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    Jason was born in the good land of Iolcus. He was the proud son of the king and queen and stood in line as the rightful heir to the throne. Until his uncle, Pelias, who usurped the throne taking it from his father for himself and also taking Jason out of the line to inherit the throne. Pelias went as far as to imprison his parents and would have certainly killed Jason if not for his mother, who pretended to mourn her baby son's death so Pelias wouldn't harm him. She wrapped up her young baby and left it inside the cave of Chiron the Centaur (half man/half horse), who was a kindly creature and very well learned. Chiron raised Jason and taught him many things including: the arts, hunting and survival skills, as well as battle skills. When Jason was of age he set out in quest of his throne, which was rightfully his. However, Jason did have someone very powerful on his side, the Queen of Olympos and Wife of Zeus, Hera. If you recall she was the thorn in the heel of Heracles and made life very difficult for him so you can imagine that if Hera did like you, that would definitely be a good thing! You see Jason's uncle Pelias had neglected to give Hera proper sacrifice and had given every other major god and goddess their worthy sacrifice, so to put it lightly she was a little miffed! She wanted someone to come along and take the kingdom from Pelias and she needed a hero, enter Jason. However, before Hera gave him her blessing she decided to form some sort of test to see if he was worthy of her blessing. Hera disguised herself as an old woman and waited for Jason to appear. She stood before a river in Iolcus and made the water very rough and choppy. Once Jason approached she asked him if he would take her across, and without thinking twice he put her onto his back and swam with her across the river. In the process he lost a sandal, (which will come into play in a second), and was never aware of the divine service that he had performed. Little did Jason know he had just ferried the Queen of Olympos across a river, and needless to say she would give him her blessing.
 
 

-The Quest is Set:
    Jason made his way to the palace to assert his position and lay claim to the throne which was rightfully his. He arrived and immediately was escorted to Pelias. At first glance, Pelias was very nervous at the site of Jason. You see Jason was an imposing figure, athletic, good looking and not to mention he was only wearing one sandal! Before Jason had ever arrived he was warned by an Oracle to, "Beware of a stranger with one shoe," and Pelias noticed that Jason only had one sandal, (remember he lost it ferrying Hera across the river). Pelias invited Jason to a banquet that evening but was secretly planning to try and get rid of Jason. "So you say you can be a king?" Pelias asked. "Yes, I believe I do," Jason asserted. "Let me ask you about a problem you might deal with as king and see how you'd deal with it. Let's say you have someone around who you really want to get rid of and you don't know how to, what would you do?" Pelias slyly asked. Jason thought and then answered, "I guess I'd send him after the golden fleece." Pelias smiled with an evil glimmer in his eye and said, "Hmmnn. Not a bad idea. That would definitely be something that a hero would jump at to prove himself. How 'bout you go??"

-Searching for a Crew & the Journey Begins:
    Considering Jason was no wuss and that if a hero is ever challenged they have no choice but to accept, he accepted the task. Word spread all over Greece that Jason was going to attempt to recover the legendary Golden Fleece. Jason spread the word that a crew above all others in bravery would have to be assembled and despite the nearly impossible task, many heroes jumped at the opportunity to join him. The ship was named 'The Argo' in honor of the shipbuilder Argus. The ship was blessed by Hera and her daughter, the war goddess, Athena. Athena would prove to play a pivotal role and showed her allegiance immediately and procured a magical prow that could tell the future and speak in a human voice. But despite the ranks of heroes aboard the Argo, including Heracles himself, and the blessings of Hera and Athena, trouble was right around the corner for Jason and his Argonauts.

-A Couple of Quick Stops:
    The first stop that Jason and his Argonauts made was at the island of Lemnos. Lemnos was an island inhabited only by women. This was because Aphrodite had made them all unattractive to their husbands and all of their husbands left them, (this was done because the Lemnian women neglected to pay her a sacrifice). These women were led by their queen, Hypsipyle. The Argonauts were well received by the Lemnian women and actually ended up staying on the island for over a year. During this year many children were fathered, but other than that nothing else really happened.
    The Argonauts set sail again, and this time docked on the island of King Cyzicus who was king of the Doliones. During the Argonauts short stay here, Heracles killed two giants as a favor to the king. After leaving this island the Argonauts landed at Cios, were they originally had stopped to replace Heracles' broken oar, but ended up with Heracles deciding to leave the quest. I guess there was only enough room for one hero per epic in Greek mythology, other than that no one knows why the great Heracles left the journey.
    Next the Argonauts came to the island of Salmydessus where they were received by their blind prophet king, King Phineus. The king was an unpleasant man who was plagued by the Harpies, women-headed, bird bodied creatures with reprehensible table manners to say the least. You see Phineus had ticked off some of the gods and was cursed by the Harpies ever since. Every time a meal was placed before him, the Harpies would swoop down take most of his meal and defecate the rest, as a result Phineus was ghastly thin because he hadn't had a good meal in years. As a favor to King Phineus, the Argonauts shooed away the Harpies and they would never return again. Phineus was very thankful and forewarned them of the future perils of their journey. He told them of the Symplegades (Clashing Rocks), two huge rocks near the end of the Black Sea that clash together being driven by the force of the winds. Nothing had ever passed between them, and it was said that once a ship could make it through them, they would be forever fixed apart. He suggested that they fly a dove in between them and if it made it, they should follow. So the Argonauts left the island of Salymdessus and attempted to follow the prophet king's advice. They flew the bird between the rocks and through the help of Hera the bird was successful and the Argonauts soon followed. Just as the king said, from then on the two rocks were safe to pass through for all travelers.