Argonauts is the name for the Greek princes who set forth together to Colchis to conquer the golden fleece, and who embarked for this reason on the vessel Argo, from which they took their name. It is believed that they were 52 or 54 in number, not including the accompanying men. Jason was their leader, and the principal among them include Hercules; Castor and Pollux; Laertes, father of Ulysses; Oileus, father of Ajax; Peleus, father of Achilles; Theseus and his friend Pirithous. They set sail from the Cape of Magnesia in Thessaly; they first went to Lemnos, then Samothrace; then they entered the Hellespont [1] and sailed along Asia Minor. They arrived in the capital of Colchis via the Pontus Euxinus. [2] From there, after taking the golden fleece, they returned home after having surmounted many dangers. This expedition preceded the Trojan War by thirty-five years, according to some, and by ninety years according to others. Regarding the object that attracted the Argonauts to Colchis , opinions are mixed. Diodorus of Sicily [3] believed that this celebrated golden fleece was nothing other than the skin of a sheep that Phrixus had sacrificed, and that was carefully guarded because an oracle had predicted that the king would be killed by he who stole it. Strabo [4] and Justin [5] thought that the fable of the golden fleece was based on the existence in Colchis of streams with golden sand, which was gathered in sheepskins, and is still practiced today near Fort Louis, where the golden powder is collected with similar fleece, which, when they are well filled, resemble golden fleece. Varro [6] and Pliny [7] claim that this fable owes its origin to the beautiful wools of that country, and that the fiction was inspired by a trip that some Greek merchants made to buy some. One could add that since the Colchians had established a thriving business trading sable and other precious pelts, this may have been the motive of the Argonauts’ voyage. Palaephatus [8] had imagined that the golden fleece was merely a symbolic representation of a beautiful golden statue that Pelops’s mother had made and that Phrixus took with him to Colchis, though it is not clear what Palaephatus based this on. Finally, Suidas [9] believed that this fleece was a parchment manuscript that contained the secret of making gold, a worthy object of ambition, or rather of greed, not only of the Greeks, but of the whole world. And this opinion, that Tollius had wanted to revive, is embraced by all alchemists. Hist. des argon. By M. l’abbé Bannier , Member of the Académie des Belles lettres, vol. XII.

1. The Hellespont is now known as the Dardanelles.

2. Pontus Euxinus was the name used in antiquity to denote the body of water we currently call the Black Sea.

3. First-century B.C.E. historian of Greece.

4. First-century B.C.E. Greek geographer, historian, and philosopher.

5. Possibly the Roman historian, of which little is known.

6. Marcus Terentius Varro was a prolific Roman scholar and writer, known for his vast writings on a wide range of subjects and his influence on later compilers of encyclopedias.

7. Pliny the Elder, or Gaius Plinius Secundus, was a first-century C.E. Roman author, scholar, and military commander. He is best known for his encyclopedic Natural History .

8. Author of Peri Apiston ( On Incredible Things ), a text that rationalizes Greek myths. It is believed that Palaephatus is a pseudonym. The date of authorship is unknown, but likely during the fourth century B.C.E.

9. Name of a tenth-century C.C. Greek lexicon-encyclopedia, and formerly thought to be the name of the compiler.