2 2 0 JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS

Jason and the Argonauts

In Greek mythology, Jason was the son of Aeson. Jason's uncle Pelias usurped the throne of Thessaly that was rightfully Jason's. Pelias promised that he would surrender it when his nephew brought him the Golden Fleece from Colchis at the furthest end of the Black Sea. This fleece of pure gold hung from an oak tree in a sacred grove and was guarded by an unsleeping dragon. Pelias in fact hoped that Jason would never return.

Jason accepted this challenge. First he asked the shipwright Argus to construct him a ship, which was named the Argo after its builder. Then he assembled a crew, the Argonauts, who included such heroes as Hercules, Orpheus, Theseus, Nestor, and Castor and Pollux. Jason set out with the Argonauts to find and recover the Golden Fleece. Among the dangers they faced on their perilous voyage were the Symplegades, or clashing cliffs, which clashed together and crushed ships as they passed between them. When the Argonauts had to pass between them, a bird was released to fly ahead of the ship. The rocks came together and nipped off the bird's tail feathers, and as they recoiled again the Argonauts rowed through with all speed, losing only the ornament on the stern of the ship. After this, in accordance with a prophecy, the rocks remained still.

At Colchis King Aeetes agreed to give Jason the fleece provided he accomplished various tasks the king set him. Jason was challenged to yoke the two fire-breathing bulls of Hephaestus, the god of fire and craftsmen. He was helped by the king's daughter Medea, who was a sorceress. She gave Jason a magic ointment to spread on his body to protect him from the bulls' fiery breath. Then Jason was required to plough and sow a field with dragon's teeth. Medea warned him that armed men would spring up from the dragon's teeth, telling him to throw a stone in their midst, at which they would ignore him and turn on one another. Having succeeded in ploughing the field, sowing the dragon's teeth, and overcoming the armed warriors, Jason seized the fleece after Medea had charmed the dragon guarding it. The Argonauts fled Colchis with Aeetes in pursuit. In order to delay her father, Medea killed her younger brother Apsyrtus and dismembered his body, throwing pieces of his corpse over the side of the ship. She knew this would slow Aeetes down as he tried to recover the pieces of his son.

Jason married Medea but later abandoned her for Glauce, the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth. Medea was so enraged that she took revenge by murdering their two children as well as Jason's young bride, sending Glauce a poisoned gown which burnt her to death. Jason himself finally met his death when a timber broke off the Argo and struck his head, killing him.

JEALOUSY 2 2 1

Jason and the Argonauts continued

Throughout this book there are references to Jason and the Argonauts.

• See ARGONAUTS at Quest and Travellers and Wanderers

ARGUS at Craftsmen

GOLDEN FLEECE at Quest and Wealth

JASON at Adventure

MEDEA at Jealousy and Revenge

SYMPLEGADES at Danger.

Jealousy

As can be seen from the stories below, it is common in literature for sexual jealousy (often ill-founded) to be the occasion of violent death. • See also

Envy.

Cephalus In Greek mythology, Cephalus, husband of Procris, was heard to speak sweet words of love to a gentle breeze that was cooling him. His wife, on hearing of this, and believing him to have a lover, crept into some nearby bushes to listen. Cephalus heard movement in the bushes and, thinking it was some wild beast, threw his spear and killed his wife.

Deianira In Greek mythology, Deianira was the wife of Hercules. When on one occasion the centaur Nessus tried to abduct her, Hercules shot him through the breast with an arrow. Nessus told Deianira to take some of his blood and use it as a love potion by smearing it onto a garment of Hercules if ever she suspected that he was being unfaithful. Some time later, Deianira became jealous of her husband's attraction towards Iole, a princess whom he had captured while away from home and was intending to bring home with him. Hercules had asked Deianira to send him some ceremonial robes and she used the opportunity to test the supposed love potion, by smearing some of the blood of Nessus onto one of the robes in an attempt to win back his love. The blood was in fact a poison, Nessus' revenge, and caused the death of Hercules. When she realized what she had done, Deianira took her own life. • See special entry a HERCULES on p. 182.

Leontes Leontes is the King of Sicily in Shakespeare's play A Winter's Tale (1623). Leontes mistakenly believes that his wife, Hermione, has been unfaithful to him with his childhood friend, Polixenes. In his jealousy he attempts unsuccessfully to have Polixenes poisoned, throws Hermione into prison, and orders that his own baby daughter, Perdita, be left on a desert shore to die.

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea, a princess of Colchis, was a sorceress who

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fell in love with Jason and helped him to obtain the Golden Fleece. She became jealous when Jason later abandoned her to marry the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth, and took revenge by murdering their two children as well as Jason's young bride. • See special entry • JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS on p. 220.

Oedipus In Greek mythology, Oedipus unwittingly killed his father Laius and married his mother Jocasta, not knowing who they were. His name has become associated with the idea of the incestuous love of a son for his mother and the jealousy of a son towards his father.

Her younger brother, Basil, in his final year of Modem Greats at Oxford, spoke of going into the City when he graduated, but Robyn considered this was just talk, designed to ward off hubris about his forthcoming examinations, or an Oedipal teasing of his academic father.

DAVID LODGE Nice Work, 1989

Othello Othello is the main character in Shakespeare's play Othello (1622). A Moor, he kills his wife, Desdemona, in a fit of jealous rage, because he mistakenly believes that she has been unfaithful to him. Othello can be referred to as the epitome of sexual jealousy.

As we got out of the car I warned Vico not to talk in the Stairwell. 'We don't want the dogs to hear me and wake Mr. Contreras! 'He is a malevolent neighbor? You need

me perhaps	to guard you?'	'He's the best-natured neighbor in the world. Un-
fortunately,	he sees his role in my life as Cerberus, with a whiff of Othello thrown
in!
SARA PARETSKY V. I. For Short,		1995

But it is when jealousy turns into pathological jealousy, or the Othello syndrome as it is now called, that problems begin to surface and treatment becomes necessary.

The Independent, 1998

Polyphemus In Greek mythology, Polyphemus was one of the Cyclops, huge one-eyed monsters, who fell in love with Galatea, a sea nymph. She did not love him, but did have a lover by the name of Acis. In a jealous rage, Polyphemus hurled a rock at Acis, crushing him to death.

JESUS 223

Jesus

Jesus Christ is the central figure of the Christian religion, a Jewish religious leader worshipped by Christians as the Son of God and the saviour of mankind. The main sources of his life are the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

According to these accounts, Jesus was born in Bethlehem to Mary, the wife of Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth, having been miraculously conceived. At the age of 30 Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. He spent forty days fasting in the wilderness, where he was challenged by Satan with a series of temptations. Jesus came out of the wilderness to begin his ministry and for the next three years taught and preached in Galilee. His message was the coming of the kingdom of God. He chose a group of twelve disciples to accompany him. Jesus told parables (such as those of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son), healed the sick, and performed miracles, including turning water into wine and raising Lazarus from the dead. In his Sermon on the Mount he preached love, humility, and charity. His teachings aroused the hostility of the Pharisees and the governing Romans.

In the third year of his mission, Jesus was betrayed to the authorities in Jerusalem by Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples. After sharing the Last Supper with his disciples, he went to pray in the garden of Gethsemane, where he was arrested. He was taken before the high priest, and then turned over to the Romans as a blasphemer and political agitator. Following a hurried trial and despite the misgivings of the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, Jesus was condemned to be crucified at Calvary, outside Jerusalem. On the third day after his death his tomb was found to be empty. According to the New Testament, he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.

Throughout	this book there are references to Jesus and to episodes
from his life, particularly to the events surrounding his		Crucifixion.
• See CALVARY at Suffering
GETHSEMANE at Suffering
GOLGOTHA at Suffering
JESUS at	Forgiveness, Goodness, Humility,	Solitude, and

Temptation

JUDAS at Betrayal and Guilt

LAZARUS at Rebirth and Resurrection and Returning

PONTIUS PILATE at Gesture, Guilt and Innocence

SATAN at Temptation

SERMON ON THE MOUNT at Oratory.