The Argonauts and their Voyage

 In this essay Dimitris Michalopoulos discusses the voyage of the Argo, an exciting story which many of us will remember from our school days studying classical literature. As Dr Michalopoulos explains, the mythological ship and the voyage are grounded in historical reality. He describes the type of vessel the Argo might have been and plausibly traces the long journey of the intrepid Argonauts around and across the continent of Europe in their attempt to get home, using modern geo-historical evidence to clarify and extend the usual interpretation of the route in the epic poem written by Apollonius of Rhodes in the 3rd century BCE. Dimitris’ essay whets the appetite for the extended discussion about this epic journey which he recently published in Les Argonautes (Paris 2013), one of his several books on maritime matters in antiquity. We welcome Dr Michalopoulos to the growing team of BritishNavalHistory guest authors, as we enjoy here a brief introduction to the fruits of his research into the voyage of the Argo.

The Argo: original painting by Antonis Milanos

We comprehend today that the story of the “Argo” is not a mere legend; and we know – approximately – when it took place. It was in the era between the beginning of the 22nd and the middle of 19th centuries BCE, when Argo departed from the region of today’s Volos for Colchis. The story itself is well known, clear, and needs no more analysis.[1] Jason was ordered by his uncle Pelias, who had usurped the royal throne of Iolcos in Thessaly and believed that his nephew might topple him, to undertake the dangerous task of bringing him the Golden Fleece. This was the golden sheepskin of a flying ram, on the back of which Phrixus, son of Athamas, king of Orhomenos was saved; for  Athamas had decided to sacrifice his own child because he considered him responsible for the poor wheat harvest of a particular year. Phrixus was saved at last, thanks to the ram which was sent to him by Zeus, and managed to reach Colchis, near the coast area of today’s Georgia in the Caucasus. His sister and fellow traveller was Helle who, however, fell off the ram and was drowned in the sea which was afterwards named after her, the Hellespont.

Although this was considered to be a very difficult trip, it is important that Jason and his companions who, needless to say, did not have at their disposal golden rams capable of flying, succeeded. The point I wish to consider here is, with what type of ship was this achievement realized? The ship of the Argonauts was the famous Argo, which was given the attributes of a living being with supernatural abilities. The opinion that this prehistoric ship had a superior technological equipment is unproved; but the fact remains that that the very name “Argo” suggests that this ship was, by the standards of the time at least, of an excellent quality. The Greek adjective “argos” [αργοσς] means both “shiny” and “fast”; Argo was then a beautiful and very quick ship – to such a degree that the people who sailed in it were called Argonauts.

What kind of ship was Argo? The answer to this question is easy. It was a penteconter [πεντηκόντερος], that is a ship approximately twenty five metres long, without a deck, and with a total of fifty oars, twenty five oars on each side, and usually with only one mast. This type of ship, a phortēgon (cargo ship), dominated the Greek seas until the Corinthians invented and constructed the trireme [in the 6^th century BCE].[2] Argo, however, brought about a great change, and in all probability, this change contributed to its fame over a long period of time. Thanks to the ship of the Argonauts the penteconter became dominant, for up to the time of the expedition of Jason, the Aegean Sea and the naval routes of the Eastern Mediterranean were dominated by the triaconter which, as the word suggests, was a ship similar to the Argo but smaller, with only thirty oars, fifteen on each side.

It is needless to state that these cargo ships were also used for piracy, since in those times commerce and piracy were rarely separated from one another.[3] Moreover, a great advantage of these ships was not only that they could be built quickly, but also their ability to sail well. In other words, these ships were made in a simple yet intelligent way, and were therefore seaworthy. With such ships one could travel almost anywhere, in seas, rivers, lakes – even over land because the mast could be easily unstepped and the men could then carry the ship on their shoulders.

This great shipbuilding achievement allowed the Argonauts, and later Ulysses [in Greek, Odysseus] and his comrades [of Homer’s Odyssey], to accomplish great naval feats, thanks to which their names were written in History.

It is also important to take into account the fact that for short routes, and in ‘closed seas’, the pre-Hellenes had invented the kelētas; these were light, small ships, which moved fast, with only one oar where a single man served as the crew. These small ships took their names from the fast horses which cannot be put under yoke and accept only one rider. The timber [required for shipbuilding] was in abundance in the islands (at least until the end of the Middle Ages) but also in mainland Greece; moreover, the small distances characteristic of the islands of the Aegean sea clearly helped develop shipbuilding. But it is time we returned to the Argo.

The sailing of the Argonauts to Colchis is easily accessible to research. The crew, as stated earlier, was composed of fifty men, all of them free men (and at least according to a certain tradition kings or heroes) to whom were added the quartermaster and the captain. The ‘quartermaster’ was Tiphys, legendary for his  dexterity in difficult situations; the captain was of course Jason, although initially and theoretically the leadership of the campaign was assigned to Hercules. The latter, nonetheless, disappeared at the initial stages of the campaign somewhere on the coast of Asia Minor near Propontis, and therefore Jason assumed the leadership.

The voyage of the Argo: map by Dr Mike Athanson, Deputy Curator of Maps, Bodleian Library, Oxford

The Argonauts sailed from Pagasae, the seaport of Iolcos, and paid a visit to the wise centaur Cheiron at Pelion, who was the teacher of almost all the heroes and kings of this period. Afterwards, they sailed again, passed by Skiathos island, navigated round CapeAthos and reached Lemnos island, where the trip almost ended due to the charm of the local women. They then entered the Hellespont, crossed the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus and arrived at the Black Sea; due to its notoriously dangerous waters, this was originally called the Axine (‘inhospitable’) Sea and then – pehaps to placate the sea gods – it was renamed the Euxine (‘hospitable’) Sea. Thus, the Argonauts arrived at Colchis.

We know that Colchis was near the mouth of the river Phasis, which during ancient times was considered the extreme limit of Europe to the West, and of Asia to the East.[4] Phasis is today called by the Georgians Rioni; Colchis, therefore, must have been located near Poti (in Turkish Faş), a port in modern day Georgia. It is pointless to expand here on the adventures through which Jason managed to obtain the Golden Fleece, or to discuss his love story with Medea, daughter of the king of the Colcheans,  Aeëtes: she  did not hesitate to abandon her country and family in order to follow her lover to Greece. What is important is the rest of the trip of the Argonauts. We know that they managed to return to Greece. But how?

A reasonable answer would be that they returned following the same route they took to arrive at Colchis. But this answer has proved to be false. For we know from the ancient sources that Aeëtes ordered the persecution of the Argonauts. The Colchian army with Apsyrtus, brother of Medea, at his head entered their ships and chased after the Argo. The first thought of Apsyrtus was to sail to the entrance of the Bosphorus, since the Argonauts were expected to go through there and thus return to the Aegean Sea. But the Argonauts had the idea to sail along the Ister (the Danube), which in antiquity was a great commercial artery; and this way they managed to escape the Colchians and return to their homeland.

Nevertheless, this version of the story, popular in Hellenistic times, was also proved false, because it presupposes that the Danube communicated with the Mediterranean so Argo, after entering this great European river managed to enter the Italian seas [Adriatic] and from there to reach Greece.

Today we know that such a communication between the Danube and the Mediterranean does not exist: the Argonauts thus followed a different route, i.e. the one recorded at the times of early Greek antiquity: instead of sailing through the Black Sea, they sailed upstream in the river Phasis and once they reached the land of the Medeans, they went back (most probably along the river which is today called Kodori), launched the Argo in the Black Sea and reached the Sea of Azov. From there, instead of returning to their own land, they used a different route which today appears unimaginable. And they did this because the area by the Sea of Azov, and in general around the Crimea, were considered rich in gold.

In short, the Argonauts wanted to embark on commercial activities; and these lands, apart from gold, had all sorts of products their country lacked. Thus they sailed upstream in one of the two great rivers which enter the AzovSea, the Tanais (Don) or the Borysthenes (Dnieper), and after first crossing the RiphaeanMountains (the Urals) they found themselves at the marshes of Pripyat.[5] From there they went to the river Vistula and, sailing through the rivers of Germany, reached the sea near modern day Cuxhaven and finally Hermione.[6]  The latter was “a lowland with herds of beautiful oxen near Germany”, which can be nowhere else but the modern day Netherlands. From there, the adventure of the Argo and its crew reached new dimensions.

Their trip until then (Aegean Sea, Black Sea, Crimea, Ukraine, Poland) was following “the Amber Road”, through which amber used to be imported into Greece from the Baltic Sea. Up to this point, the journey of the Argonauts and their ship are more or less known – or at least easily explained. From now on, however, the Argonauts started a new trip the limits of which would be beyond the World known by the Europeans until the late Middle Ages. Indeed, they entered the North Sea, and then the Irish Sea; they sailed round the eastern coast of Ireland (during antiquity its soil was considered very rich in copper and gold) and through the Saint George strait, they entered the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic ocean; at last, they reached the Canary Islands and almost certainly Madeira. These islands were known during early antiquity and during the Pax Romana their memory was preserved. Their nature was so fascinating, the life there so idyllic that they were called Isles of the Blessed.[7] Moreover, the fact that the Argonauts appeased their hunger “with the beautiful gifts of the land” brings to mind bananas, which were likely known to the Greeks of the pre-historic period.[8]

And so Argo, after having stayed for a while in these “Blessed Islands”, set sail for the Pillars of Hercules, known today as the Strait of Gibraltar, entered the Mediterranean Sea, and by many adventures along a circuitous route which included the islands of Sardinia, Sicily, Corfu,  and Crete, the Gulf of Syrtis (the coast of  today’s Libya), and encounters with the sea-monsters Scylla and Charybdis, finally reached Greece.

© Dimitris Michalopoulos 2013

Bibliography

Liddell, Henry George & Scott, Robert, A Greek-English Lexicon. Edited and  translated into Greek by Anestēs Kōnstantinidēs, entry “Phasis”, vols. I-IV, Athens: A. Kōnstantinidēs, 1901-1907

Michalopoulos, Dimitris, Les Argonautes, Paris: Dualpha, 2013

Petridēs, Siegfried P., Orpheōs Argonautika (‘Orpheus’ Argonautica’), Athens: Geōrgiadēs, 2007. This is a good edition of the ancient text

Plutarch, Vita Sertorii, Athens: Papyros, 1968.

Rieu, EV, The Voyage of Argo, Harmondsworth, Penguin Classics 1959 (good prose translation of Apollonius’ poem)

Sofias, Sōtērēs, Orpheas kai argonautikē ekstrateia (‘Orpheus and the Argonauts’ Campaign’), Athens: Noōn, 2009

Strabonis, Geographica, Athens: Papyros, 1937-1966

Thucydidis, Historiae, Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensi, Oxford 1966

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