On his way to Colchis, Jason and his Argonauts must pass through the Symplegades, crashing rocks.
In ancient Greek mythology, the Greek hero Jason sought the Golden Fleece in Colchis to bring it back to his uncle Pelias, who had usurped the throne of Iolcus (in Thessaly in Greece) from Jason's father. Jason's mother had smuggled him out of the kingdom but later the gods told Jason to go to the kingdom of Iolcus. On his way he sees an old woman trying to cross a stream. She turns out to be Hera, the wife of the all-powerful Zeus (Juno and Jupiter to the Romans). In carrying her across the river, Jason loses a sandal. His uncle Pelias had been warned to beware a stranger wearing one shoe. Pelias seeing the stranger with one sandal recognized the prophecy and sent Jason to fetch the Golden Fleece, believing he would die trying to do so. Jason goes with a band of heroes, and one of the obstacles on their trip is the Symplegades, rocks that crash together when anything passes through. Phineus tells Jason the trick of the rocks and so Jason sends a bird through (loses only a feather). As the rocks open after crashing toward the bird, Jason and his band row quickly through (as seen in this 1901 illustration). All are unharmed.
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Photo credit: © Ivy Close Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
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Keywords: ancient, argonauts, crashing, fleece, golden, greece, greek, iolcus, jason, legend, myth, mythology, religion, rocks, symplegades, world
