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Jason

Jason was the leader of the Argonauts, the band of heroes who sailed aboard the Argo to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece. The son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus, he undertakes the expedition after his uncle Pelias promises to surrender the throne if Jason completes the apparently impossible task. Although remembered as the voyage’s commander, Jason succeeds largely through the abilities of his companions and the assistance of Medea, daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis.

Jason's success in Colchis depends heavily on Medea, who gives him the means to survive Aeëtes' trials, seize the Golden Fleece and escape. Their later story becomes darker: after Jason abandons Medea for a politically advantageous marriage at Corinth, Greek tragedy makes the destruction of their family the consequence of his broken loyalty. The contrast between heroic expedition and personal failure is central to his later literary reputation.

Henry Treece’s Jason gathers the Argonauts and sails east in search of the Golden Fleece, hoping that the prize will restore the kingship denied to him. In Apollonius of Rhodes’ Jason and the Argonauts, Jason was the leader of the Argonauts, the band of heroes who sailed aboard the Argo to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece. Jason is treated fictionally in Euripides’ Medea and Other Plays, Apollonius of Rhodes’ The Voyage of Argo, Homer’s The Iliad, and Homer’s The Odyssey.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Jason (2 series)

Penguin Classics: Ancient World in Order

by various authors 32 books 4.6(13,212)

Penguin Classics: Ancient World brings together foundational works of literature, history, philosophy, drama and poetry from the earliest civilisations through classical Greece and Rome. The wider Penguin Classics series began in 1946 with E. V. Rieu’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey, reflecting its original aim of making important texts…

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Mycenaean Greek Trilogy in Order

by Henry Treece 3 books 3.6(70)

The Mycenaean Greek Trilogy retells three groups of Greek myths as violent dynastic histories. Jason follows the Argonauts and the destructive marriage of Jason and Medea. Electra examines the murder of Agamemnon and the revenge taken by his children. Oedipus reconstructs the Theban king’s rise and discovery of…

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