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The Voyage of Argo: The Argonautica (Penguin Classics)

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Homer mentioned the voyage of the Argo as a well-known story, and bits and pieces appear in surviving Greek lyrics and dramas of the Classical period. Jason's later life with Medea is a well-known subject of tragedy. Our oldest comprehensive account of the journey, however, comes from Hellenistic times, in a work by Apollonius, at one time associated with the Library of Alexandria, commonly known as "of Rhodes," supposedly from his favorable reception by the islanders.

The Jason of this version, from the third century BC, is a good deal less than an Homeric hero, overshadowed both by his companions (and who would not seem inadequate beside Hercules?) and by the goddesses who intervene on his behalf. He is not unattractive -- indeed, some may find him more appealing than the all-competent heroes of other epics. He has emotions one can recognize, including fear and despair. Still, one can see him later being both callous enough and stupid enough to dump the witch-princess of Colchis for a "better" (socially acceptable and politically advantageous) marriage in Greece.

That was the tragic plot which Apollonius avoids, but it was well-known in his day, and which has survived to our own in Euripides' version. He certainly had it in mind, and knew that those who read, or more likely heard the reading of, his epic, would as well. (Seneca's Latin tragedy "Medea," and Ovid's treatment of the character, of great importance in later European views of the story, were still in the future.)

This prose translation, first published in 1959 and reissued with some revisions and new apparatus in 1971, was the first new English version since 1912 (the Loeb Classical Library bilingual edition), and remained the only popular version for several decades. It has since been joined by others, in verse as well as prose. They represent more recent scholarship in both the Greek text and critical views of the poet and the epic. Two of them, at least, are considerably more ambitious as works of art. Barbara Hughes Fowler's "Hellenistic Poetry: An Anthology" not only contains the complete epic, but much of its cultural context. The hardcover edition of Peter Green's "The Argonautika: The Story of Jason and the Quest for the Golden Fleece" contained extensive commentary (abridged in the paperback edition). These are both in verse. There is also a prose version by Richard L. Hunter, "Jason and the Golden Fleece," published in the Oxford World's Classics.

Can the good old Penguin Classics standby still compete?

For those looking for high poetry, or for elaborate notes, or sophisticated critical positions, probably not. But, despite the comments of at least one competitor, Rieu's treatment is not without its merits. Although Rieu's English is now a little antiquated, it remains readable. His English version is helped as well as hindered by a tendency to reduce the relatively ornate style of a learned Alexandrian poet to something more approachable to an *intelligent* school-boy ("school-boy" being the critic's reproach). It is still a good place to begin, and for those who are simply curious about Jason's adventures, it may be the best place. Once convinced of its charms, the reader may be encouraged to try a more poetic version, and discover that Apollonius was more than an engaging storyteller with a modern taste for the anti-heroic.

Of course, I tend to favor a book that enchanted me when I read it in 1968.

(Reposted from my "anonymous" review of June 27, 2003.)

The ancient Greek story, 'The Voyage of Argo - the Argonautica', also known as 'Jason and the Argonauts' is generally best known as a classic '60's film. The Apollonius' version was very popular in its day, the middle of the third century BC. This is the Penguin Classic translation by E.V. Rieu (1959), and it still reads well. There is a handy glossary for the obscure names of the heroes and gods that populate the pages.

This makes a good book for high school assignments as the story makes a short novel in four 'books' or sections, full of the dangers of a sea voyage from Greece to the far east of the Black Sea, which was the ends of the earth to the Greeks in ages past. (Anyone in a serious hurry to just get the good bits can speed through the first and fourth sections, with my apologies to Apollonius.) The intrepid Jason and his crew are sailors who are part buccaneers, part questing heroes in search of fame, fortune, and adventure. They are set the task of obtaining the famed Golden Fleece by a Greek king who wants to permanently rid himself of the dangerously ambitious Jason and his powerful allies, who include the superhuman Hercules, and the twin sons of Boreas the North Wind, who have the power of flight. With natural cunning, the powerful aid of prophets, the magical music of Orpheus, and the good favour gained by skilful diplomacy they seemingly must succeed. But of course the seers never tell the whole story, there are as many enemies as friends, and the kings of the lands they must travel through are descended from the gods too. Jason himself has no magic, but he is bold and resolute, and gains the favour of many of the gods who know how to tip things in his favour. Some of the scenes are genuinely frightening, so all considered, the story does not make good bedtime reading.

The dangers of the Clashing Rocks, the horror of the flying Harpies, the lure of the Sirens, dragons and deadly snakes, and the sometimes brutal and unpredictable inhabitants of distant lands and islands, and the hand of Fate all take their toll on the Argonauts. But Jason's charm and charmed life always seem equal to the tasks he is set, and the description of princess Medea falling in love with him (with a small help from the winged arrows of the boy Eros), is the archetype for love stories of next two thousand years. Although he could never have succeeded without the beautiful Medea, who is destined to become his wife, neither Jason or Medea can forsee their own future or escape without paying the price of guilt and shame for their deeds which often succeed by deception and foul means.

Although not such a genius as Homer, Apollonius is clearly a product of that developmental line, and he tells a good story well. He is often quite modern in his knowing asides to the Muses, who inspire all poetry and art, then as now.

215 pages long. This is the only complete tale of Jason and the Argonauts quest for the Golden Fleece. The story is certainly a classic through curiously not as widely read as Homer. Especially since this work is shorter and easier to read than the Illiad and Odyssey, yet also provides a good prelude to these epics too. My only prior knowledge of the story was the 1963 movie, which has the flavor of a jaunty adventure, compared to the more dramatic strains of this particular telling. I was most impressed by the map that shows the most likely route given the details of the story (although other known versions can differ quite dramatically sometimes). The book also contains a Glossary of names that came in useful. This is a very good book that places you in the middle of greek thought and legend.

The Voyage of Argo is the second E.V. Rieu translation from epic poem to prose work of Ancient Greek literature that I have indulged in. The story laid out here is the quest for and return from obtaining the Golden Fleece by Jason and the 'Argonauts' as his traveling companions come to be known.

Each of the four 'books' of this crafting of Apollonius's tale relates the various trials, dangers, deceptions, victories, and defeats of the crew of the Argo.

Book one, 'Preparation and Departure' was, for me, the hardest to digest. The first several pages, following a lengthy introduction, read merely like a passenger manifest. Many are named, some easily recognizable from other tales of Ancient Greece. The crew sails off on their quest, led by Jason, son of Aeson, with Heracles (Hercules) as part of their company. By the end of book one, the disappearence of one of the crew, Hylas, sends Heracles off on a quest of his own, to find Hylas' abductors and punish them.

Book two, 'Onward to Colchis', finds the crew of the Argo in battle with the Bebryces, drawing the attention of Athene, who allows the ship to pass safely through the treacherous Clashing Rocks, and the loss of other crew members along the way. Jason and company find their way to Colchis and land there, with the divine influence of the Gods.

Book three, 'Jason and Medea', centers on the famed love story of the two title characters. Medea, struck by an arrow from Eros, falls in love with Jason, and becomes his greatest ally, as she is the daughter of King Aeetes, the man who knows the location of the Golden Fleece Jason and his crew seek. Aeetes, finding the company of the Argo to be brash and treacherous, proposes a test of their fortitude, and should they survive the flaming bulls and sharp toothed serpent, and obtain the fleece, they will have proven themselves worthy. Medea, desperate to help her beloved, contrives a plot of her own to aid Jason, and win his heart.

Book four, 'Homeward Bound' tells of the dangers Jason and crew once again face on the open seas as they journey home. Medea in tow, Jason must choose between his love for her and the lives of his crew as Aeetes sets out to destroy them and bring Medea back home to him.

A thrilling tale of bravery and cunning, The Voyage of Argo ranks with the Odyssey in terms of excitement and content. While reading this, and the notes that accompany the text naming this surviving version of the tale as a possibly 'revised second edition' of the actual story, I am left to wonder if perhaps the 'divine influence' of Athene and Here (Hera), and even Zeus himself, are not offered as simple explanation for events that seemed miraculous to the author. The story flows along easily and while it does not suffer from the 'interference' of the Gods, it is not exactly amplified by it either.

Whatever the case, The Voyage of Argo is a thrilling read. It is easy to see why it has spawned many fictional accounts, as it is an adventure tale ripe for the picking, and needs very little 'inventiveness' to augment it to a full-fledged fictional thriller.

The 'Argonautica' was written in the 3rd Century B.C. and depicts the pre-Homeric voyage of Jason to the land of Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece: a golden lamb's fleece brought by the gods that can work miracles. Unlike Homer's poetry of the Iliad and the Odyssey, this work was written in the Hellenic age and therefore focuses much more on action instead of poetic recitals and extensive character developments common to the Classical/Homeric period. Nevertheless, this work offers a great adventure of heroes, gods, and beasts that make it a pleasurable reading experience for adults and children alike.

Jason is the lawful heir of Thessally and seeks to avenge his father's death against the usurper, Pelias. In an effort to keep him at bay, Pelias convinces Jason that he must go on a perilous journey to Colchis to obtain the Golden Fleece before he can claim the throne of Thessally. Eager to claim his kingdom, Jason calls upon all of the greatest of Greek champions to join him on his quest. Requisitioning the ship 'The Argos' for the voyage, Jason is accompanied by a crew of Greece's greatest heroes and demi-gods such as Hercules, Castor, Polydeuces, and Odysseus' father, Laertes. After crossing many perils under the protection of Hera, the Argos reaches Colchis on the other side of the world (present day Georgia and Turkey on the shore of the Black Sea.) Deceiving King Aeetes, Jason runs off with the Golden Fleece and the king's daughter Medea to return to Greece in triumph.

This is a great adventure covering the heroic age of Greece a generation before the time of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The novel is, as typical of the Hellenic novel, fast paced on plot with only minimal character studies. Unlike the Iliad, this work was a novel meant to be read as opposed to being orally recited as poetry. A novel that's fun to read for itself or to study Greek history and mythology. A fun story for adults and children alike.

This epic is often talked up as some kind of ancient thriller, a there-and-back-again from the 1st Century B.C. However, even a casual read will reveal the problematic nature of an assessment of this nature. The poem is in reality a subtle and complex study of the nature of Greek epic. Apollonius is not simply writing an adventure story, the story was common knowledge then and there were multiple versions people could turn to. Apollonius, the scholar is meditating upon epic and its place in a modern world. The text is incredibly ambiguous and can reveal millions of alternate readings. Apollonius needs to be read again and again, often in the context of earlier epic works. You cannot fully understand Apollonius without Homer. On the surface it is an adventure story, but with no real hero, no real ending and with often no real motives.
A good translation by someone who understands the text is a must. Unfortunately I don't think that Rieu is up to the task. Only recently has Apollonius become a viable subject for study, and I think that Rieu's translation is out of date. By trying to turn Apollonius' text into an exciting adventure like his Odyssey, Rieu skips over textual ambiguities that imbue the text with more meaning. He even mistranslates the opening sentence and ruins its effect. Anyone looking for Apollonius is best advised to turn to Hunter's superb translation in Oxford Worlds Classics, it's modern, up to date and accurate.

Apollonius of Rhodes' story of Jason's quest of the Golden Fleece is certainly one of the highlights of ancient literature. It can be ranked on the same level as Homer's works.
It is also in some aspects a modern work. Some scenes are worth a Hieronymus Bosch or 20th century surrealism: 'She had been terrified by a nightmare in which she saw all the rooms and walls of her house streaming with blood, and fire devouring all the magic drugs ... A number of creatures whose ill-assorted limbs declared them to be neither man nor beast had gathered round her like a great flock of sheep following their shepherd from the fold.' (p. 165)
Psychoanalysis is not far away when an oracle hints that a ship is a mother's womb: 'Argo carried us in her womb; we have often heard her groaning in her pain.' (p. 184)

On the other hand, the gods are still allmighty and condition all important events. But like in Homer's works, the divine interventions are nothing more than today's psychological explanations of normal human behaviour. The physical feats, inspired, provoked or influenced by the gods, can only be human.
The highlight of the story is the love between Jason and Medea, who is clearly presented here as a witch. But Apollonius calls love poetically but realistically 'Unconscionable Love, bane and tormentor of mankind, parent of strife, fountain of tears, source of a thousand ills'. (p. 159)
This book has also a historical cosmological importance: 'He sang of that past age when earth and sky and sea were knit together in a single mould' (p. 49); in other words, a foreshadowing of priest Lemaitre's original single atom.
One also feels distinctly that this work is an abridged version of a former written epic. The end is far too abrupt and doesn't even relate the homecoming of Argo's crew.

This edition contains a good, but too long, introduction by the translator and an excellent glossary. It would have gained in quality if it had contained a map with Jason's most probable voyage.
A must, not only for fans of classical literature.

The reviews on this classic, both favorable and negative, describe the history of this classic and its good and bad points in a generally exceptional good manner. I recommend readers read these reviews. I will focus my comments on matters that they did not cover and compare the classic to the film that was made of it (which I will place under the film). My first impression is that we should respect the book because it has been respected by so many people over so many years and has survived two millennia. Critics also tell us that this book was the first book that treated the subject of love so elaborately. Yet, while respecting it, we can accept the fact, I think, that by modern standards, much in the book is very dry and even tedious, especially the first parts of book one of the four books, and the entire fourth book.

Second, Jason is depicted as a hero; yet the entire book focuses on his and his men's successful attempts to rob a king of an object that he and his people felt was very important to them. We recognize that this is wrong; the ancients that liked the book apparently did not. Similarly, many of Jason's men die during their roguish quest and their deaths are praised. There is clearly little respect for life; what is more important to them is being a hero.

Third, while many people will be uninterested in this question, I wondered why the ancients considered the goat's skin lucky. We know that they considered goats demonic. This is even in the Bible. Superstitious people even pictured demons as looking like goats, with goat's feet and goat's horns. Why was this creature considered good in this tale?

The movie version of this story deletes book four and adds many events that make the story more interesting, but the film does not focus on my other two concerns. I will point out some of the differences between the book and the movie in my review of the film.

This is the ancient Greek story of Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece. It's often neglected in literature classes, though the Greeks regarded it as practically equal to Homer's work. Most people have heard of Jason and the Argonauts, though, mainly due to the 1960's adventure movie with stop-motion monsters. Apollonius' first printing of The Argonautica was universally hated, but years later he rewrote and refined it, and it was finally embraced by his audience, which is an amazing story in itself, because I always think of these old classic works as something the writers didn't have to tweak or revise in any way.

King Pelias sends out the Argonauts on their big quest. He heard a prophecy that his death would come from a man with one bare foot, so when Jason comes to town with one sandal missing, the king knows he's got to get rid of him, and a foolhardy quest is a perfect excuse. A bunch of noble warriors from surrounding lands decide to join up with Jason and help him, and they sail off in the Argo, an extra-special ship. They have a multitude of adventures while getting to their destination and many more on the way home, but the biggest subplot in the story is how Medea, the magic-wielding daughter of mean king Aeetes, falls in love with Jason.

Jason's an unusual hero. If Achilles is a terminator, Odysseus is a genius, and Aeneas is like a priest, Jason is Just Some Guy. Well, that's not quite true. He's a good warrior and a great speaker, but he doesn't stand out among his companions: Jason's fellow Argonauts include the fastest man in the world, a man who can predict the weather, a man with x-ray vision, two men who can fly, two men who can predict the future, and Hercules. Yes, that Hercules. Jason isn't their first choice for a leader, and except for King Aeetes' big challenge, he's generally not the person who solves major problems. He's indecisive and broods over his choices until someone else finally yells at him to pick a course of action, and his Eeyore tendencies lead the text itself to call him "gloomy". Plenty of the traveling scenes go like this:

Argonauts: Yar! Let's go on to the next island!
Jason: We're all going to die, you realize.
Argonauts: You're right, we're doomed.
Telamon/Argus/Hercules: Stop crying and row.
Argonauts: Yeah, rowing, woo-hoo!

But for all this, Jason is very sympathetic, even likable. He's a perfectionist who thinks not just of himself but of everyone else, and he's concerned with getting all of his men home safely. He also helps the hotheads in the crew calm down when necessary. Jason's no standard epic hero, but he's a pretty good one, nonetheless.
I'm definitely fond of the impressive, nuanced supporting cast of Argonauts. These people have actual personalities. In The Odyssey, the hero's companions are basically divided into: 1.Guys who died a few years ago 2.Guys who died a few weeks ago 3.Guys who are probably going to die tomorrow. The crewmen weren't even guest stars on The Odysseus Show--they were extras and redshirts, just there to make the slaughtering scenes seem more effective. But the Argonauts seem like actual people despite their stunning accomplishments, and though they occupy a crazy world, they react to trauma in very familiar, very human ways. Epic connection bonus: Since this takes place before the Trojan War, there's a guest appearance by baby Achilles, and several of the other Argonauts become the fathers of warriors in The Iliad.

There are some hilarious scenes, too. When a brawl is about to break out among the crew, Orpheus immediately grabs his guitar and starts singing. The fight ends because his singing voice is so pretty, no one can remember what they were arguing about. Later, in Colchis, the Argonauts are wondering what to do, and all of a sudden a dove falls out of the sky into Jason's lap and a hawk impales itself on the mast of their ship. Mopsus (an auspex, or bird-reading prophet) interprets the omens, but somehow the immediacy of the dove and hawk plunking down on their ship is seriously funny. Then there's Medea's love for Jason, which is normally a very tragic and agonizing thing, but it looks like a schoolgirl's crush at one point when she's swooning over the way he stands up from the dinner table and walks to the door.

The Argonautica is a short epic and it reads like a novel, not an epic poem; the translation reflects this, dividing the writing into paragraphs instead of poetic lines. It contains some beautiful extended similes that capture very precise emotions, like when Jason's mother is saying goodbye to him, "weeping without restraint, like a girl who in her loneliness falls into the arms of her old nurse, her one remaining friend, to ease her heart, fresh from the blows and insults of the stepmother who makes her life a misery" (pg 43). These similes might not work for everybody, but I love them because after reading those lines, I feel exactly what Jason's mother is feeling. The emotions are vivid (Medea's, especially), the action scenes are perfectly timed, and overall, the book is light-years ahead of its time in terms of characterization. Looks like I've found a new favorite epic.

a good story, a great author, a marvelous translation. This book is a must have to the readers that search for ancient treasures in greek epic literature. the characters are imortal ones and the edition presents a very useful map.