophocles called
The Colchiannst the Indians he
met his death. And Medea came unknown to Colchis,
and finding that Aeetes had been deposed by his brother Pe<
Apollodorus, Library (ed. Sir James George Frazer), book 2 (search)
ers in antiquity, refers to Hor. Sat.
i.8.28ff.; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xviii.26.66(249). And having put
in to the island of Doliche, he saw the body of Icarus washed ashore and buried it, and he
called the island Icaria instead of Doliche. In
return Daedalus made a portrait statue of Hercules at Pisa, which Hercules mistook at night for living and threw a stone and hit
it. And during the time of his servitude with Omphale it is said that the voyage to
ColchisThat is,
the voyage of the Argo. See above, Apollod. 1.9.16ff. As to the hunt of the Calydonian boar,
see above, Apollod. 1.8.2ff. As to the clearance of the
Isthmus by Theseus, see below, Apollod. 3.16, and the
Apollod. E.1.1ff. and the hunt of the
Calydonian boar took place, and that Theseus on his way from Troezen cleared the Isthmus of malefactors.
After his servitude, being rid of his disease he mustered an army of noble volunteers and
Apollodorus, Library (ed. Sir James George Frazer), book 3 (search)
guarded the spring and destroyed most of those that were
sent. In his indignation Cadmus killed the dragon, and by the advice of Athena sowed its
teeth. When they were sown there rose from the ground armed men whom they called
Sparti.That is,
“sown.” Compare Eur. Ph. 939ff. For
the story of the sowing of the dragon's teeth, see Paus.
9.10.1; Scholiast on Hom. Il. ii.494; Hyginus, Fab.
178; Ov. Met. 3.26-130. Similarly, Jason in
Colchis sowed some of the dragon's teeth
which he had received from Athena, and from the teeth there sprang up armed men, who
fought each other. See Apollod. 1.9.23. As to the
dragon-guarded spring at Thebes, see Eur. Ph. 930ff.; Paus.
9.10.5, with my note. It is a common superstition that springs are guarded by
dragons or serpents. Compare The Magic Art and the Evolution of
Kings, ii.155ff. These slew each other, some in a chance brawl,
and
Euripides, Medea (ed. David Kovacs), line 1 (search)
Enter the Nurse from the central door of the skene.
Nurse
Would that the Argo had never winged its way to the land of Colchis through the dark-blue Symplegades!The Symplegades, mobile rocks that clashed together to crush any ships running between them, guarded the entrance to the Hellespont and prevented passage between East and West until the Argo managed by a clever ruse to get through. Would that the pine trees had never been felled in the glens of Mount Pelion and furnished oars for the hands of the heroes who at Pelias' command set forth in quest of the Golden Fleece! For then my lady Medea would not have sailed to the towers of Iolcus, her heart smitten with love for Jason, or persuaded the daughters of Pelias to kill their father and hence now be inhabiting this land of Corinth, This gives the probable sense of the lacuna. with her husband and children, an exile loved by
Euripides, Medea (ed. David Kovacs), line 131 (search)
Enter by Eisodos B a group of Corinthian women as Chorus.
Chorus
I have heard the voice, I have heard the cry, of the unhappy woman of Colchis: is she not yet soothed? Tell me, old woman, for I heard from a servant of her shouting within the house, and it is no joy I feel at this house's misfortunes since I have shared the cup of friendship with it.
The barbarians, when the wind ceased and the waves no longer ran high, put to sea and coasted along the mainland; they sailed around the headland of Magnesia and sailed straight into the gulf which stretches toward Pagasae.
There is a place on this gulf in Magnesia, where, it is said, Heracles was sent for water and was left behind by Jason and his comrades of the Argo, when they were sailing to Aea in Colchis for the fleece; their purpose was to draw water from there and then to put out to sea. This is the reason why that place has been called Aphetae.More probably, the name (from a)fi/hmi, to send off or launch) gave rise to the legend. Here Xerxes' men made their anchorage.
to another country, and that if they returned at a later day and were taken, they were brought into the town-hall. The guides showed Xerxes how the man is sacrificed, namely with fillets covering him all over and a procession to lead him forth.
It is the descendants of Phrixus' son Cytissorus who are treated in this way, because when the Achaeans by an oracle's bidding made Athamas son of Aeolus a scapegoat for their country and were about to sacrifice him, this Cytissorus came from Aea in Colchis and delivered him, thereby bringing the god's wrath on his own descendants.
Hearing all this, Xerxes, when he came to the temple grove, refrained from entering it himself and bade all his army do likewise, holding the house and the precinct of Athamas' descendants alike in reverence.The legend, in its main features, originates in the cult of “Zeus Laphystius,” a tribal god who, like the Jehovah of the O. T. and the Moloch and Melqart of the Phoenicians, has a right to all first-born, especi
ly, but Euploia （Fair Voyage） by the Cnidians themselves.
The Athenians have also another harbor, at Munychia, with a temple of Artemis of Munychia, and yet another at Phalerum, as I have already stated, and near it is a sanctuary of Demeter. Here there is also a temple of Athena Sciras, and one of Zeus some distance away, and altars of the gods named Unknown, and of heroes, and of the children of Theseus and Phalerus; for this Phalerus is said by the Athenians to have sailed with Jason to Colchis. There is also an altar of Androgeos, son of Minos, though it is called that of Heros; those, however, who pay special attention to the study of their country's antiquities know that it belongs to Androgeos.
Twenty stades away is the Coliad promontory; on to it, when the Persian fleet was destroyed, the wrecks were carried down by the waves. There is here an image of the Coliad Aphrodite, with the goddesses Genetyllides （Goddesses of Birth）, as they are called. And I am of opinion that t
nd Mermerus, the elder of his children, to have been killed by a lioness while hunting on the mainland opposite. Of Pheres is recorded nothing. But CinaethonAn early epic writer. of Lacedaemon, another writer of pedigrees in verse, said that Jason's children by Medea were a son Medeus and a daughter Eriopis; he too, however, gives no further information about these children.
Eumelus said that Helius （Sun） gave the Asopian land to Aloeus and Epliyraea to Aeetes. When Aeetes was departing for Colchis he entrusted his land to Bunus, the son of Hermes and Alcidamea, and when Bunus died Epopeus the son of Aloeus extended his kingdom to include the Ephyraeans. Afterwards, when Corinthus, the son of Marathon, died childless, the Corinthians sent for Medea from Iolcus and bestowed upon her the kingdom.
Through her Jason was king in Corinth, and Medea, as her children were born, carried each to the sanctuary of Hera and concealed them, doing so in the belief that so they would be immortal. At
