Medea, Jason and the Argonauts in Georgia

 

If you are travelling in Georgia and especially if you go to Batumi on the Black Sea or to Kutaisi, the old capital of Colchis, then you cannot avoid Medea, Jason and the Argonauts. It is a very old story that does not necessarily correspond entirely to the legend. With the tragedy Medea by Euripides, Medea became notorious as a child murderer, but we do not know whether that was the case, after all the possible crime took place 3300 years ago.

For those who want to know the official version nowadays, I have quoted some Wikipedia articles in which you can find out more. But I have an old lexicon of symbols in which the story is told [1]. I will extract some parts from it and retell them, and there is also the book: Medea - Voices by Christa Wolf in German. She tells a completely different story, namely a Medea who did not kill her children, but this Medea also remains a child murderer for posterity. I want to address that too.

Jason's uncle Pelias ascends the throne after the death of King Aison, and in order to prevent Jason's inheritance claims, Pelias demands that he conquer the golden fleece, which is hung on an oak tree in Colchis and guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. The Argonauts set off with Jason and after numerous adventures they manage to reach Colchis. Jason is given another task, namely to plow the field of Ares with two bulls that have bronze legs and breathe fire, and to sow dragon's teeth. Numerous warriors emerge from the dragon teeth seeds. They are giants. But Medea gives him a miracle ointment that makes him safe from fire and iron. And he should immediately hurl rocks at them when the dragon's teeth turn into warriors. After these tasks, he returns, marries Medea and is able to obtain the Golden Fleece with her help. He returns to Greece. Jason later banishes Medea and she is said to have killed her children in her anger.

Let us return to a few details
The Golden Fleece
The Golden Fleece (Ancient Greek: Χρυσόμαλλον δέρας) is, according to legend, the fleece of the golden-wooled winged ram named Chrysomallos [2]. It came into the possession of King Aeëtes, who was Medea's father. The golden fleece was a symbol of power and royalty. However, it is possible that fleece was previously used to wash gold, or fleece was used so that gold would get caught in it.
Colchis
Colchis (Ancient Greek: Κολχίς) was a term used by ancient Greeks and Romans for the area that today corresponds to western Georgia [3]. The people spoke a Kartvelian language.
The Argonauts
The Argonauts [4] accompanied Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece. Wikipedia lists 49 and indicates which sources provide the names in detail, as there is no definitive list. The action takes place before the Trojan War, which is historically documented, so that the time period "about 3300 years ago" comes from this. The name Argonauts comes from their ship, the Argo. This was named after the shipbuilder Argus. This Argus should not be confused with Argus Panoptes (Ancient Greek: Ἄργος Πανόπτης) [5], which has come down to  the present day through the meaning of Panoptes "all-seeing" and the term "with Argus eyes".
Medea
Medea [6] is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, who falls in love with Jason, helps him to get the Golden Fleece, marries him, flees with him, kills her brother on the run, and after Jason leaves her for Glauke, the daughter of Kreon, kills her opponent Glauke with a robe that goes up in flames. This motif was taken up in the film Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time [7]. In the tragedy Medea by Euripides (premiered in 431 BC) [8], Medea kills Glauke with the robe, which also kills Kreon, and then her two sons. In Christa Wolf's Medea [9] Medea is the victim of an intrigue and did not kill her children. Her opponents in Corinth have Jason's children commemorated every seven years in the Temple of Hera, and thus also Medea as a child murderer. Is history boring?

Picture from "Lexikon der Symbole -
here Medea looks more like an Indian goddess.

You can probably discover a lot more if you travel just with Medea in mind, but I am happy with what I have seen and read up. Visiting museums is worthwhile.

This temple is from Armenia, however.

Links and Annotations:
[1] Wolfgang Bauer, Irmtraud Dümotz und Sergius Golowin:Lexikon der Symbole. Fourier, Wiesbaden 1994. ISBN 13: 9783921695548. The picture is from page 169.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Fleece
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colchis   
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonauts  
[5] Argus or Argos Panoptes is a many-eyed giant in Greek mythology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argus_Panoptes
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medea
[7] „At their celebratory banquet, Tus has Dastan give their father an embroidered robe. However, the robe is poisoned, fatally burning Sharaman.“ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Persia:_The_Sands_of_Time_(film)
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medea_(play)
[9] Christa Wolf: Medea. Stimmen. dtv, München 1998. ISBN: 9783423124447. There is an Enlish translation by John Cullen with an introduction by Margareth Atwood. First Trade Paperback Edition 1998. ISBN: 9780385518574.

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