Today - April 1st 2023 - marks the start of our reading of 'The Argonautica' aka 'Jason and the Golden Fleece'.

If you are following along with us, that means that we will be reading Book One this week.

This reading will last throughout April and evens out to one 'book' aka chapter per week. At the end of each week we will be posting a discussion post to talk about that week's book. The official dates for the discussion posts are:

• Book One - 08/04/23
• Book Two - 15/04/23
• Book Three - 22/04/23
• Book Four - 29/04/23

I'm really looking forward to reading this story. I'll be using the Peter Green translation but there are other translations also available. Click here to see our quick guide to some of the popular ones.

I don't want to spoil the story for anyone who wants to go in without them, so I'll try to provide some important spoiler-free context points and links where possible below:

Background Info/Setting: The Argonautica, as we know it, is an ancient retelling of the older tale 'Jason and the Golden Fleece'. There has been speculation about the original myth and where/when it was first set but no one can be sure. The Argonautica tells Jason's story as part of the Greek mythos and is set in Ancient Greece, in what we believe to be modern Thessaly. The story happens a generation before 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey'. For those who read along with our Odyssey reading, this means that we'll get to see a little more of Laertes, Odysseus' father, and his generation.

Kingdom and Ancestory - Jason was born the son of Aeson, the King of Iolcos. Aeson was overthrown by his brother, Pelias, before Jason was born. Pelias took control of the kingdom and locked Aeson up but Aeson still managed to sire a child by a woman named Alcemide. Alcemide managed to trick Pelias and smuggle Jason out of the country. Jason was then sent to the famous centaur, Chiron, who was known for raising demi-gods. It is believed that Jason had some godly heritage. The most common opinion is that he was a descendant of Hermes but the link is not fully explained in most versions of the text.

The Challenge/Quest - Early in the story Jason tries to reclaim his father's kingdom. King Pelias manages to turn Jason's challenge into a (seemingly) impossible quest: to steal the mythical golden fleece from another kingdom, Colchis. The golden fleece came from a special flying ram that saved a famous demi-god, Phrixus from his enemies. The ram landed in Colchis and Phrixus sacrificed it to Zeus as a thank you to the gods when he set up his kingdom there. It was passed down the generations and had some magical properties as well as being a symbol of the royal family of Colchis. It was heavily guarded, which is important to note.

The Heroes - There are fifty heroes in Jason's entourage, sometimes referred to as the Argonauts after the boat Jason sails on (the Argo). The Argonauts consisted of many famous faces, including Heracles (Hercules), Laertes and Nestor (a character we will see play a bigger role later in 'The Iliad').

If anyone wants to add any (spoiler-free) context that I may have missed, please share it in the comments. For those of you who are interested in learning more about Jason and/or the general Greek mythos, I recommend checking out Stephen Fry's Mythos trilogy - they are really easy to read and give a lot of insight into the different myths and heroes of the mythology.