Leader of the Argonauts, sent on the quest for the Golden Fleece by his usurping uncle Pelias. Aided at every turn by the sorceress Medea, whom he later marries and betrays.
Jason was the rightful heir to the throne of Iolcos, displaced by his uncle Pelias, who sent him on what he expected to be a fatal errand: retrieving the Golden Fleece from Colchis, at the far edge of the known world. Jason assembled a crew of the greatest heroes of the age, the Argonauts, and sailed on the ship Argo.
Medea's Help
At Colchis, King Aeetes set Jason a series of trials before he would surrender the Fleece: yoking fire-breathing bulls, sowing dragon's teeth that grew into armed warriors, and outwitting the sleepless dragon that guarded the Fleece itself. Jason succeeded only with the help of the king's daughter, the sorceress Medea, who fell in love with him and betrayed her own family for his sake.
Betrayal and Ruin
Jason and Medea married and had children, but Jason later abandoned her to marry a Corinthian princess for political advantage. In the most famous version of the myth (Euripides's tragedy Medea), Medea takes a horrific revenge, killing the new bride and, in that telling, her own children by Jason. Jason's later life is left diminished and disgraced; one tradition (recorded by Apollodorus) has him killed when a rotting beam of his own ship, the Argo, collapses on him as he sleeps beneath it.
Parentage
Mortal parent: Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos
No divine parent; he was raised in hiding by the centaur Chiron after Pelias seized the throne.
Key Deeds
•Assembled the Argonauts and sailed on the Argo
•Yoked King Aeetes's fire-breathing bulls
•Sowed the dragon's teeth and defeated the warriors that sprang from them
•Won the Golden Fleece with Medea's help
•Returned to Iolcos and claimed his throne
Fate
Abandoned Medea for a political marriage, provoking her revenge. Apollodorus records that he later died when a decaying beam of the Argo fell on him as he slept in its shade.
Primary Sources
Historical texts and references
“Hera favored Jason above all other heroes, and it was by her design that Medea came to love him.”
“It is said that Jason, sitting in the shadow of the Argo grown old and hauled up on shore, was killed when its stern fell upon him.”
