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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 398
EAN num: 9780140440850
ISBN number: 0140440852
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 224
Printing Date: April 30, 1959
Publishing house: Penguin Classics
Sale Popularity Level: 348806
Studio: Penguin Classics
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Written in the third century BC in Alexandria, this is the only full surviving account of Jason's legendary quest for the Golden Fleece. It describes the thrilling adventures of the Argonauts on their voyage to Colchis to plead with king Aeetes for the fleece, his greatest treasure and the Eros-inspired passion felt by his daughter, the beautiful witch-princess Medea, for the scheming Jason. Chronicling a journey that sees Jason and his crew traverse perilous seas, negotiate the treacherous Cyanean Rocks, and confront the lure of the Sirens' song, The Voyage of Argo is a masterful depiction of distinctly human heroism and betrayal caused by love. An eloquent marriage of romance and realism, it tells the definitive version of one of the greatest legends of the classical age: an epic tale of bravery, prophecy and magic.
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Rated by buyers 
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This epic is often talked up as some kind of ancient thriller, a there-and-back-again from the 1st Century B.C. However, even a casual read will reveal the problematic nature of an assessment of this nature. The poem is in reality a subtle and complex study of the nature of Greek epic. Apollonius is not simply writing an adventure story, the story was common knowledge then and there were multiple versions people could turn to. Apollonius, the scholar is meditating upon epic and its place in a modern world. The text is incredibly ambiguous and can reveal millions of alternate readings. Apollonius needs to be read again and again, often in the context of earlier epic works. You cannot fully understand Apollonius without Homer. On the surface it is an adventure story, but with no real hero, no real ending and with often no real motives.
A good translation by someone who understands the text is a must. Unfortunately I don't think that Rieu is up to the task. Only recently has Apollonius become a viable subject for study, and I think that Rieu's translation is out of date. By trying to turn Apollonius' text into an exciting adventure like his Odyssey, Rieu skips over textual ambiguities that imbue the text with more meaning. He even mistranslates the opening sentence and ruins its effect. Anyone looking for Apollonius is best advised to turn to Hunter's superb translation in Oxford Worlds Classics, it's modern, up to date and accurate.
Rated by buyers 
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The 'Argonautica' was written in the 3rd Century B.C. and depicts the pre-Homeric voyage of Jason to the land of Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece: a golden lamb's fleece brought by the gods that can work miracles. Unlike Homer's poetry of the Iliad and the Odyssey, this work was written in the Hellenic age and therefore focuses much more on action instead of poetic recitals and extensive character developments common to the Classical/Homeric period. Nevertheless, this work offers a great adventure of heroes, gods, and beasts that make it a pleasurable reading experience for adults and children alike.
Jason is the lawful heir of Thessally and seeks to avenge his father's death against the usurper, Pelias. In an effort to keep him at bay, Pelias convinces Jason that he must go on a perilous journey to Colchis to obtain the Golden Fleece before he can claim the throne of Thessally. Eager to claim his kingdom, Jason calls upon all of the greatest of Greek champions to join him on his quest. Requisitioning the ship 'The Argos' for the voyage, Jason is accompanied by a crew of Greece's greatest heroes and demi-gods such as Hercules, Castor, Polydeuces, and Odysseus' father, Laertes. After crossing many perils under the protection of Hera, the Argos reaches Colchis on the other side of the world (present day Turkey on the shore of the Black Sea.) Deceiving King Aeetes, Jason runs off with the Golden Fleece and the king's daughter Medea to return to Greece in triumph.
This is a great adventure covering the heroic age of Greece a generation before the time of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The novel is, as typical of the Hellenic novel, fast paced on plot with only minimal character studies. Unlike the Iliad, this work was a novel meant to be read as opposed to being orally recited as poetry. A novel that's fun to read for itself or to study Greek history and mythology. A fun story for adults and children alike.
Rated by buyers -
Homer mentioned the voyage of the Argo as a well-known story, and bits and pieces appear in surviving Greek lyrics and dramas of the Classical period. Jason's later life with Medea is a well-known subject of tragedy. Our oldest comprehensive account of the journey, however, comes from Hellenistic times, in a work by Apollonius, at one time associated with the Library of Alexandria, commonly known as "of Rhodes," supposedly from his favorable reception by the islanders.
The Jason of this version, from the third century BC, is a good deal less than an Homeric hero, overshadowed both by his companions (and who would not seem inadequate beside Hercules?) and by the goddesses who intervene on his behalf. He is not unattractive -- indeed, some may find him more appealing than the all-competent heroes of other epics. He has emotions one can recognize, including fear and despair. Still, one can see him later being both callous enough and stupid enough to dump the witch-princess of Colchis for a "better" (socially acceptable and politically advantageous) marriage in Greece.
That was the tragic plot which Apollonius avoids, but it was well-known in his day, and which has survived to our own in Euripides' version. He certainly had it in mind, and knew that those who read, or more likely heard the reading of, his epic, would as well. (Seneca's Latin tragedy "Medea," and Ovid's treatment of the character, of great importance in later European views of the story, were still in the future.)
This prose translation, very first published in 1959 and reissued with some revisions and new apparatus in 1971, was the very first new English version since 1912 (the Loeb Classical Library bilingual edition), and remained the only popular version for several decades. It has since been joined by others, in verse as well as prose. They represent more recent scholarship in both the Greek text and critical views of the poet and the epic. Two of them, at least, are considerably more ambitious as works of art. Barbara Hughes Fowler's "Hellenistic Poetry: An Anthology" not only contains the complete epic, but much of its cultural context. The hardcover edition of Peter Green's "The Argonautika: The Story of Jason and the Quest for the Golden Fleece" contained extensive commentary (abridged in the paperback edition). These are both in verse. There is also a prose version by Richard L. Hunter, "Jason and the Golden Fleece," published in the Oxford World's Classics.
Can the good old Penguin Classics standby still compete?
For those looking for high poetry, or for elaborate notes, or sophisticated critical positions, probably not. But, despite the comments of at least one competitor, Rieu's treatment is not without its merits. Although Rieu's English is now a little antiquated, it remains readable. His English version is helped as well as hindered by a tendency to reduce the relatively ornate style of a learned Alexandrian poet to something more approachable to an *intelligent* school-boy ("school-boy" being the critic's reproach). It is still a good place to begin, and for those who are simply curious about Jason's adventures, it may be the best place. Once convinced of its charms, the reader may be encouraged to try a more poetic version, and discover that Apollonius was more than an engaging storyteller with a modern taste for the anti-heroic.
Of course, I tend to favor a book that enchanted me when I read it in 1968.
(Reposted from my "anonymous" review of June 27, 2003.)
Rated by buyers -
Apollonius of Rhodes' story of Jason's quest of the Golden Fleece is certainly one of the highlights of ancient literature. It can be ranked on the same level as Homer's works.
It is also in some aspects a modern work. Some scenes are worth a Hieronymus Bosch or 20th century surrealism: 'She had been terrified by a nightmare in which she saw all the rooms and walls of her house streaming with blood, and fire devouring all the magic drugs ... A number of creatures whose ill-assorted limbs declared them to be neither man nor beast had gathered round her like a great flock of sheep following their shepherd from the fold.' (p. 165)
Psychoanalysis is not far away when an oracle hints that a ship is a mother's womb: 'Argo carried us in her womb; we have often heard her groaning in her pain.' (p. 184)
On the other hand, the gods are still allmighty and condition all important events. But like in Homer's works, the divine interventions are nothing more than today's psychological explanations of normal human behaviour. The physical feats, inspired, provoked or influenced by the gods, can only be human.
The highlight of the story is the love between Jason and Medea, who is clearly presented here as a witch. But Apollonius calls love poetically but realistically 'Unconscionable Love, bane and tormentor of mankind, parent of strife, fountain of tears, source of a thousand ills'. (p. 159)
This book has also a historical cosmological importance: 'He sang of that past age when earth and sky and sea were knit together in a single mould' (p. 49); in other words, a foreshadowing of priest Lemaitre's original single atom.
One also feels distinctly that this work is an abridged version of a former written epic. The end is far too abrupt and doesn't even relate the homecoming of Argo's crew.
This edition contains a good, but too long, introduction by the translator and an excellent glossary. It would have gained in quality if it had contained a map with Jason's most probable voyage.
A must, not only for fans of classical literature.
Rated by buyers -
The Voyage of Argo is the second E.V. Rieu translation from epic poem to prose work of Ancient Greek literature that I have indulged in. The story laid out here is the quest for and return from obtaining the Golden Fleece by Jason and the 'Argonauts' as his traveling companions come to be known.
Each of the four 'books' of this crafting of Apollonius's tale relates the various trials, dangers, deceptions, victories, and defeats of the crew of the Argo.
Book one, 'Preparation and Departure' was, for me, the hardest to digest. The very first several pages, following a lengthy introduction, read merely like a passenger manifest. Many are named, some easily recognizable from other tales of Ancient Greece. The crew sails off on their quest, led by Jason, son of Aeson, with Heracles (Hercules) as part of their company. By the end of book one, the disappearence of one of the crew, Hylas, sends Heracles off on a quest of his own, to find Hylas' abductors and punish them.
Book two, 'Onward to Colchis', finds the crew of the Argo in battle with the Bebryces, drawing the attention of Athene, who allows the ship to pass safely through the treacherous Clashing Rocks, and the loss of other crew members along the way. Jason and company find their way to Colchis and land there, with the divine influence of the Gods.
Book three, 'Jason and Medea', centers on the famed love story of the two title characters. Medea, struck by an arrow from Eros, falls in love with Jason, and becomes his greatest ally, as she is the daughter of King Aeetes, the man who knows the location of the Golden Fleece Jason and his crew seek. Aeetes, finding the company of the Argo to be brash and treacherous, proposes a test of their fortitude, and should they survive the flaming bulls and sharp toothed serpent, and obtain the fleece, they will have proven themselves worthy. Medea, desperate to help her beloved, contrives a plot of her own to aid Jason, and win his heart.
Book four, 'Homeward Bound' tells of the dangers Jason and crew once again face on the open seas as they journey home. Medea in tow, Jason must choose between his love for her and the lives of his crew as Aeetes sets out to destroy them and bring Medea back home to him.
A thrilling tale of bravery and cunning, The Voyage of Argo ranks with the Odyssey in terms of excitement and content. While reading this, and the notes that accompany the text naming this surviving version of the tale as a possibly 'revised second edition' of the actual story, I am left to wonder if perhaps the 'divine influence' of Athene and Here (Hera), and even Zeus himself, are not offered as simple explanation for events that seemed miraculous to the author. The story flows along easily and while it does not suffer from the 'interference' of the Gods, it is not exactly amplified by it either.
Whatever the case, The Voyage of Argo is a thrilling read. It is easy to see why it has spawned many fictional accounts, as it is an adventure tale ripe for the picking, and needs very little 'inventiveness' to augment it to a full-fledged fictional thriller.
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