Jason is a mythological Greek hero who is best known for his journey with the Argonauts in search of the golden fleece. Aboard the ship the Argo (which is where the term Argonauts comes from), Jason and his men travelled to Kolchis on the Black Sea from Iolkos in Thessaly to retrieve the golden fleece, which is the hide of what was once a flying ram with gold hair, and he gets into a number of adventures on his journey. Jason is aided by Medea, who was made to fall in love with Jason, and who used her skills in magic to help him succeed in his quest and then returns home with him. The journey of Jason may reflect historical expeditions the Mycenaeans made in the thirteenth century BCE as they travelled and explored lands to the east of the Greek world.
There are numerous versions of Jason’s story (as there are for much if not all of Greek myth), but it’s Apollonius of Rhodes’ Argonautica, written in the third century BCE, that is often referred to as the main version of the story (which is the version this video will summarise), although parts of his myth are told in Pindar’s Fourth Pythian Ode and Pseudo-Apollodorus’ The Library of Greek Mythology, not to mention the story of Jason and Medea after his quest for the golden fleece is the topic of Euripides’ tragedy Medea.
— CHAPTERS —
0:00 Introduction
1:02 Who is the Greek Hero Jason?
2:23 The Beginning of the Argonautica
4:32 The Journey to Kolchis
8:41 Jason and the Golden Fleece
11:05 The Journey Back to Iolkos
12:03 Jason and Medea
13:55 Outro
Hello - when I was a kid, one of my favourite books was Tales Of Ancient Egypt by Roger Lancelyn Green (lovely cover too, see below)
I've no idea how out of date the general info in those stories is, and I'm wondering whether you can recommend an equivalent good modern children's book on Ancient Egypt and its mythology?
Unfortunately, no. There are a lot of terrible ones, and no good ones or I would have bought one for my niece by now. I also definitely wouldn’t recommend the book you read. I looked at the actual stories inside and bodily cringed at the racism/misogyny/ableism/random stuff that reads exactly like the bible/othering/really weird about Egyptian cultural stuff. Idk I could go on, but it’s pretty bad to read as a modern Egyptologist.
For those reading this, here’s a sample from the Tale of Isis and Osiris:
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sigh, it’s been many decades since I read it, so it doesn’t surprise me to discover it’s full of that old crap (which recent re-reading of another childhood fave has taught me is pretty standard for books written half a century ago, and it was so normalised for kid me that I didn’t even notice, mostly)
Sad to say this is from the 2011 reprint of the book, which you can still buy for £5 on Amazon. We hates it precious. To be fair I got one of my old childhood books on Ancient Egypt out and it had a whole two page spread dedicated to ‘where gypsies came from’ and I was like 'oh cool we were just writing bullshit in the 90s then’. I’ve since put that book in recycling.
Bleugh.
Can you recommend any good modern books on Egyptian mythology for adults then, please? I’d very much like to reset my assumptions
I’m afraid I can’t do that either. I’m too far into the academic side that I’ve simply never looked at any of them. I believe Geraldine Pinch, Egyptologist (Oxford Uni) did one in 2004, which may be useful. Idk how dense that would be, but it certainly comes from a reputable source.
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
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