The Argonauts is an illustrated Greek myth guide from The Alexander Series, created to accompany Tales: Jason and the Golden Fleece. After the child has followed Jason to Colchis and seen the Golden Fleece hanging beneath the dragon’s watch, this companion entry turns back toward the ship that carried the whole heroic world into motion.

Jason did not sail alone.

That is one of the first important things to know about this myth.

Some Greek heroes are remembered standing almost by themselves: Perseus before the Gorgon, Theseus inside the Labyrinth, Heracles beneath the lion. Jason is different. Jason belongs to a ship. His story is not only the story of one young man sent to fetch a treasure no sensible person would have promised to fetch.

It is the story of a crew.

And not an ordinary crew either. The Argonauts were a gathering of heroes, princes, sons of gods, singers, fighters, brothers, hunters, seers, and difficult people. This is often what happens when Greek myth puts too many magnificent people in one place.

The result is not peace.

The result is a voyage.

The Argonauts were the heroes who sailed with Jason on the Argo to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from the ship. They were the people of the Argo: the Argo-nauts.

That matters. The Greeks could have remembered them simply as Jason’s companions, or Jason’s helpers, or Jason’s crew. Instead, they remembered the ship in their name.

A hero may win fame.

A hero may lift the prize.

A hero may stand at the centre of the tale.

But a ship can carry the world that makes the tale possible.

In this Greek World entry, a child meets the Argo, the oars, the sail, the Golden Fleece, the far shore of Colchis, the dragon, and the many kinds of strength gathered aboard one mythic ship: Heracles’ power, Orpheus’ song, Lynceus’ far-seeing eyes, the winged sons of the North Wind, the twin brothers Castor and Polydeuces, and Medea’s dangerous help from the far shore.

The entry is not a second retelling of Jason’s adventure. It is a widening of the child’s map. It shows how Greek myth is not made of separate little boxes. Heroes cross one another’s roads. Sometimes they even sail together.

At first, a child may meet one hero at a time. Perseus with his shield. Theseus with his thread. Odysseus in the cave. Atalanta running for her freedom. Heracles beneath the lion. Orpheus with his lyre. Jason before the fleece.

But then the world opens.

The heroes are not standing in separate rooms. They belong to one old, crowded, quarrelsome, glittering world. A singer can sail with fighters. A strong man can begin one quest and leave before the end. A girl from one strange shore can change the fate of a prince from another. A ship can carry names that later become stars, fathers, kings, warnings, and songs.

This is why the Argo is one of the great images of Greek myth.

It is not only a ship.

It is the old heroic world gathered into wood, sail, rope, oar, and danger.

Continue reading: The Argonauts at The Alexander Series on Substack.