Leader of the Argonauts in the quest for the Golden Fleece.
Overview
Jason is a major hero in Greek myth. He is a mortal leader and the rightful king of Iolcus, best known for commanding the Argonauts on the quest for the Golden Fleece.
He mainly appears in the Argonautic and Medea story cycles and belongs to the generation before the Trojan War. In these stories, he is the dispossessed heir to the throne of Iolcus, who must undertake a dangerous journey to Colchis to win back his inheritance.
His myth also focuses on his complicated and ultimately tragic relationship with Medea. Because of this, he is both a famous expedition leader and the main male figure in one of Greek myth’s best-known tales of marital disaster.
Family and Lineage
Jason is usually described as the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus, and Alcimede. This makes him the grandson of Cretheus, founder of Iolcus and namesake of the House of Cretheus.
This family line places Jason firmly in the royal house of Iolcus and supports his claim to the throne. He is sometimes said to have a brother named Promachus.
Jason’s main consort is Medea. With her he has several children, though ancient sources do not agree on how many or what they are called. Mermerus and Pheres are the most often mentioned, while Tisander, Alcimenes, and Eriopis also appear in some accounts.
In later tradition, Jason abandons Medea and marries a Corinthian princess. Many mythographic sources call her Glauce, while Euripides’ tragedy Medea calls her Creusa.
The fate of Jason and Medea’s children changes from story to story. In some versions Medea kills them herself. In others the Corinthians are blamed. These different versions highlight how unstable Jason’s family life is and show that the role of his descendants in later genealogies is disputed.
Myths and Deeds
Jason’s story begins with his loss of power. His uncle Pelias takes the throne of Iolcus from Aeson. When Jason returns to claim his inheritance, Pelias sends him on the seemingly impossible quest for the Golden Fleece in Colchis as the price for giving back the kingship.
Jason answers this challenge by gathering and leading a group of the greatest heroes of his time, the Argonauts. They sail on the ship Argo and face many dangers on their journey to and from Colchis.
In Colchis, King Aeëtes gives Jason deadly tasks. Jason must yoke fire-breathing bulls, plough the field of Ares, and sow dragon’s teeth that grow into armed warriors. With Medea’s magical help, and after Hera and Aphrodite make her fall in love with him, Jason survives these trials. He turns the earth-born warriors against each other and finally takes the Golden Fleece, which is guarded by a sleepless serpent.
Jason flees Colchis with Medea and the Fleece and only returns to Greece after more adventures and clashes with their pursuers.
Back in Iolcus, Jason becomes involved in the plan that leads to Pelias’ death, when Medea tricks Pelias’ daughters with a false promise of making him young again. Because of this killing, Jason and Medea are exiled.
They settle in Corinth. There Jason later rejects Medea so he can marry the local princess Glauce (or Creusa). Later authors stress that this breaks his oaths and violates both marital loyalty and the duties of guest-friendship.
This betrayal leads to Medea’s famous revenge. She kills his new bride and, in many versions, their children as well, leaving Jason without family or status.
Stories about Jason’s character and success differ. Some versions praise his courage and leadership. Others focus on how much he depends on Medea’s magic and Hera’s support, and show him as morally weak or opportunistic. His role in Pelias’ death also changes. In some accounts he is an active planner. In others he only benefits from Medea’s plot. The identity of the killers of his children also shifts between Medea and the Corinthians.
Over time, Jason’s image changes. At first he appears as a heroic expedition leader in epic-style tales. Later he becomes a more tragic figure whose broken promises and failed kingship end in a lonely and inglorious death.
Role in Tradition
In Greek myth, Jason is a model of the seafaring hero and the leader of a great voyage. He is also the rightful but displaced king who tries to win back his throne.
At the same time, he becomes a tragic example of broken oaths and failed heroism, especially through his role as Medea’s husband and later betrayer.
His story is closely tied to themes of long sea journeys and naval adventure, struggles over kingship and succession, the tension between marital loyalty and betrayal, and the risks of relying on divine favor and magical help.
Through his descent from Aeson and Cretheus, Jason is linked to the royal line of Iolcus and gives a heroic ancestry to Thessalian kingship. Some stories also connect his children with Medea to later royal or local families, though these links are not consistent or widely accepted.
Culturally, Jason represents the questing hero whose success depends strongly on his companions and on the gods, rather than on his own strength alone. Later literature often uses him as a warning figure, showing what happens when someone breaks oaths, shows ingratitude, or chooses marriage for political gain.
His partnership and later clash with Medea form one of the most influential Greek myths about the breakdown of marriage and violent revenge. The Argonautic expedition itself is also seen as a major mythic forerunner of the Trojan War cycle, since it brings together many heroes from across Greece in a single story.
Jason is often compared with Heracles. Heracles is the lone strongman, while Jason is shown as a leader and negotiator who relies on others. The quest for the Golden Fleece is also grouped with other retrieval myths, such as Perseus’ taking of the Gorgon’s head and Theseus’ killing of the Minotaur, as a standard example of a dangerous mission to win a precious object.
Modern writers on myth discuss whether Jason was first imagined as a main hero in his own right or more as a frame for Medea’s story and the group of Argonauts. They also discuss how far he is shown as a deliberately “unheroic hero” in Hellenistic poetry and tragedy, and how changing views on marriage, kingship, and colonization shaped his character and the Argonautic myth.
Birth and Early Life
Jason is said to have been born in Iolcus in Thessaly, which is also his ancestral home.
As the lawful heir to the Iolcan throne through his father Aeson, Jason’s birth puts him in danger when Pelias seizes the kingship and tries to remove any rivals.
To save him, Jason is secretly taken out of Iolcus and given to the centaur Chiron. Chiron raises him and teaches him the skills and virtues expected of a hero.
An oracle warns Pelias to beware of a man wearing one sandal. Years later this comes true when Jason, on his way back to Iolcus, loses a sandal while carrying an old woman across the river Anaurus. The old woman is actually Hera in disguise.
This act of piety and helpfulness reveals his identity and leads to the crucial meeting with Pelias that starts the quest for the Golden Fleece. Chiron therefore acts as Jason’s foster guardian and mentor, shaping his early life as a hero.
Quests and Labors
Jason’s main achievement is the Quest for the Golden Fleece. King Pelias of Iolcus orders this quest as the condition for Jason to regain his hereditary throne.
Rather than give up power, Pelias tells Jason to bring back the Fleece from far-off Colchis, setting him a task that seems impossible. Jason accepts both to meet Pelias’ demand and to restore his father’s line to rightful rule.
Although Pelias sends him, the expedition has strong support from the gods. Hera is Jason’s main divine protector. Athena helps build and guide the ship Argo. Aphrodite, through Eros, causes Medea to fall in love with Jason.
The quest involves a dangerous sea journey through mostly unknown waters. On the way, the Argonauts face many threats, such as the Harpies that torment the seer Phineus and the Clashing Rocks (Symplegades) that block a narrow passage.
In Colchis, Jason must yoke fire-breathing, bronze-footed bulls and plough the field of Ares. He must sow dragon’s teeth that grow into warriors from the earth, and then face the sleepless serpent or dragon that guards the Golden Fleece in the grove of Ares. All of this happens while Aeëtes and Medea’s relatives are hostile and later chase them.
With Medea’s magic, Jason completes Aeëtes’ tasks, takes the Fleece, and escapes Colchis with Medea and some of her kin.
The Argo’s journey back to Greece brings more adventures. Despite the apparent success of the quest, Jason does not manage to build a lasting kingship and ends his life in obscurity and misfortune.
Leading this pan-Hellenic voyage on the Argo, which gathers many famous heroes, remains Jason’s defining labor.
Allies and Adversaries
Throughout his life, Jason has many helpers and many enemies, both human and divine.
His closest mortal allies are the Argonauts, a group of famous heroes such as Heracles, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, and in some versions Atalanta. They travel with him on the Argo.
Medea is his most important single ally. She gives him magical help and strategic advice during the events in Colchis and after they return.
Within his own family, Aeson is a supportive father and the source of Jason’s royal claim. In his youth, Jason’s teacher and mentor is the centaur Chiron, who trains him in heroic skills.
During the voyage, Jason also helps the seer Phineus by freeing him from the Harpies. In return, Phineus guides the Argonauts.
Relations among the Argonauts are mostly cooperative, though some versions hint at tensions or rivalries over leadership and decisions.
Jason’s main enemies are those who threaten his inheritance or block his quest. Pelias is the usurper of the Iolcan throne who sends him after the Golden Fleece. Aeëtes, king of Colchis, sets deadly tasks for him and later pursues Jason and Medea. Various Colchian pursuers also appear, including Medea’s brother Absyrtus in some accounts, whom Jason helps to kill or dismember during their escape.
The gods are also key players. Hera is his chief divine supporter. Athena helps build and steer the Argo. Aphrodite, through Eros, makes Medea fall in love with him. Different sea gods and nymphs help or hinder the voyage in different episodes.
Jason’s story also includes many dangerous creatures and obstacles linked to his quest. These include Aeëtes’ fire-breathing bulls, the earth-born warriors from the dragon’s teeth, the sleepless serpent or dragon that guards the Golden Fleece, the Harpies, and the Clashing Rocks, which act like a monster barrier.
Beyond physical threats, Jason’s life is shaped by political conflict with Pelias over the kingship of Iolcus, a serious struggle of wills with Aeëtes over the terms of getting the Fleece, and a deep domestic and moral conflict with Medea that ends in his attempt to remarry and her devastating revenge.
Death and Afterlife
Jason is always shown as a mortal who dies an inglorious death. He does not receive the kind of honored afterlife given to some other heroes.
In the best-known version, he dies by accident when the rotting hull or prow of the ship Argo falls on him as he sits or sleeps beneath it. This usually takes place in Corinth or a nearby Greek place where the Argo has been beached or kept.
This detail highlights the irony that the ship of his greatest success becomes the cause of his death.
Other stories simply say that Jason dies in obscurity and misfortune after Medea’s revenge, without mentioning the Argo.
Stories about his burial are rare and do not focus on grand funeral rites. Instead, his death is shown as a symbolic collapse of his former glory rather than the proper end of a heroic life.
There is no major or special afterlife tradition for Jason. He is generally treated as a mortal whose luck fails and whose life ends without notable honors after death.