LP0079 -V ARGONAUTS- Launch of the Argo, from The Fables of Hyginus

Legendary Passages #0079 -V ARGONAUTS-
Launch of the Argo, from The Fables of Hyginus.

Previously, Jason vowed to retrieve the golden fleece, and dozens of Argonauts joined in the quest. This passage continues listing the crew-members, recounts who was lost along the way, and their first adventure on the Island of Lemnos.

Many Argonauts are given fuller descriptions here: Castor & Pollux, Lynceus & Idas, Zetes & Calais, and Jason's cousin Prince Acastus.

Of those who were lost on the way, Hylus, Hercules, and Polyphemus were all left behind. Tiphys and Idmon both died, and Butes jumped overboard. On the way back, Eurybates, Canthus, and Mopsus all died.

The Argonauts first stop was on the Island of Lemnos. Before they arrived, all the men on the island had been killed by the women, except for Queen Hypsipyle, who spared her father. The Argonauts were very welcomed, and the women bore them many sons after they had set sail.

One final note: this passage is a bit fragmentary and corrupt in places, so there is just a bit of editing.

http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html#15

Launch of the Argo,
a Legendary Passage from,
GAIUS JULIUS HYGINUS,
FABLES XIV - XV,
trans. by MARY GRANT.

[14] - [15]

Castor and Pollus, sons of Jove and Leda, daughter of Thestius, Lacedaemonians; others call them Spartans, both beardless youths. It is written that at the same time stars appeared on their heads, seeming to have fallen there.

Lynceus and Idas, sons of Aphareus and Arena, daughter of Oebalus, Messenians from the Peloponnesus. They say that one of these, Lynceus, saw things hidden underground, not hindered by any darkness. Others say that Lynceus saw nothing by night. He was said to see underground because he knew gold mines; when he went down and suddenly showed gold the rumor spread that he could see beneath the earth. Idas, too, was keen and spirited.

Periclymenus, son of Neleus and Chloris, daughter of Amphion and Niobe; he was from Pylos.

Amphidamas and Cepheus, sons of Aleus and Cleobule, from Arcadia.

Ancaeus, son of Lycurgus; others say grandson, from Tegea.

Augeas, son of Sol and Nausidame, daughter of Amphidamas; he was an Elean.

Asterion and Amphion, sons of Hyperasius, others say of Hippasus, from Pellene.

Euphemus, son of Neptune and Europe, daughter of Tityus, a Taenarian. It is said he could run over water with dry feet.

A second Ancaeus, son of Neptune by Althaea, daughter of Thestius, from the island Imbrasus, which was called Parthenia but is now called Samos.

Erginus, son of Neptune, from Miletus; some say son of Periclymenus, from Orchomenus.

Meleager, son of Oeneus and Althaea, daughter of Thestius; some think son of Mars, a Calydonian.

Laocoön, son of Porthaon, brother of Oeneus, a Calydonian.

A second Iphiclus, son of Thestius by Leucippe, brother of Althaea by the same mother, a Lacedaemonian; he was ****, a runner and javelin-thrower.

Iphitus, son of Naubolus, from Phocis; others say that he was the son of Hippasus from the Peloponnesus.

Zetes and Calais, sons of the wind Aquilo and Orithyia, daughter of Erechtheus. These are said to have had wings on head and feet and dark-blue locks, and travelled by air. They drove away the three Harpies, Aëllopous, Celaeno, and Ocypete, daughter of Thaumas and Oxomene, from Phiensu, son of Agenor, when Jason’s comrades were going to Colchis. They are said to have been feathered, with cocks’ heads, wings, and human arms, with great claws; breasts, bellies, and female parts human. Zetes and Calais, however, were slain by the weapons of Hercules. The stones placed over their tombs are moved by their father’s blasts. These, too, are said to be from Thrace.

Phocus and Priasus, sons of Caeneus, from Magnesia.

Eurymedon, son of Father Liber and Ariadne, daughter of Minos, from Phlius.

Palaemonius, son of Lernus, a Calydonian.

Actor, son of Hippasus, from the Peloponnesus.

*****thersanon, son of Sol and Leucothoe, from Andros.

Hippalcimus, son of Pelops and Hippodamia, daughter of Oenomaus, from the Peloponnesus.

Asclepius, son of Apollo and coronis, from Tricca.

. . . Thestius’ daughter, an Argive.

Neleus, son of Hippocoon, from Pylos.

Iolaus, son of Iphiclus, an Argive.

Deucalion, son of Minos and Pasiphaë, daughter of Sol, from Crete.

Philoctetes, son of Poeas, from Meliboea.

Another Caeneus, son of Coronus, from Gortyn.

Acastus, son of Pelias and Anaxibia, daughter of Bias, from Iolchus, clad in a double mantle. He joined the Argonauts as a volunteer, a comrade of Jason of his own accord.

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Morover, all these were called Minyae, either because daughters of Minyas bore most of them, or because Jason’s mother was a daughter of Clymene, daughter of Minyas.

But neither did all reach Colchis nor all return to their country. For in Moesia near Cios and the river Ascanius, Hylas was snatched away by nymphs. While Hercules and Polyphemus were seeking him, they were left behind, a wind carrying the ship on. Polyphemus, too, was left by Hercules. After founding a city in Moesia, he perished among the Chalybes.

Again, Tiphys became ill and died among the Mariandyni in Propontis where Lycus was king; in his place Ancaeus, Neptune’s son, steered the ship to Colchis. Idmon, too, son of Apollo, died there at Lycus’ court, wounded a wild boar, when he had gone out to fetch straw. His avenger was Idas, son of Aphareus, who killed the boar.

Butes, son of Teleon, though diverted by the singing and lyre of Orpheus, nevertheless was overcome by the sweetness of the Sirens’ song, and in an effort to swim to them threw himself into the sea. Venus saved him at Lilybaeum, as he was borne along by the waves.

These are the ones who did not reach Colchis.

One the return trip Eurybates, son of Teleon, died, and Canthus, son of *cerion. They were slain in Libya by the shepherd Cephalion, brother of Nasamon, son of the nymph Tritonis and Amphithemis, whose flocks they were plundering.

Mopsus, too, son of Ampycus, died of a serpent’s bite in Africa. He had joined the Argonauts on the trip after his father Ampycus had been slain.

There likewise joined them on the island of Dia the sons of Phrixus and Chalciope, Medea’s sister – Argus, Melas, Phrontides, and Cylindrus. Others say they were named Phronius, Demoleon, Autolycus, and Phlogius.

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When Hercules took them as companions when he went after the Girdle of the Amazons, he left them terror-struck [corrupt]. When the Argonauts started for Colchis, they wanted to have Hercules as leader. He declined, saying that Jason, at whose instigation they all were going, should be the leader. Jason, therefore, directed them.

Argus, son of Danaus, was shipbuilder; Tiphys was pilot. After his death Ancaeus, son of Neptune, steered. Lynceus, son of Aphareus, who had keen sight, was the lookout man at the prow; helmsmen were Zetes and Calais, sons of Aquilo, who had wings on head and feet. At prow and oars sat Peleus and Telamon; at the centre [?] Hercules and Idas. The rest kept their positions. Orpheus, son of Oeagrus, gave the calls. Later, when Hercules left his place, Peleus, son of Aeacus, sat there.

This is the ship Argo, which Minerva had put in the circle of stars because she built it. When first the ship was launched into the sea, it appeared among the stars from rudder to sail. Cicero in his Phaenomenna described its appearance and beauty in the following verses:

"Moving slowly near the tail of the Dog,
the Argo glides along,
bearing her stern first, with its light;
not as other ships are wont to move
their prows on the deep
cleaving the Neptunian meadows with their beaks,
but she bears herself backward
through the turning spaces of the sky
just as when sailors approach safe harbors,
they turn their ship with its great burden
and drag the stern backward to the longed-for shore;
so old Argo glides beyond[?] the turning heavens,
and her rudder, hanging from the moving stern,
touches the rear foot-tracks of the shining Dog."

This ship has four stars on her stern;
on the right of the rudder, five;
on the left, four – all alive;
in all, thirteen.

XV. WOMEN OF LEMNOS

On the island of Lemnos the women for several years did not make offerings to Venus, and because of her anger their husbands married Thracian wives and scorned their former ones. But the Lemnian women (all except Hypsipyle), instigated by the same Venus, conspired to kill the whole tribe of men who were there. Hypsipyle secretly put her father Thoas on board a ship which a storm carried to the island Taurica.

In the meantime, the Argonauts, sailing along, came to Lemnos. When Iphinoe, guardian of the harbour, saw them, she announced their coming to Hypsipyle the queen, to whom Polyxo, by virtue of her middle age, gave advice that she should put them under obligation to the gods of hospitality and invite them to a friendly reception.

Hypsipyle bore sons to Jason, Euneus and Deipylus. Delayed many days there, they were chided by Hercules, and departed.

Now when the Lemnian women learned that Hypsipyle had saved her father, they tried to kill her. She fled, but pirates captured her, took her to Thebes, and sold her as a slave to King Lycus.

The Lemnian women gave the names of the Argonauts to the children they had conceived by them.

http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html#15

This passage continues with the rest of the voyage, but in next episode we begin in full the adventures of Jason and the Argonauts.