40 pages • 1 hour read
Apollonius of RhodesJason and the Golden Fleece
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | AdultA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 2 Summary
On land, they encounter the king of the Bebrykians, Amykos, who rudely claims that one of the Argonauts must fight him. Polydeukes volunteers and kills Amykos, causing a war to break out between the Bebrykians and the Argonauts. The Argonauts defeat the Bebrykians, sending them scattering. They remain overnight to tend their wounds, lamenting that Herakles is not with them and worrying that his absence will mean “grim destruction” for them (39).
The following morning, they sail through the Bosporos, making landfall on the opposite coastline. There, they meet Phineus, an aged seer who ran afoul of Zeus by revealing his prophecies too honestly. To punish Phineus, Zeus took away his eyesight, inflicted him with extreme old age, and sent the Harpies to steal his food, leaving just enough behind, covered in “a foul stench,” for him to survive (40). A prophecy informed Phineus that the Argonauts would release him from his suffering. They pity him, the Boreads especially. After making him swear an oath that they will not be harmed for helping him, they chase the Harpies away. Iris forbids them to kill the Harpies but promises they will not bother Phineus any longer.
After the Argonauts help Phineus and prepare food for him, he tells them how to reach Colchis and the fleece, but he cautions them that he cannot reveal everything. Zeus intends for his prophecies to be incomplete “so that men are always ignorant of some part of the gods’ purpose” (43). He advises them on how to pass the Dark Rocks that clash together, destroying any ships that attempt to pass through, by sending a dove through first. If the dove survives, they may then row between the rocks confident in their survival. They must also stop on the island of Ares. Jason and the Argonauts are downcast after the prophecy, unsure of how they will return, but Phineus tells them to trust Aphrodite.
Under Athena’s protection, the Argonauts set off again. Using Phineus’ advice, they make it through the clashing rocks, after which the rocks fuse together permanently. Tiphys tells Jason to be confident in their success, but he replies that he should not have taken the quest, as he is now consumed with worries. The Argonauts then shout “words of encouragement,” and Jason responds that they have renewed his confidence (51). They sail on, passing various islands and shrines, eventually stopping on Thynias, a deserted island, where Apollo appears to them, causing the island to shake and waves to wash over it. Orpheus suggests naming the island after the god and building him a temple. The Argonauts sacrifice and pray, and the shrine they build stands “[e]ven to this day” (52).
Their next destination is the territory of the Mariandynoi, whose king, Lykos, welcomes them warmly. He was at war with the Bebrykians and heard that the Argonauts defeated Amykos. Lykos grieves that they lost Herakles and tells a story about him. To thank the Argonauts for defeating his enemies, Lykos sends his son Daskylos with them and pledges to build a temple to the Boreads. Before the Argonauts depart, Idmon and Tiphys die, the former gored by a boar and the latter from illness. The grieving Argonauts are overcome with despair until Hera breathes boldness into Ankaios, who reminds Peleus that they must continue their quest. Peleus exhorts the Argonauts to focus, but Jason predicts disaster. Ankaios responds by offering to steer the ship.
They pass the tomb of Sthenelos, a companion of Herakles, and pay their respects. Sailing on, they arrive in Assyrian territory, where they meet stranded companions of Herakles who embark with them. To avoid violent conflict with the Amazons, the Argonauts sail past their territory. Herakles once kidnapped an Amazon to trade back to their queen Hippolyte in exchange for her girdle. They pass the lands of the Chadesans, Chalybes, Tibarenoi, Mossynoikoi, and the island of Ares, where Phineus told them to stop. As they approach the island, birds flying overhead shake their wings, shooting feathers sharp as arrows at them. Inspired by Herakles’ strategy for dispelling the birds over the Stymphalian lake, Amphidamas devises a strategy to scare off the birds. It works, and they disembark. There, they meet four sons of Phrixos who departed from Colchis to recover their father’s wealth from Hellas but became shipwrecked.
One of the brothers, Argos, presents himself and his brothers as suppliants to the Argonauts. After Jason questions them, he realizes they are related. The Argonauts offer their help and, together with Phrixos’ sons, sacrifice at Ares’ temple and share a feast. Jason asks for their help recovering the golden fleece, but Argos warns him that Aietes and the dragon who guards the fleece are both dangerous. Though the Argonauts are afraid, Peleus replies that they are “descendants of the blessed gods” who have courage (64). The following day, they set off again with Phrixos’ sons, passing sites associated with various heroes and gods. They see the eagle that Zeus set to punish Prometheus and hear the god’s groans of agony. Argos guides them to Colchis, and Jason pours a libation and prays, pondering how to proceed.
Book 2 Analysis
Book 2 is particularly concerned with the geography of myth, inviting comparison with Homer’s Odyssey as well as Herodotus’ Histories. The now-absent figure of Herakles provides a meditation on the necessity and nature of the heroic tradition.
The narrator notes that shrines erected during the mythical past continue to stand “[e]ven to this day,” evoking the ways Herodotus connects mythic past and historical present in his Histories (52). This includes sites related to Herakles, whose memory lingers with the Argonauts during their journey east. After defeating the Bebrykians, the Argonauts lament Herakles’ absence, sure that they cannot succeed at their quest without him—despite having just succeeded at a challenge. They sail past the Amazons’ land to avoid a violent encounter, something Herakles did not avoid, given his successful kidnapping of an Amazon (one of his famed labors). Lykos laments Herakles’ absence and tells a story about him. The strategies Herakles employed in his labor against the Stymphalian birds also provide inspiration to help the Argonauts pass the violent birds around Ares’ island. They pass the tomb of one of Herakles companions and encounter a group of his stranded companions who join the quest. Wherever they go, Herakles’s absence is a presence, which simultaneously reminds Apollonius’ audience that the Greek hero par excellence left his mark across eastern territories.
As a leader, Jason can be hapless and dispirited, anxiously anticipating disaster and in constant need of support from his fellow heroes. Their shouts of encouragement rally Jason during his low points, and Polydeukes, the Boreads, and Orpheus each assumes a leadership role to problem-solve when Jason is not up to the task. Apollonius’ characterization of Jason as a leader echoes elements of the Iliad’s Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaean expedition to Troy. He too can be pessimistic, alarmist, and exhibit questionable decision-making. His fellow leaders intercede to prevent disaster several times, but perhaps most noteworthy as a contrast to Apollonius is that they fail to deescalate the ruinous quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, which leads to many more Achaean deaths. Though Jason fretfully anticipates disaster, he continually achieves success thanks to the intervention of his fellow heroes. The idea that the heroes must work together, despite being from different parts of Hellas, carries over from Homer. It expresses an optimistic meaning, composed from and for the multicultural city of Alexandria.
The figure of Phineus also plays into Apollonius’ concerns with geography and Homer. During his “quest” to achieve a successful return home, Odysseus travels to the edge of the underworld to consult with the seer Tiresias. Apollonius’ Argonauts also encounter a seer, Phineus, whose advice proves invaluable, though their encounter does not seem explicitly sought. In both epics, the relationship with the seer is transactional, but with different implications. While Odysseus makes a blood offering to initiate contact with Tiresias’ privileged information, the Argonauts provide Phineus a service, freeing him from Zeus’ punishment. Unlike Homer’s epics, which are concerned with the transition out of the age of heroes, Apollonius situates his characters firmly inside the age of heroes and can barter their own powerful services in exchange for divine insights. Zeus remains, in both Homer and Apollonius, the arbiter of what is and is not acceptable, and his intentions are not always clear to mortals. But while Homer’s heroes must accept their humble mortal standing, Apollonius’ make mistakes but succeed despite them. This difference may reflect the Hellenistic tendency to blur the lines between god, hero, and emperor.
