The Golden Fleece is considered to be one of the most amazing parts of Greek mythology, being a powerful artifact yielding the King’s power.
It is said to be the skin of a ram, which was sent from heaven to save the lives of Phrixus and Helle, the children of Nephele, a Greek queen.
The ram brought them there, and upon their arrival at Colchis, which is on the southeastern shore of the Black Sea, Phrixus then offered the ram to the gods and suspended the fleece in a tree that has an ever-awakening dragon guarding it.
A famous legend of the pursuit of the Golden Fleece is connected with Jason and the Argonauts, the company of heroes who sailed in a ship named Argo and faced many dangers to get the fleece.
Originally, it was a quite dangerous journey, as there were more obstacles on the way: Medusa, a Chrysaor that lived in Scylla and Charybdis waters, the harpies’ nest, and several trials that the king of Colchis posed to Jason.
The Argonauts’ trip is symbolic of the struggle of human beings in their thirst for knowledge, power, and fame, which makes it possible to qualify it as the hero’s journey.
It is said that the Golden Fleece was a legend, but some historians have claimed that they may have modeled it on some events or things, such as the process of panning for gold by using the skins of sheep, which involved trapping gold particles in the rivers of the Caucasus region.
It is also still recognizable in today’s world, as often the material of other literary works, movies, paintings, and others related to contemporary and classical culture and mythology.
IMPANO Pierrot Mark