Archaic Argonauts: Where are They?

Abstract

The myths surrounding Jason, his quest for the Golden Fleece of Colchis, and his rather disastrous union with Medea loom large in the literature of Classical Greece – Euripides' Medea provides one memorable treatment of the subject. The Argonaut myth-cycle seems to be quite old, as Homer (in Odyssey 12) and Hesiod (in the Catalogue of Women) refer to it in passing, but the earliest extant literary treatment of the myth in a more extended fashion comes only with Pindar's Pythian 4. The literary life of this myth-cycle during much of the Archaic era remains unclear except for a few fragmentary hints of lost epics which possibly included narration of the Argonaut stories. This paper suggests that, during the sixth century BCE, the Argonaut cycle differed significantly from its later incarnations. Visual evidence from Attic black-figure pottery provides the primary evidence. The study of visual material has greatly enlightened scholars' understanding of the Epic Cycle; Snodgrass (1998) provides a cautious reevaluation of Homer’s popularity and cultural. With Snodgrass' methodology as a model, this paper shows that the Argonaut myth-cycle possesses a visual tradition rather different from the later surviving literary sources of Classical Greece. To examine depictions of that cycle, this study relies heavily on the Beazley Archive Database. I searched for images portraying diagnostic characters from the myth-cycle, such as Jason, Medea, the Golden Fleece, Phineas, and Harpies to assemble a preliminary set of data on which to base further research. The results of this research are surprising. For example, Odyssey 12.165ff refers to Jason’s voyage in the context of Odysseus’ journey past the sirens. One might reasonably expect to find black-figure vases illustrating this part of the Argonaut voyage, if it was well-enough known for Homer to make reference to it. And yet, this scene fails to appear in the Archaic artistic tradition. Moreover, only one Attic black-figure vase (Munich 2243) definitively portrays Jason at all (and labels him, making the identification certain), and he appears in the context of the Caledonian Boar Hunt, not any part of the Argonauts’ voyage or its aftermath. Medea, while significantly more illustrated than Jason, still only appears on a few dozen vases which mostly date to the very end of the sixth century. These vases depict, almost exclusively, Medea presiding over the rejuvenation of a ram in the presence of Pelias’ daughters. One part of this study explores why this particular scene – and this scene only – appears relatively frequently and whether its prevalence can be attributed to mass-production by a specific workshop or to some cultural phenomenon. This paper is limited to the discussion of just a few of the aforementioned diagnostic figures, of which Medea provides the most substantial evidence. Jason’s curious absence from Archaic art also receives attention. This small project will, hopefully, form the basis for further study of the development of the Argonaut myth.