A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

554 JASON; JASON.
ment and diadem. When the latter put on the was'no other than Jason. (Xen. Memr. i. 2.- ~ 24
garment,:she, together with her father, was con- Hell. ii. 3. ~ 36; Schneid. ad loc.) It is at least
sumed by the poisonous fire that issued from the certain that the surname in question could not
vestment. Medeia also killed her'children by Jason, have been applied more appropriately. He not
viz. Mermerus and Pheres, and then fled in a cha- only adopted, but expanded the ambitious designs
riot drawn by winged dragons, the gift of Helios, of Lycophron, and he advanced towards the fulfilto Athens. Her younger children she placed, pre- ment of his schemes ably, energetically, and unvious to her flight, as suppliants on the altar of scrupulously. In B. C. 377 we find him aiding
Hera Acraea, but the Corinthians took them away Theogenes to seize the Acropolis of Histiaea in
and put them to death. (Apollod. i. 9. ~ 16; Ov. Euboea, from which, however, the latter was afterV1fet. vii.; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 175; Eurip. Mfedeia; wards dislodged by the Lacedaemonians under
Pind. Pyth. iv.; Apollon. Rhod. Argon.) Accord- Therippidas or Herippidas. (Diod. xv. 30; Palm.
ing to Diodorus (iv. 54), Medeia set the royal and Wess. ad loc.; Casaub. ad Polyaen. ii. 21.)
palace at Corinth on fire, in which Creon and In B.C. 375 all the Thessalian towns had been
Glauce were burnt, but Jason escaped; further, she brought under Jason's dominion, with the excephad three sons, Thessalus, Alcimenes, and Ther- tion of Pharsalus, which had been entrusted by the
sander, the two last of whom were killed, whereas citizens to the direction of POLYDAMAS. Alcetas
Thessalus, who escaped, afterwards became the I., king of Epeirus, was associated with him rather
ruler of Iolcus. Medeia herself first escaped to as a dependent than an ally, and Thebes was
Thebes, where she cured Heracles, and afterwards leagued with him from enmity to Sparta, from
to Athens. The earliest accounts we have do not which latter state, though it had supported Lycomention Medeia's murder of her children, but re- phron (Diod. xiv. 82), he held aloof, probably bepresent her as a priestess at Corinth, where she cause of its connection with Pharsalus (Xen. Hell.
was killed by the Corinthians (Aelian, V. H. v. in vi. 1. ~~ 2, 13), and also from the policy of taking
fin.); and Pausanias (ii. 3, in fin.) relates, that the weaker side. He alreadykept in his pay 6000
after the death of Corinthus, Medeia was invited picked mercenaries, with whose training he took
from Iolcus, and ruled over Corinth, as her lawful personally the greatest' pains; and if he could
paternal inheritance, in conjunction with Jason. unite Thessaly under himself as Tagus, it would
Medeia concealed her children in the temple of furnish him, in addition, with a force of 6000
Hera, hoping thereby to make them immortal; but cavalry and more than 10,000 foot. The neighJason, indignant at this conduct, deserted her, and bouring tribes would yield him a body of lightreturned to Iolcus, whereupon Medeia also quitted armed troops, with which no others could cope.
Corinth, leaving the government to Sisyphus. Ja- The Thessalian Penestae would effectually man his
son is also mentioned among'the Calydonian hunters ships, and of these he would be able to build a far
(Apollod. i. 8. ~ 2);. and it is further stated, that larger number than the Athenians, as he might
he and the Dioscuri joined Peleus, for the purpose calculate on possessing as his own the resources of
of assistinghim in taking vengeance on Astydameia, Macedonia and all its ship-timber. If once therethe wife of Acastus, and conquered and destroyed fore the lord of Thessaly, he might fairly hope to
lolcus. (Schol. ad Pind. Nern. iii. 55; Apollod. become the master of Greece; and when Greece
iii. 13. ~ 7.) Later writers represent Jason as was in his power, the weakness of the Persian
having in the end become reconciled to Medeia, as empire, as shown especially by the retreat of the
having returned with her to Colchis, and as having Ten Thousand and the campaigns of Agesilaus in
there restored Aeetes to his kingdom, of which he Asia, opened to him an unbounded and glorious
-had been deprived. (Tacit. Ann. vi. 34; Justin, field of conquest. (Xen. Hell. vi. 1. ~~ 4-12;
xlii 2.) The death of Jason is also related differ- comp. Isocr. ad Phil. p. 106, c. d.; Diod. xv. 60
ently; for, according to some, he made away with Val. Max. ix. 10, Ext. 2.) But the first step to
himself from grief (Diod. iv. 55), and, according be taken was to secure the dominion of Pharsalus.
to others, he was crushed by the poop of the ship This he had the means of effecting by force, but
Argo, under which he laid down on the advice he preferred to carry his point by negotiation, and
of Medeia, and which fell upon him. (Schol. on accordingly, in a personal conference with Polythe Argument of Eurip. Med.) He was wor- damas, he candidly set before him the nature and
shipped as a hero in several parts of the ancient.extent of his plans and his resources, represented
world. (Strab. xi. pp. 526, 531):his marriage with to him that opposition on the part of Pharsalus
Medeia was represented on the chest of Cypselus. would be fruitless, and urged him therefore to use
(Paus. v. 18. ~ 1.) [L. S.] his influence to bring over the town to submission,
JASON ('Idoebv), tyrant of Pherae and Tagus promising him the highest place, except his own,
of Thessaly (Dict. of Antiq. s. v. Tagus), was pro- in power and dignity. Polydamas answered that
-bably the son of LYCOPHRON, who established a he could not honourably accept his offer without
tyranny on the ruins of aristocracy at Pherae, the consent of Sparta, with which he was in alliabout the end of the Peloponnesian war, and aimed ance; and Jason, with equal frankness, told him to
at dominion over all the Thessalians. (Xen. Hell.. lay the state of the case before the Lacedaemonians,
ii. 3. ~ 4; Diod. xiv. 82.) From this passage of and see whether they could adequately support:Diodorus we know that Lycophron was still alive Pharsalus against his power. Polydamas did so,
in B. C. 395, but we cannot fix the exact time at and the Lacedaemonians replied that they were
which Jason succeeded him, nor do we find any- unable to give the required help, and advised him
thing recorded of the latter till towards the close to make the best terms he could for himself and
of his life. Wyttenbach, however (ad Plut. AIor. his state. Polydamas then acceded to the prop. 89, c.), may possibly be right in his conjecture posal of Jason, asking to be allowed to retain the
that the Prometheus who is mentioned by Xeno- citadel of Pharsalus for those who had entrusted it
phon as engaged in struggles against the old aristo- to him, and promising to use his endeavours to
cratic families of Thessaly, with the aid of CRITIAS, bring the town into alliance with him, and to aid