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{{short description|Artefact in Greek mythology, part of the Argonauts' tale}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Jason Pelias Louvre K127.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Jason]] returns with the Golden Fleece, shown on an [[Apulia]]n [[Red-figure pottery|red-figure]] [[Krater|calyx krater]], {{circa|340}}–330 BC]]
In [[Greek mythology]], the '''Golden Fleece''' ({{langx|grc|Χρυσόμαλλον δέρας|Khrysómallon déras|Golden-haired pelt}}) is the [[wool|fleece]] of the [[gold]]en-woolled,{{efn|{{langx|grc|Χρυσόμαλλος|Khrysómallos}}.}} winged [[Sheep|ram]], '''Chrysomallos''', that rescued [[Phrixus]] and brought him to [[Colchis]], where Phrixus then sacrificed it to [[Zeus]]. Phrixus gave the fleece to King [[Aeëtes]] who kept it in a sacred grove, whence [[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]] stole it with the help of [[Medea]], Aeëtes' daughter. The fleece is a symbol of authority and kingship.

In the historical account, the hero Jason and his crew of Argonauts set out on a quest for the fleece by order of King [[Pelias]] in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of [[Iolcus]] in [[Thessaly]]. Through the help of [[Medea]], they acquire the Golden Fleece. The story is of great antiquity and was current in the time of [[Homer]] (eighth century BC). It survives in various forms, among which the details vary.

Nowadays, the heraldic variations of the Golden Fleece are featured frequently in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], especially for Coats of Arms and Flags associated with Western Georgian (Historical Colchis) municipalities and cities, including the Coats of Arms of City of [[Kutaisi]], the ancient capital city of Colchis.

==Plot==
{{Greek myth}}
[[Athamas]] the founder of Thessaly, but also king of the city of [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]] in [[Boeotia]] (a region of southeastern [[Greece]]), took the goddess [[Nephele]] as his first wife. They had two children, the boy [[Phrixus]] (whose name means "curly", as in the texture of the ram's fleece) and the girl [[Helle (mythology)|Helle]]. Later Athamas became enamored of and married [[Ino (Greek mythology)|Ino]], the daughter of [[Cadmus]]. When Nephele left in anger, drought came upon the land.

Ino was jealous of her stepchildren and plotted their deaths; in some versions, she persuaded Athamas that sacrificing Phrixus was the only way to end the drought. Nephele, or her spirit, appeared to the children with a winged ram whose fleece was of [[gold]].{{efn|That the ram was sent by [[Zeus]] was the version heard by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] in the second century of the Christian era (Pausanias, ix.34.5).}} The ram had been sired by [[Poseidon]] in his primitive ram-form upon [[Theophane]], a [[nymph]]{{efn|''Theophane'' may equally be construed as "appearing as a goddess" or as "causing a god to appear".<ref>[[Karl Kerenyi]], ''The Heroes of the Greeks''</ref>}} and the granddaughter of [[Helios]], the sun-god. According to [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]],<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'', 163</ref> Poseidon carried Theophane to an island where he made her into a ewe so that he could have his way with her among the flocks. There Theophane's other suitors could not distinguish the ram-god and his consort.<ref>Karl Kerenyi ''The Gods of the Greeks'', (1951) 1980:182f</ref>

Nephele's children escaped on the yellow ram over the sea, but Helle fell off and drowned in the strait now named after her, the [[Hellespont]]. The ram spoke to Phrixus, encouraging him,{{efn|Upon the shield of Jason, as it was described in Apollonius' ''Argonautica'', "was Phrixos the [[Minyans|Minyan]], depicted as though really listening to the ram, and the ram seemed to be speaking. As you looked on this pair, you would be struck dumb with amazement and deceived, for you would expect to hear some wise utterance from them, with this hope you would gaze long upon them.".<ref>Richard Hunter, tr. ''Apollonius of Rhodes: Jason and the Golden Fleece'', (Oxford University Press) 1993:21)</ref>}} and took the boy safely to [[Colchis]] (modern-day south-east coastal region of the Black Sea), on the easternmost shore of the [[Black Sea|Euxine (Black) Sea]].
There the ram was sacrificed to gods.
In essence, this act returned the ram to the god Poseidon, and the ram became the [[constellation]] [[Aries (constellation)|Aries]].

Phrixus settled in the house of [[Aeëtes]], son of Helios the sun god. He hung the Golden Fleece preserved from the ram on an [[oak]] in a grove sacred to [[Ares]], the god of war and one of the [[Twelve Olympians]]. The fleece was guarded by a never-sleeping dragon with teeth that could become soldiers when planted in the ground. The dragon was at the foot of the tree on which the fleece was placed.<ref name="Godwin_41">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/livesnecromance04godwgoog|title=Lives of the Necromancers|author=William Godwin|year=1876|page=41|publisher=London, F. J. Mason}}</ref>

In some versions of the story, [[Jason]] attempts to put the guard serpent to sleep.

==Evolution of plot==
[[Pindar]] employed the quest for the Golden Fleece in his Fourth Pythian Ode (written in 462 BC), though the fleece is not in the foreground. When Aeëtes challenges Jason to yoke the fire-breathing bulls, the fleece is the prize: "Let the King do this, the captain of the ship! Let him do this, I say, and have for his own the immortal coverlet, the fleece, glowing with matted skeins of gold".<ref>Translation in {{cite journal |last1= Nicholson |first1=Nigel |title=Polysemy and Ideology in Pindar 'Pythian' 4.229–30|journal= Phoenix|volume=54 |issue=3/4|date=Autumn–Winter 2000|page=192|doi=10.2307/1089054|jstor=1089054 }}.</ref>

In later versions of the story, the ram is said to have been the offspring of the sea god [[Poseidon]] and [[Themisto]] (less often, [[Nephele]] or [[Theophane]]). The classic telling is the ''[[Argonautica]]'' of [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], composed in the mid-third century BC [[Alexandria]], recasting early sources that have not survived. Another, much less-known Argonautica, using the same body of myth, was composed in Latin by [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus|Valerius Flaccus]] during the time of [[Vespasian]].

Where the written sources fail, through accidents of history, sometimes the continuity of a mythic tradition can be found among the vase-painters. The story of the Golden Fleece appeared to have little resonance for Athenians of the Classic age, for only two representations of it on Attic-painted wares of the fifth century have been identified: a ''[[krater]]'' at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] and a ''[[kylix (drinking cup)|kylix]]'' in the Vatican collections.{{efn|Vatican 16545}}{{efn|Gisela Richter published the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art|Metropolitan Museum]] 's ''krater'' in: {{cite journal |last1=Richter |first1=Gisela |author-link1=Gisela Richter |title=Jason and the Golden Fleece|journal=American Journal of Archaeology | volume = 39 | date = 1935 |issue=2 |pages=182–84 | doi = 10.2307/498331|jstor=498331 }}}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=King |first1=Cynthia |title=Who Is That Cloaked Man? Observations on Early Fifth Century B. C. Pictures of the Golden Fleece |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |date=July 1983 |volume=87 |issue=3 |pages=385–87 |doi=10.2307/504803 |jstor=504803 |s2cid=193032482 }}</ref> In the ''kylix'' painted by Douris, {{Circa|480}}–470, Jason is being disgorged from the mouth of the dragon, a detail that does not fit easily into the literary sources; behind the dragon, the fleece hangs from an apple tree. Jason's helper in the Athenian vase-paintings is not [[Medea]]— who had a history in Athens as the opponent of [[Theseus]]—but [[Athena]].

==Interpretations==
Several [[euhemerism|euhemeristic]] attempts to interpret the Golden Fleece "realistically" as reflecting some physical cultural object or alleged historical practice have been made. For example, in the 20th century, some scholars suggested that the story of the Golden Fleece signified the bringing of [[Animal husbandry|sheep husbandry]] to Greece from the east;{{Efn|Interpretation #12}} in other readings, scholars theorized it referred to golden grain,{{Efn|Interpretation #8}} or to the Sun.{{Efn|Interpretation #10}}

[[File:Placermine.jpg|thumb|right|A sluice box used in placer mining]]
A more widespread interpretation relates the myth of the fleece to a method of washing gold from streams, which was well attested (but only from {{circa|5th century BC}}) in the region of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] to the east of the Black Sea. Sheep fleeces, sometimes stretched over a wooden frame, would be submerged in the stream, and [[gold]] flecks borne down from upstream [[Placer mining|placer]] deposits would collect in them. The fleeces would be hung in trees to dry before the gold was shaken or combed out. Alternatively, the fleeces would be used on washing tables in [[alluvial]] [[mining]] of gold or on washing tables at deep [[gold mine]]s.{{Efn|Interpretation #5}} Judging by the very early gold objects from a range of cultures, washing for gold is a very old human activity.

[[Strabo]] describes the way in which gold could be washed:
<blockquote>It is said that in their country gold is carried down by the mountain torrents, and that the barbarians obtain it by means of perforated [[Watering trough|troughs]] and fleecy skins, and that this is the origin of the myth of the golden fleece—unless they call them [[Caucasian Iberians|Iberians]], by the same name as the [[Iberians|western Iberians]], from the gold mines in both countries.</blockquote>

Another interpretation is based on the references in some versions to purple or purple-dyed cloth. The purple dye extracted from the [[purple dye murex]] snail and related species was highly prized in ancient times. Clothing made of cloth dyed with [[Tyrian purple]] was a mark of great wealth and high station (hence the phrase "royal purple"). The association of gold with purple is natural and occurs frequently in literature.{{Efn|Interpretation #17}}

===Main theories===
[[File:Jason being saved by Athena from the dragon, Attic red-figured kylix, attributed to Douris, 480-470 BC, inv. 16545 - Museo Gregoriano Etrusco - Vatican Museums - DSC01046 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Athena stands by as Jason is regurgitated by the dragon protecting the fleece (Douris cup, 480-470 BC, from [[Cerveteri]])]]
The following are the chief among the various interpretations of the fleece, with notes on sources and major critical discussions:

# It represents royal power.<ref>[[Cato the Elder|Marcus Porcius Cato]] and [[Marcus Terentius Varro]], [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12140/12140-8.txt ''Roman Farm Management, The Treatises of Cato and Varro, in English, with Notes of Modern Instances'']</ref><ref>{{harvp|Braund|1994|pp=21–23}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Popko |first1=M. |title=Kult Swietego runa w hetyckiej Anatolii |trans-title=The Cult of the Golden Fleece in Hittite Anatolia |journal=Preglad Orientalistyczuy |date=1974 |volume=91 |pages=225–30 |language=ru }}</ref><ref>Newman, John Kevin (2001) "The Golden Fleece. Imperial Dream" (Theodore Papanghelis and Antonios Rengakos (eds.). ''A Companion to Apollonius Rhodius''. Leiden: Brill (''[[Mnemosyne (journal)|Mnemosyne Supplement]]'' 217), 309–40)</ref><ref>{{harvp|Lordkipanidze|2001}}</ref>
# It represents the flayed skin of [[Crius|Krios]] ('Ram'), companion of [[Phrixus]].<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]] 4. 47; cf. ''scholia on Apollonius Rhodius'' 2. 1144; 4. 119, citing Dionysus' ''Argonautica''</ref>
# It represents a book on [[alchemy]].<ref>[[Palaephatus]] (fourth century BC) 'On the Incredible' (Festa, N. (ed.) (1902) ''Mythographi Graeca'' III, 2, Lipsiae, p.&nbsp;89</ref><ref>[[John of Antioch (chronicler)|John of Antioch]] fr.15.3 FHG (5.548)</ref>
# It represents a technique of writing in gold on parchment.<ref>Haraxes of Pergamum (c. first to sixth century) (Jacoby, F. (1923) ''[[Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker]]'' I (Berlin), IIA, 490, fr. 37)</ref>
# It represents a form of [[placer mining]] practiced in Georgia, for example.<ref>[[Strabo]] (first century BC) ''Geography'' I, 2, 39 (Jones, H.L. (ed.) (1969) ''The Geography of Strabo (in eight volumes)'' London {{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239&loc=11.2.19 |title=Strabo, Geography, NOTICE |publisher=Perseus.tufts.edu |access-date=26 May 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tran|first1=T |title=The Hydrometallurgy of Gold Processing |journal=[[Interdisciplinary Science Reviews]] |date=1992 |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=356–65 |doi=10.1179/isr.1992.17.4.356 |bibcode=1992ISRv...17..356T }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.minelinks.com/alluvial/goldClassic.html |title=Gold – during the Classic Era |publisher=Minelinks.com |access-date=26 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403025125/http://www.minelinks.com/alluvial/goldClassic.html |archive-date=3 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Shuker, Karl P. N. (1997), ''From Flying Toads To Snakes With Wings'', Llewellyn</ref><ref>[[Mary Renault|Renault, Mary]] (2004), ''The Bull from the Sea'', Arrow (Rand)</ref><ref>refuted in {{harvp|Braund|1994|p=24}} and {{harvp|Lordkipanidze|2001}}</ref>
# It represents the forgiveness of the Gods.<ref>[[Karl Otfried Müller|Müller, Karl Otfried]] (1844), ''Orchomenos und die Minyer'', Breslau</ref><ref>refuted in {{harvp|Bacon|1925|pp=64 ff, 163 ff}}</ref>
# It represents a rain cloud.<ref>Forchhammer, P. W. (1857) ''Hellenica'' Berlin p.&nbsp;205 ff, 330 ff</ref><ref name="Bacon_refutes">refuted in {{harvp|Bacon|1925}}</ref>
# It represents a land of golden grain.<ref name="Bacon_refutes"/><ref>Faust, Adolf (1898), ''Einige deutsche und griechische Sagen im Lichte ihrer ursprünglichen Bedeutung''. Mulhausen</ref>
# It represents the spring-hero.<ref name="Bacon_refutes"/><ref>Schroder, R. (1899), ''Argonautensage und Verwandtes'', Poznań</ref>
# It represents the sea reflecting the sun.<ref name="Bacon_refutes"/><ref>Vurthiem, V (1902), "De Argonautarum Vellere aureo", ''[[Mnemosyne (journal)|Mnemosyne]]'', New Series, XXX, pp.&nbsp;54–67; XXXI, p.&nbsp;116</ref><ref>[[Wilhelm Mannhardt]], in ''Zeitschrift für Ethnologie'', VII, p.&nbsp;241 ff, 281 ff</ref>
# It represents the gilded prow of Phrixus' ship.<ref name="Bacon_refutes"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Svoronos |first1=  M. |year= 1914 |journal= Journal International d'Archéologie Numismatique |volume=XVI |pages=81–152}}</ref>
# It represents a breed of sheep in ancient Georgia.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ninck |first1=M. |title=Die Bedeutung des Wassers im Kult und Leben der Alten |journal=Philologus Suppl |date=1921 |volume=14 |issue=2 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ryder |first1=M.L. |title=The last word on the Golden Fleece legend? |journal=Oxford Journal of Archaeology |date=1991 |volume=10 |pages=57–60 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0092.1991.tb00005.x }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith, G.J. |last2=Smith, A.J. |title=Jason's Golden Fleece |journal=Oxford Journal of Archaeology |date=1992 |volume=11 |pages=119–20 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0092.1992.tb00260.x }}</ref>
# It represents the riches imported from the East.<ref>{{harvp|Bacon|1925}}</ref>
# It represents the wealth or technology of Colchis.<ref>Akaki Urushadze (1984), ''The Country of the Enchantress Medea'', Tbilisi</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lazuri.com/kolheti/en_index.php |access-date=13 October 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125172255/http://www.lazuri.com/kolheti/en_index.php |archive-date=25 November 2005|title=Untitled Document}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.great-adventures.com/destinations/rep_georgia/colchis.html |title=Colchis, The Land Of The Golden Fleece, Republic Of Georgia |publisher=Great-adventures.com |access-date=26 May 2012}}</ref>
# It was a covering for a cult image of Zeus in the form of a ram.<ref>[[Robert Graves]] (1944/1945), ''The Golden Fleece/Hercules, My Shipmate'', New York: Grosset & Dunlap</ref>
# It represents a fabric woven from [[sea silk]].<ref>Verrill, A. Hyatt (1950), ''Shell Collector's Handbook'', New York: Putnam, p.&nbsp;77</ref><ref>Abbott, R. Tucker (1972), ''Kingdom of the Seashell'', New York: Crown Publishers, p.&nbsp;184; {{cite web  |url         = http://www.designboom.com/eng/education/byssus_history.html  |title       = history of sea byssus cloth  |publisher   = Designboom.com  |access-date  = 26 May 2012  |url-status     = dead  |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120324204105/http://www.designboom.com/eng/education/byssus_history.html  |archive-date = 24 March 2012  |df          = dmy }}</ref><ref>refuted in {{harvp|Barber|1991}} and {{harvp|McKinley|1999|pp=9–29}}</ref>
# It is about a voyage from Greece, through the Mediterranean, across the Atlantic to the Americas.<ref>[[James R. A. Bailey|Bailey, James R.]] (1973), ''The God Kings and the Titans; The New World Ascendancy in Ancient Times'', St. Martin's Press</ref>
# It represents trading fleece dyed murex-purple for Georgian gold.<ref>Silver, Morris (1992), ''Taking Ancient Mythology Economically'', Leiden: Brill {{cite web|url=http://members.tripod.com/~sondmor/index-4.html |title=Document Title |publisher=Members.tripod.com |access-date=26 May 2012}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of mythological objects]]
* [[Absyrtus]]
* [[Gold mining]]
* [[Order of the Golden Fleece]]
* [[Gideon]], another motif represented with fleece in Christian art

==Notes==
{{notelist|32em}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin|32em}}
* {{cite book |last=Bacon |first=Janet Ruth |author-link=Janet Ruth Bacon |year=1925 |title=The Voyage of the Argonauts |location=London |publisher=Methuen }}
* {{cite book |last=Barber |first=Elizabeth J.&nbsp;W. |year=1991 |title=Prehistoric Textiles: the Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with Special Reference to the Aegean |location=Princeton, NJ |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-00224-8 }}
* {{cite book |last=Braund |first=David |year=1994 |title=Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550&nbsp;BC–AD&nbsp;562 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-814473-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/georgiainantiqui0000brau }}
* {{cite journal |last=Lordkipanidze |first=Otar |author-link=Otar Lordkipanidze |year=2001 |title=The Golden Fleece: myth, euhemeristic explanation and archaeology |journal=[[Oxford Journal of Archaeology]] |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=1–38 |doi=10.1111/1468-0092.00121 }}
* {{cite book |last=McKinley |first=Daniel |year=1999 |title=Pinna and her Silken Beard: a Foray into Historical Misappropriations |series=Ars Textrina |volume=29 |publisher=Charles Babbage Research Centre }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Golden Fleece}}
* {{Wikisource-inline|The Golden Fleece}} by various authors
* The [[Project Gutenberg]] text of ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2395 The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles]'' (1921) by [[Padraic Colum]]

{{Argonautica}}
{{Greek religion|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Objects in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Thessalian mythology]]
[[Category:Colchis in mythology]]
[[Category:Argonautica]]
[[Category:Mythological caprids]]
[[Category:Iolcus]]
[[Category:Jason]]