The journey of the Argonauts

The context

“The tale of Jason [and the Argonauts] is set in the generation before the Trojan War, let’s say before 1300 BC, but we first find it mentioned six centuries later in the age of Homer. Composing perhaps not long before 700 BC, the author of the Odyssey says that the story of the Argo was then well known to everbody.

For a first complete version [of Jason’s adventure], we have to wait till the fifth century BC, when the lyric poet Pindar names some of the Greek heroes who went with Jason, including for the first time Heracles (Hercules).

The journey of the Argo reached what is essentially its final version in the third century BC, in the period after Alexander the Great’s invasion of Asia. Its author, Apollonius of Rhodes, was head of the great library in Alexandria”

The plot

The Argonauts, headed by Jason, were set to find and get the golden fleece from king Aeetes, the awesome king of Aea. Aeetes, brother of Circe, was married the daughter of Oceanus, Eedea, and had two daughters, Medea, the famous sorceress of antiquity using herbs, and Chalciopes.

Once they arrived on the island, the Argonauts meet with Aeetes. The meeting is episodic and, finally, the Argonauts, with the valuable help of Medea who has fallen in love with Jason, manage to get the “golden fleece” and leave Aea, taking her with them.

Where was Aea?

The established view places Aea in the eastern shores of the Black Sea, in today's Georgia.

But...

“The landlocked Black Sea, which will later represent an obligatory part of the Argonautic itinerary, is nowhere either mentioned or indicated.

Before the fifth century BC poets Pindar and Simonides, there is in fact no clear identification of either Medea or her father Aeetes, with the land of the eastern Euxine Sea” 3

Western hints

“In its earliest form of myth, Aea was in the west, like Erythia and the Garden of Hesperides.

The placement of the Argonautic myth in the East, and therefore of Aea, is due to a Milesian poet” 2

In the Heracles' journeys tale we identify Erythia to be today's Magdalen islands and the Garden of Hesperides to be today's Prince Edward Island, within the Gulf of St Lawrence.

Oceaninc hints

Strabo drawing on Mimnermus , associates the land of Aeetes with the ocean, making explicit reference to the oceanic stream (i.e. current) that the Argonauts followed:

“on the authority of Mimnermus, who places the home of Aeetes in Oceanus, outside the inhabited world in the east, and affirms that Jason was sent thither by Pelias and brought back the fleece, [Mimnermus says]: ‘Never would Jason himself have brought back the great fleece from Aea, accomplishing his mind-racking journey and fulfilling the difficult task for insolent Pelias, nor would they have come even to the fair stream of Oceanus’ and further on he says : ‘To the city of Aeetes, where the rays of the swift Sun lie in a chamber of gold beside the lips of Oceanus, whither glorious Jason went’.”

The oceanic references of the trip are further corroborated by Hesiod , who says that: 4

“they [the Argonauts] had sailed in through the Phasis. Hesiod and Pindar in Pythionikai and Antimachus in Lyde [say that] they came through the Ocean to Libya, and so, carrying the Argo, reached our sea”

That is, the Argonauts sailed Phasis, a river, listed in Theogony , and returned through the ocean to Libya (a name that was used for the whole of North Africa) and, finally, from there to their homeland, Iolcus.

Note that the term “river” is used by Plato for both land streams and oceanic currents, as does also Maury while describing the Gulf Stream .

Homeric hints

Ιn the Odyssey, Circe (Aeetes sister) advises Odysseus not to pass through the “Planctae”, something that the Argo had done in the past after the visit to Aeetes, due to the dangers of this passage:

“One seafaring ship alone has passed thereby, that Argo famed of all, on her voyage from Aeetes, and even her the wave would speedily have dashed there against the great crags, had not Hera sent her through, for that Jason was dear to her” [Odyssey 12.69]

But, as we have identified in the Journey of Odysseus , the Planctae [the “wandering”] are the icebergs that pile in the entrace of the Gulf of St. Lawrence as they are carried from the north by the Labrador current .

The Argonauts route

Based on the previous observations and on the routes indicated by the North Atlantic ocean currents , we draw the presumed Atlantic route of the Argonauts.

The Argonauts route

Argo, having sailed the “Phasis River”, which was probably an ocean current (specifically, the North Equatorial current)...

The presumed Aea

...arrived on the island where the present state of Haiti is located. The name “Haiti” (“Ayiti” in the local language) comes from the indigenous Taíno and was formerly used by them as a name for the whole island. The obvious verbal affinity of the name of the island with the name of “Aeetes” is corroborated also by the meaning of the word, since in the native language it means “land of the high mountains”, a meaning almost identical to that of the Greek “Aea” which means “land” (“Γαία”, in Greek) while “Aeetes” is the inhabitant of this land.

Exactly the same trip was conducted in 2019 by by Philip Beale sailing with the Phoenicia, a replica of ancient Phoenician ships, proving that this sea-route was navigable with the seafaring capacity of that era.

The location of this Aea is compatible with the description of Mimnermus, who placed it “beside the lips of Oceanus”.

In the southwestern part of the island, in the territory of the Dominican Republic, the Pueblo Viejo mine is located. It is the largest gold mine on the American continent, and the third largest in the world. Therefore, the island does have the profile of the place where the “golden fleece” would be located.

After getting the fleece, the Argonauts, with Medea also onboard, follow the advice of the prophet Phineus, and sail the stream of the river “Istrus”, which, again, is most likely to be an ocean current, probably the Gulf Stream...

...and finally enter the Gulf of St Lawrence, through the Planctae, as Circe says in the Odyssey .

A remarkable coincidene

The visit of the Argonauts in the area, seems to have been recorded in the myths of the Ojibway Indian tribe who long time ago lived in the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence (then they emigrated westward along the yellow lines): 6

“ ‘While our forefathers were living on the great salt water toward the rising sun, the great Megis (sea-shell) showed itself above the surface of the great water, and the rays of the sun for a long period were reflected from its glossy back. It gave warmth and light to the An-ish-in-aub-ag (red race)’.

Τhe Μegis, means the Me-da-we religion. The grand rite of Me-da-we-win (or, as we have learned to term it, ‘Grand Medicine’) and the beliefs incorporated therein, are not yet fully understood by the whites.”

The Ojibwe medicine-men and magicians are called Mide or Medas , which is rather difficult not to associate with Medea, the “sorceress using herbs, incantations and innate magical powers to achieve her aims”. 7

The return route

Although there are many variants of the narrative about the Argonauts return trip, they followed a route similar to that of Odysseus, passing from the island of the Phaeacians (today's Flores in the Azores) from there to Libya (i.e. north Africa) and, finally, passing the islands of Crete and Anafi , reached their homeland in Iolcus.

The source of confusion?

What could be the cause of the confusion regarding the trip of the Argonauts? How the Euxine Pont (Black Sea) scenario came into existence? Part of the answer may lie in the following event mentioned by Apollonius Rhodius in his Argonautica (the fullest account of the mythical voyage):

and in the evening by the injunctions of Orpheus they touched at the island of Electra, daughter of Atlas, in order that by gentle initiation they might learn the rites that may not be uttered, and so with greater safety sail over the chilling sea. Of these I will make no further mention; but I bid farewell to the island itself and the indwelling deities, to whom belong those mysteries, which it is not lawful for me to sing. [1.915]

Therefore, Apollonius explicitly states that he is not allowed to talk about the initiation rituals of the Mysteries, which aimed to “educate” the initiated of the ways to survive the dangers of the sea. If, therefore, Apollonius and probably earlier poets were not allowed to reveal “the rites that may not be uttered”, part of which was the knowledge of the sea routes, why should we expect them to be allowed to talk about the real course of the Argonauts? The option that the conveyance of misleading geographical information regarding the sea routes was made deliberately, rather than due to ignorance, cannot be ruled out.

This assumption is reinforced by the very task of the Argonauts’s trip, which was to bring back “gold”. If gold was in the west, then the misleading information for the aspiring competitors would have to be that gold was found in the east.