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myth and strange things
1. Elizabeth Bathory,a vicious killer
She has been described as the most vicious female serial killer in all recorded history. Where fact ends and fiction begins in her horrible story is now impossible to determine, but in her fame as a legendary vampire she is outrivalled only by Count Dracula. Born in 1560, she was endowed with looks, wealth, an excellent education and a stellar social position as one of the Bathory family, who ruled Transylvania as a virtually independent principality within the kingdom of Hungary.
When she was 11 or 12 Elizabeth was betrothed to Ferenc Nádasdy of another aristocratic Hungarian family, but a year or two later she had a baby by a lower-order lover. Nádasdy was reported to have had him castrated and then torn to pieces by dogs. The child, a daughter, was quietly hidden from view and Elizabeth and Nádasdy were married in 1575 when she was 14. Because Elizabeth socially outranked her husband, she kept the surname Bathory, which he added to his own. The young couple lived in the Nádasdy castles in Hungary at Sárvár and Csetje (now in Slovakia), but Ferenc was an ambitious soldier and was often away. Elizabeth ran the estates, took various lovers and bore her husband four children. She was 43 when he died in 1604.
Word was beginning to spread about her sadistic activities. It was said that she enjoyed torturing and killing young girls. At first they were servants at her castles, daughters of the local peasants, but later they included girls sent to her by local gentry families to learn good manners. She believed that drinking the blood of young girls would preserve her youthfulness and her looks. Witnesses told of her stabbing victims or biting their breasts, hands, faces and arms, cutting them with scissors, sticking needles into their lips or burning them with red-hot irons, coins or keys. Some were beaten to death and some were starved. The story that Elizabeth used to bathe in their blood seems to have been added later on.
A Lutheran minister went to the Hungarian authorities, who eventually began an investigation in 1610. In December of that year Elizabeth was arrested and so were four of her favourite servants and intimates, who were accused of being her accomplices. They were tried and found guilty. Three of them were executed and the fourth was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Elizabeth herself was not put on trial, because of her family’s standing, but she was shut up in Csetje Castle, held in solitary confinement in a room whose windows were walled up. She was 54 when she died there in 1614.
2.The Real Dracula: Vlad the Impaler
Few names have cast more terror into the human heart than Dracula. The legendary vampire, created by author Bram Stoker in his 1897 novel of the same name, has inspired countless horror movies, television shows and other bloodcurdling tales of vampires.
Though Dracula is a purely fictional creation, Stoker named his infamous character after a real person who happened to have a taste for blood: Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia or — as he is better known — Vlad the Impaler. The morbid nickname is a testament to the Wallachian prince's favorite way of dispensing with his enemies.
But other than having the same name, the two Draculas don't really have much in common, according to historians who have studied the link between Stoker's vampire count and Vlad III.
The real Dracula
By most accounts, Vlad III was born in 1431 in what is now Transylvania, the central region of modern-day Romania. However, the link between Vlad the Impaler and Transylvania is tenuous, according to Florin Curta, a professor of medieval history and archaeology at the University of Florida.
"[Stoker's] Dracula is linked to Transylvania, but the real, historic Dracula — Vlad III — never owned anything in Transylvania," Curta told Live Science. Bran Castle, a modern-day tourist attraction in Transylvania that is often referred to as Dracula's castle, was never the residence of the Wallachian prince, he added.
"Because the castle is in the mountains in this foggy area and it looks spooky, it's what one would expect of Dracula's castle," Curta said. "But he [Vlad III] never lived there. He never even stepped foot there."
Vlad III's father, Vlad II, did own a residence in Sighişoara, Transylvania, but it is not certain that Vlad III was born there, according to Curta. It's also possible, he said, that Vlad the Impaler was born in Târgovişte, which was at that time the royal seat of the principality of Wallachia, where his father was a "voivode," or ruler.
In 1431, King Sigismund of Hungary, who would later become the Holy Roman Emperor, inducted the elder Vlad into a knightly order, the Order of the Dragon. This designation earned Vlad II a new surname: Dracul. The name came from the old Romanian word for dragon, "drac." His son, Vlad III, would later be known as the "son of Dracul" or, in old Romanian, Drăculea, hence Dracula. In modern Romanian, the word "drac" refers to another feared creature — the devil, Curta said. [8 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries]
Years of captivity
When Vlad II was called to a diplomatic meeting in 1442 with Sultan Murad II, he brought his young sons Vlad III and Radu along. But the meeting was actually a trap: All three were arrested and held hostage. The elder Vlad was released under the condition that he leave his sons behind.
"The sultan held Vlad and his brother as hostages to ensure that their father, Vlad II, behaved himself in the ongoing war between Turkey and Hungary," said Elizabeth Miller, a research historian and professor emeritus at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada.Under the Ottomans, Vlad and his younger brother were tutored in science, philosophy and the arts. Vlad also became a skilled horseman and warrior, according to Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally, former professors of history at Boston College, who wrote several books about Vlad III — as well as his alleged connection to Stoker's Dracula — in the 1970s and 1980s.
"The sultan held Vlad and his brother as hostages to ensure that their father, Vlad II, behaved himself in the ongoing war between Turkey and Hungary," said Elizabeth Miller, a research historian and professor emeritus at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada.Under the Ottomans, Vlad and his younger brother were tutored in science, philosophy and the arts. Vlad also became a skilled horseman and warrior, according to Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally, former professors of history at Boston College, who wrote several books about Vlad III — as well as his alleged connection to Stoker's Dracula — in the 1970s and 1980s.
"They were treated reasonably well by the current standards of the time," Miller said. "Still, [captivity] irked Vlad, whereas his brother sort of acquiesced and went over on the Turkish side. But Vlad held enmity, and I think it was one of his motivating factors for fighting the Turks: to get even with them for having held him captive."
Vlad the Prince
While Vlad and Radu were in Ottoman hands, Vlad's father was fighting to keep his place as voivode of Wallachia, a fight he would eventually lose. In 1447, Vlad II was ousted as ruler of Wallachia by local noblemen (boyars) and was killed in the swamps near Bălteni, half way between Târgovişte and Bucharest in present-day Romania. Vlad's older half-brother, Mircea, was killed alongside his father. [7 Strange Ways Humans Act Like Vampires]
Not long after these harrowing events, in 1448, Vlad embarked on a campaign to regain his father's seat from the new ruler, Vladislav II. His first attempt at the throne relied on the military support of the Ottoman governors of the cities along the Danube River in northern Bulgaria, according to Curta. Vlad also took advantage of the fact that Vladislav was absent at the time, having gone to the Balkans to fight the Ottomans for the governor of Hungary at the time, John Hunyadi.
Vlad won back his father's seat, but his time as ruler of Wallachia was short-lived. He was deposed after only two months, when Vladislav II returned and took back the throne of Wallachia with the assistance of Hunyadi, according to Curta.
Little is known about Vlad III's whereabouts between 1448 and 1456. But it is known that he switched sides in the Ottoman-Hungarian conflict, giving up his ties with the Ottoman governors of the Danube cities and obtaining military support from King Ladislaus V of Hungary, who happened to dislike Vlad's rival — Vladislav II of Wallachia — according to Curta.
Vlad the Impaler
To consolidate his power as voivode, Vlad needed to quell the incessant conflicts that had historically taken place between Wallachia's boyars. According to legends that circulated after his death, Vlad invited hundreds of these boyars to a banquet and — knowing they would challenge his authority — had his guests stabbed and their still-twitching bodies impaled on spikes.
This is just one of many gruesome events that earned Vlad his posthumous nickname Vlad the Impaler. This story — and others like it — is documented in printed material from around the time of Vlad III's rule, according to Miller.
"In the 1460s and 1470s, just after the invention of the printing press, a lot of these stories about Vlad were circulating orally, and then they were put together by different individuals in pamphlets and printed," Miller said.
Whether or not these stories are wholly true or significantly embellished is debatable, Miller added. After all, many of those printing the pamphlets were hostile to Vlad III. But some of the pamphlets from this time tell almost the exact same gruesome stories about Vlad, leading Miller to believe that the tales are at least partially historically accurate. Some of these legends were also collected and published in a book, "The Tale of Dracula," in 1490, by a monk who presented Vlad III as a fierce, but just ruler.
Vlad is credited with impaling dozens of Saxon merchants in Kronstadt (present-day Braşov, Romania), who were once allied with the boyars, in 1456. Around the same time, a group of Ottoman envoys allegedly had an audience with Vlad but declined to remove their turbans, citing a religious custom. Commending them on their religious devotion, Vlad ensured that their turbans would forever remain on their heads by reportedly having the head coverings nailed to their skulls.
"After Mehmet II — the one who conquered Constantinople — invaded Wallachia in 1462, he actually was able to go all the way to Wallachia's capital city of Târgoviște but found it deserted. And in front of the capital he found the bodies of the Ottoman prisoners of war that Vlad had taken — all impaled," Curta said.Vlad's victories over the invading Ottomans were celebrated throughout Wallachia, Transylvania and the rest of Europe — evenPope Pius II was impressed.
This is just one of many gruesome events that earned Vlad his posthumous nickname Vlad the Impaler. This story — and others like it — is documented in printed material from around the time of Vlad III's rule, according to Miller.
"In the 1460s and 1470s, just after the invention of the printing press, a lot of these stories about Vlad were circulating orally, and then they were put together by different individuals in pamphlets and printed," Miller said.
Whether or not these stories are wholly true or significantly embellished is debatable, Miller added. After all, many of those printing the pamphlets were hostile to Vlad III. But some of the pamphlets from this time tell almost the exact same gruesome stories about Vlad, leading Miller to believe that the tales are at least partially historically accurate. Some of these legends were also collected and published in a book, "The Tale of Dracula," in 1490, by a monk who presented Vlad III as a fierce, but just ruler.
Vlad is credited with impaling dozens of Saxon merchants in Kronstadt (present-day Braşov, Romania), who were once allied with the boyars, in 1456. Around the same time, a group of Ottoman envoys allegedly had an audience with Vlad but declined to remove their turbans, citing a religious custom. Commending them on their religious devotion, Vlad ensured that their turbans would forever remain on their heads by reportedly having the head coverings nailed to their skulls.
"After Mehmet II — the one who conquered Constantinople — invaded Wallachia in 1462, he actually was able to go all the way to Wallachia's capital city of Târgoviște but found it deserted. And in front of the capital he found the bodies of the Ottoman prisoners of war that Vlad had taken — all impaled," Curta said.Vlad's victories over the invading Ottomans were celebrated throughout Wallachia, Transylvania and the rest of Europe — evenPope Pius II was impressed.
"The reason he's a positive character in Romania is because he is reputed to have been a just, though a very harsh, ruler," Curta said.
Vlad's death
Not long after the impalement of Ottoman prisoners of war, in August 1462, Vlad was forced into exile in Hungary, unable to defeat his much more powerful adversary, Mehmet II. Vlad was imprisoned for a number of years during his exile, though during that same time he married and had two children.
Vlad's younger brother, Radu, who had sided with the Ottomans during the ongoing military campaigns, took over governance of Wallachia after his brother's imprisonment. But after Radu's death in 1475, local boyars, as well as the rulers of several nearby principalities, favored Vlad’s return to power.
In 1476, with the support of the voivode of Moldavia, Stephen III the Great (1457-1504), Vlad made one last effort to reclaim his seat as ruler of Wallachia. He successfully stole back the throne, but his triumph was short-lived. Later that year, while marching to yet another battle with the Ottomans, Vlad and a small vanguard of soldiers were ambushed, and Vlad was killed.
There is much controversy over the location of Vlad III's tomb. It is said he was buried in the monastery church in Snagov, on the northern edge of the modern city of Bucharest, in accordance with the traditions of his time. But recently, historians have questioned whether Vlad might actually be buried at the Monastery of Comana, between Bucharest and the Danube, which is close to the presumed location of the battle in which Vlad was killed, according to Curta.
One thing is for certain, however: unlike Stoker's Count Dracula, Vlad III most definitely did die. Only the harrowing tales of his years as ruler of Wallachia remain to haunt the modern world.
3.Kuchisake-onna
Kuchisake-onna is a figure appearing in Japanese urban legends. She is a woman who was mutilated by her husband, and returns as a malicious spirit. When rumors of alleged sightings began spreading in 1979 around the Nagasaki Prefecture, it spread throughout Japan and caused panic in many towns. There are even reports of schools allowing children to go home only in groups escorted by teachers for safety, and of police increasing their patrols. Recent sightings include many reports in South Korea in the year 2004 about a woman wearing a red mask who was frequently seen chasing children, and, in October 2007, a coroner found some old records from the late 1970s about a woman who was chasing little children. She was then hit by a car, and died shortly after. Her mouth was ripped from ear to ear.
According to the legend, she walks around wearing a surgical mask.
The woman will ask someone, "Am I pretty?" If they answer no, they are killed with a pair of scissors which the woman carries. If the they answers yes, the woman pulls away the mask, revealing that her mouth is slit from ear to ear, and asks "How about now?" If they answer no, he/she will die. If the person answers yes, then she will slit his/her mouth like hers. It is impossible to run away from her, as she will simply reappear in front of the victim.
When the legend reappeared, the 1970s rumors of ways to escape also emerged. Some sources say she can also be confused by the victim answering her question with ambiguous answers, such as "You are average" or "So-so". Unsure of what to do, she will give a person enough time to escape while she is lost in thought. Another escape route is to tell her one has a previous engagement; she will pardon her manners and excuse herself. In some variations of the tale, she can be distracted by fruit or candies thrown at her which she will then pick up, thus giving the victim a chance to run. She will also be at an advantage to run toward you if she has the chance. Another way is for the child to ask her if the child is pretty; she will get confused and leave
4 The Myth Of Koi
Strength and Perseverance
The mythology of koi is most readily found in Japan where there exists a story of a koi who decided to swim upstream to attain enlightenment, the most noble of endeavors. As the koi travelled on its journey, moving against the current, it encountered many seemingly insurmountable obstacles. In turn it overcame each one, growing stronger and more sure of it’s journey. Despite the unrelenting pull of the river downstream, the koi struggled onward and upward eventually cresting a mighty waterfall and was transformed into a flying dragon, free from the bondage of the relentless river. This mythological story, like most mythological stories, serves as a fitting metaphor for the human journey through the river of life. Enlightenment and transformation are available and attainable; what is required of us is the choice to undertake the journey and the persistence to continue despite the obstacles.
My Association With Koi
For years, like many, I have been inexplicably attracted to Koi. I have longed and dreamed of a koi pond at my home and have often visited koi ponds on my travels. I never pass up a chance to quietly gaze into the calming waters of a koi pond and feel my soul calm with a knowing that all is as it should be. Perhaps it’s my interest in Zen, perhaps it’s my attraction to the coloring of the fish, perhaps I’m transported back to my wonderful travels through Japan. Whatever the reason, I love koi. When I began my practice I searched for a name that would represent what I do while also maintaining a connection to that place of calmness and centeredness deep within me. When I began to research animal symbolism I came across the myth of koi and knew instantly why I had been so attracted to them. I relate to and respect the qualities of strength and perseverance in this human journey.
I have therefore decided to name my practice Koi Pond Counseling; to signify the journey; to recreate that sense of internal calm and centeredness we all have felt at one time but may be evading us currently; and to call on those qualities that strength and perseverance we all need at times that can be found in a beautiful fish destined to be a dragon flying free.
5. Orpheus (greek mythology)
Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music, his attempt to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld, and his death at the hands of those who could not hear his divine music. As an archetype of the inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the most significant figures in the reception of classical mythology in Western culture, portrayed or alluded to in countless forms of art and popular culture including poetry, film, opera, music, and painting.
For the Greeks, Orpheus was a founder and prophet of the so-called "Orphic" mysteries. He was credited with the composition of the Orphic Hymns, a collection of which survives. Shrines containing purported relics of Orpheus were regarded as oracles. Some ancient Greek sources note Orpheus' Thracian origins.
According to Apollodorus and a fragment of Pindar,Orpheus' father was Oeagrus, a Thracian king; or, according to another version of the story, the god Apollo. His mother was the muse Calliope; or, a daughter of Pierus, son ofMakednos. His birthplace and place of residence was in Pimpleia, Olympus or in Lamia in Phthiotis. In Argonauticathe location of Oeagrus and Calliope's wedding is close to Pimpleia, near Olympus.While living with his mother and her eight beautiful sisters in Parnassus, he met Apollo, who was courting the laughing muse Thalia. Apollo, as the god of music, gave Orpheus a golden lyre and taught him to play it. Orpheus' mother taught him to make verses for singing. Strabomentions that he lived in Pimpleia. He is also said to have studied in Egypt.
In Bulgarian tradition, Orpheus is said to have been born in the village of Gela close to Shiroka Luka in southern Bulgaria.Modern day Bulgaria occupies roughly the same territory as ancient Thrace. Virgil associates Orpheus with the land of theGetae (north east Danube valley) and even describes him wandering as far north as Tanais (estuary of the river Don, Ukraine) Orpheus is said to have established the worship of Hecate in Aegina. In Laconia Orpheus is said to have brought the worship of Demeter Chthonia[and that of the Kores Sōteiras savior maid. Also in Taygetus a wooden image of Orpheus was said to have been kept byPelasgians in the sanctuary of the Eleusinian Demeter.
The Argonautica is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. Orpheus took part in this adventure and used his skills to aid his companions. Chiron told Jason that without the aid of Orpheus, the Argonauts would never be able to pass the Sirens—the same Sirens encountered by Odysseus in Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. The Sirens lived on three small, rocky islands called Sirenum scopuli and sang beautiful songs that enticed sailors to come to them, which resulted in the crashing of their ships into the islands. When Orpheus heard their voices, he drew his lyre and played music that was louder and more beautiful, drowning out the Sirens' bewitching songs. According to 3rd century BC Hellenistic elegiac poet Phanocles, Orpheus loved the young ArgonautCalais, "the son of Boreas, with all his heart, and went often in shaded groves still singing of his desire, nor was his heart at rest. But always, sleepless cares wasted his spirits as he looked at fresh Calais.
Death of Eurydice
The most famous story in which Orpheus figures is that of his wife Eurydice (sometimes referred to as Euridice and also known as Argiope). While walking among her people, the Cicones, in tall grass at her wedding, Eurydice was set upon by a satyr. In her efforts to escape the satyr, Eurydice fell into a nest of vipers and suffered a fatal bite on her heel. Her body was discovered by Orpheus who, overcome with grief, played such sad and mournful songs that all the nymphs and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus travelled to the underworld. A Bulgarian tradition says that he travelled there via the Dyavolsko Gurlo ("Devil's Throat") cave close to Trigrad in the Rhodope mountains of southern Bulgaria. By his music he softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone (he was the only person ever to do so), who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. He set off with Eurydice following, and, in his anxiety, as soon as he reached the upper world, he turned to look at her, forgetting that both needed to be in the upper world, and she vanished for the second time, but now forever.
The story in this form belongs to the time of Virgil, who first introduces the name of Aristaeus (by the time of Virgil's Georgics, the myth has Aristaeus chasing Eurydice when she was bitten by a serpent) and the tragic outcome. Other ancient writers, however, speak of Orpheus' visit to the underworld in a more negative light; according to Phaedrus in Plato's Symposium, the infernal gods only "presented an apparition" of Eurydice to him. Ovid says that Eurydice's death was not caused by fleeing from Aristaeus but by dancing with naiads on her wedding day. In fact, Plato's representation of Orpheus is that of a coward, as instead of choosing to die in order to be with the one he loved, he instead mocked the gods by trying to go to Hades to bring her back alive. Since his love was not "true"—he did not want to die for love—he was actually punished by the gods, first by giving him only the apparition of his former wife in the underworld, and then by being killed by women.
The story of Eurydice may actually be a late addition to the Orpheus myths. In particular, the name Eurudike ("she whose justice extends widely") recalls cult-titles attached to Persephone. According to the theories of poet Robert Graves, the myth may have been derived from another Orpheus legend, in which he travels toTartarus and charms the goddess Hecate.
The myth theme of not looking back, an essential precaution in Jason's raising of chthonic Brimo Hekate under Medea's guidance, is reflected in the Biblical story of Lot's wife when escaping from Sodom. More directly, the story of Orpheus is similar to the ancient Greek tales of Persephone captured by Hades and similar stories of Adonis captive in the underworld. However, the developed form of the Orpheus myth was entwined with the Orphic mystery cults and, later in Rome, with the development of Mithraism and the cult of Sol Invictus.
Death
According to a Late Antique summary of Aeschylus' lost play Bassarids, Orpheus at the end of his life disdained the worship of all gods except the sun, whom he called Apollo. One early morning he went to the oracle of Dionysus at Mount Pangaion to salute his god at dawn, but was ripped to shreds by Thracian Maenads for not honoring his previous patron (Dionysus) and buried in Pieria.Here his death is analogous with the death of Pentheus. For this reason it is sometimes speculated that the Orphic mystery cult regarded Orpheus as a parallel figure to or even an incarnation of Dionysus himself, due to their many parallels, such as their similar journeys into Hades and identical deaths (in the case of Dionysus Zagreus ). A view supported by the conjectured Thracian belief that their kings were regarded as the incarnations of Dionysus which would have included King Oeagrus, and his heir Orpheus, as well as the foundation or reform of the Dionysian Mysteries by Orpheus. But this remains controversial. Pausanias writes that Orpheus was buried in Dion and that he met his death there. He writes that the river Helicon sank underground when the women that killed Orpheus tried to wash off their blood-stained hands in its waters.
Ovid recounts that Orpheus...
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Feeling spurned by Orpheus for taking only male lovers, the Ciconian women, followers of Dionysus, first threw sticks and stones at him as he played, but his music was so beautiful even the rocks and branches refused to hit him. Enraged, the women tore him to pieces during the frenzy of their Bacchic orgies. In Albrecht Dürer's drawing of Orpheus' death, based on an original, now lost, by Andrea Mantegna, a ribbon high in the tree above him is lettered Orfeus der erst puseran("Orpheus, the first pederast").
His head and lyre, still singing mournful songs, floated down the swift Hebrus to the Mediterranean shore. There, the winds and waves carried them on to the Lesbos shore, where the inhabitants buried his head and a shrine was built in his honour near Antissa; there his oracle prophesied, until it was silenced by Apollo.In addition to the people of Lesbos, Greeks from Ionia and Aetolia consulted the oracle, and his reputation spread as far as Babylon.
The lyre was carried to heaven by the Muses, and was placed among the stars. The Muses also gathered up the fragments of his body and buried them at Leibethrabelow Mount Olympus, where the nightingales sang over his grave. After the river Sysflooded Leibethra, the Macedonians took his bones to Dion. Orpheus' soul returned to the underworld where he was reunited at last with his beloved Eurydice.
Another legend places his tomb at Dion,near Pydna in Macedon. In another version of the myth, Orpheus travels to Aornum in Thesprotia, Epirus to an old oracle for the dead. In the end Orpheus commits suicide from his grief unable to find Eurydice.
Another account relates that he was struck with lightning by Zeus for having revealed the mysteries of the gods to men.
6.Narcissus (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Narcissus was a hunter from Thespiae in Boeotia who was known for his beauty. He was the son of the river god Cephissus and nymph Liriope. He was proud, in that he disdained those who loved him. Nemesis noticed this behavior and attracted Narcissus to a pool, where he saw his own reflection in the water and fell in love with it, not realizing it was merely an image. Unable to leave the beauty of his reflection, Narcissus drowned. Narcissus is the origin of the term narcissism, a fixation with oneself and one's physical appearance.
7.Jason(greek mythology)
Jason was a hero in Greek mythology, the leader of the Argonautic Expedition in the quest of retrieving the Golden Fleece. He was the son of the king of Iolcus, Aeson, but it is not certain who his mother was; various names appear in different sources as his mother.
When Jason was still a baby, his half-uncle Pelias, vying for the throne of Aeson, killed all of Aeson's children, and overthrew Aeson; however, he failed to kill Jason. The baby was sent to thecentaur Chiron, who nurtured him to adulthood. Pelias, in the meantime, consulted an oracle that told him to be careful of a man with one sandal.Jason, a grown man, returned to Iolcus to attend some games held by Pelias in honour of the god Poseidon; during his travel, he lost one of his sandals in the river Anauros while helping a disguised Hera to cross. Hera secretly blessed Jason at that point. Jasonappeared in front of Pelias, asking for the throne as the rightful heir of Aeson, but Peliasgave him the quest to bring the Golden Fleece in order to step down from the throne.
Jason started creating a party of heroes, who were collectively called the Argonauts, after the name of Jason's ship, Argo. The Golden Fleece was located in the mythical region of Colchis that would take a long time to reach. After the Argonauts set sail, they first reached the island of Lemnos. There, all the women of the island had killed their husbands after a curse that had been afflicted on them by the goddessAphrodite, because she was not properly worshipped. The Argonauts stayed for a while there, sleeping with the women of the island and creating a new race, called Minyans.
Their next stop after Lemnos was the land of the Doliones, where they were warmly greeted. They were told there were supplies to be found beyond Bear Mountain, where a mythical race of giants called Gegeines lived. While the Argonauts were looking for supplies, the Gegeines attacked the ship; Heracles, who participated in the expedition, managed to kill many of them before the rest of the Argonauts came and pushed the giants back. At night, they set sail but a mistake caused them to land back on the island, where the Doliones, thinking they were enemies, attacked them; in the battle that followed, many Doliones were killed. In the following day, the remorseful Argonauts held funerals for the slain.
They then went to Thrace, where the kingdom of King Phineus was being plagued by the Harpies. These monsters were sent by Zeus to steal food every day. Jason helped the king and killed the Harpies on their next attack. Phineus, grateful for Jason's help, told the Argonauts where Colchis lay and how to pass through the Symplegades, the Clashing Rocks. These were huge rock cliffs that would move and crush anything that passed between them. Phineus told Jason to release a dove and see if it would make it through, an omen for what would happen to the ship. The dove successfully passed, losing only a few tail feathers; so, when the ship travelled through the rocks, only minor damages were caused at the stern of the ship.
Jason and the Argonauts eventually reached Colchis, where they were welcomed by King Aeetes. The Golden Fleece was in the possession of the king, gifted to him by Phrixus when he arrived there on a flying golden ram. Aeetes said he would give the fleece to Jason if he successfully completed three tasks. Jason despared by his quests. Hera, favouring him, convinced Aphrodite and Eros to make Medea,Aeetes' daughter, to fall in love with Jason and help him in the tasks. The first task was to plow a field using Khalkotauroi, fire-breathing oxen; Medea gave Jason an ointment that protected him from the fire. The second task was to sow dragon's teeth in the field, causing an army of stone warriors to appear. Jason was forewarned by Medea, and following her advice, threw a rock into the army. The soldiers, not knowing who had thrown the rock, killed each other. The third task was to take the Golden Fleece from a sleepless dragon. A sleeping potion, provided by Medea, was enough for Jason to overcome the dragon and take the Golden Fleece.
After retrieving the fleece, Jason and the Argonauts left, and Medea joined them. Aeetes tried to follow them, but Medea killed her brother and threw his pieces into the sea, causing Aeetes to stop and retrieve them. Zeus, angry at Medea's act of killing her brother, caused a number of storms on their way back. To redeem themselves, they stopped at the island of Aeaea, where the nymph Circe lived to be purified. They then went on. On their voyage, they also met the Sirens that caused ships to crash onto the reefs, as their captivating voices mesmerised the crews; Orpheus, however, played the lyre and completely covered their voices, thus managing to evade the ill fate. Near Crete, they met Talos, a giant bronze man, who guarded the island and threw stones at anyone approaching. Medea cast a spell on him and they managed to remove the plug that kept Talos' ichor (the divine blood) in his single vein. Thus, he bled to death.
The Argonauts eventually managed to return to their home. Jason found his father Aeson at a very old age, and asked Medea to transfer some of his life to his father. Medea gave a few more years to Aeson, without removing them from Jason, but by infusing Aeson's blood with magical herbs. Pelias' daughters asked her to do the same for their father; Medea tricked them into killing him instead. As a result, Pelias' son exiled Jason and Medea.
The couple went to Corinth, where Jason fell in love and was engaged with Creusa. Medea, infuriated, confronted Jason, but he ignored her. As a revenge, Medea killed Creusa by giving her a dress that stuck on her and put her on fire; her father Creon was also burned trying to save his daughter. Medea then killed her sons that she had with Jason, fearing he would kill them as retaliation. She then abandoned Jason, flying to Athens on a dragon chariot sent by her grandfather, the sun god Helios.
Years later, Jason managed to reclaim the throne of Iolcus with the help of his friend, Peleus. However, he remained lonely, having lost the favour of Hera after breaking his vows to Medea. He died while sleeping under the stern of his ship Argo, which having rotten fell on him.
8.Icarus
Son of Daedalus who dared to fly too near the sun on wings of feathers and wax. Daedalus had been imprisoned by King Minos of Crete within the walls of his own invention, the Labyrinth. But the great craftsman's genius would not suffer captivity. He made two pairs of wings by adhering feathers to a wooden frame with wax. Giving one pair to his son, he cautioned him that flying too near the sun would cause the wax to melt. But Icarus became ecstatic with the ability to fly and forgot his father's warning. The feathers came loose and Icarus plunged to his death in the sea.
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