Argo

Jason would have perished if not for the King’s daughter, the sorceress . Smitten by Jason (thanks to a little divine intervention from Hera), she gave him an ointment to protect him from fire and told him how to defeat the earth-born soldiers. Finally, she used her magic to put the sleepless dragon guarding the Fleece to sleep. Jason seized the shimmering gold, and the Argo fled into the night with Medea aboard. The Long Way Home

Jason didn’t go alone. He assembled the "Avengers" of the Bronze Age—the . The roster included: Heracles (Hercules) , the strongest man alive. Jason would have perished if not for the

When they finally reached Colchis, King Aeëtes had no intention of handing over the Fleece. He demanded Jason perform "impossible" tasks: yoke fire-breathing bulls, plow a field with them, and sow dragon’s teeth that sprouted into an army of warriors. Jason seized the shimmering gold, and the Argo

To accomplish this, Jason commissioned the master shipbuilder Argus to construct a vessel unlike any seen before. With the help of the goddess Athena, the was built—a galley of fifty oars, featuring a magical piece of timber in its prow from the sacred oaks of Dodona that could speak and prophesy. The Gathering of Giants The roster included: Heracles (Hercules) , the strongest

The Argo itself was hauled onto the shore of the Isthmus of Corinth as a monument to the greatest voyage ever made. Years later, a weary, elderly, and forgotten Jason sat beneath the rotting hull of his old ship. As he sighed over his lost glory, a piece of the weathered timber—perhaps that same prophetic oak from Dodona—broke off and fell, striking Jason on the head and killing him instantly. Even in its decay, the Argo had the final word.

Jason returned to Iolcus with the Fleece, but the victory was hollow. The throne was not easily surrendered, and the fallout of Medea’s dark deeds eventually led to Jason’s downfall.