Galley (1m).
L/B/D:
54 × 9.3 × 2 (16.5m × 2.8m × 0.6m). Hull:
wood. Comp.:
20. Des.:
Colin Mudie. Built:
Vasilis Delimitros, Spetses, Greece; 1984.
In the early 1980s, Tim Severin decided to retrace the voyage of Jason from the Aegean to Colchis on the eastern shores of the Black Sea. The most comprehensive version of the Golden Fleece myth is recorded in Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica, from the third century bce According to Apollonius, in order to reclaim the throne from his uncle, Jason was sent by Pelias of Iolcus to capture the Golden Fleece from Colchis. His ship was built by Argos and crewed by a number of Greek heroes including Argos and Jason. Passing through the northern Aegean, they traversed the Dardanelles, Sea of Marmara, and Bosporus and proceeded east along the southern shore of the Black Sea to Colchis, in what is thought to be present-day Georgia. There, King Aeetes told Jason that he could have the Golden Fleece only if he yoked two fire-breathing oxen, plowed a field, sowed it with dragon's teeth, and slew the warriors who would spring from the seed on the same day. Aided by Aeetes' daughter Medea, Jason succeeded in his task. According to Strabo (fifth century bce), the legend of the Golden Fleece originated in the Colchians' practice of using wool to filter gold dust from the rivers.
Working from pictorial and other evidence, Colin Mudie drew plans for a galley from about 1200 bce The new Argo departed Volos on May 2, 1984, and after crossing the Aegean, she entered the Dardanelles nineteen days later. By June 15 the ship was in the Black Sea, and proceeding under oars alone for most of the time, she made her way slowly eastward. Among the ports of call they could identify with Greek myth were Eregli, near where the River Acheron flows and where Herakles descended into the Underworld to capture Hades' watchdog, Cerberus, and where Idmon the soothsayer and Tiphys, Jason's helmsman, died. Once east of Sinope, Argo encountered favorable winds although the storms of the first thirty-six hours tested the mettle of the Bronze Age design and the twentieth-century crew to the utmost. Ten days later they arrived at Giresun Island, known as the Island of Ares, where Jason had met four of his Colchian cousins, who had been shipwrecked en route to Greece and who agreed to accompany him back to their home. On July 19, the new Argo departed Hopa, Turkey, the first ship to clear the port for the Soviet Union since World War II. Once into Soviet territorial waters, the crew were greeted by the sail-training bark Tovarisch and a crew of professional oarsmen and other athletes who helped row Argo the rest of the way to Poti, where the latter-day Argonauts were welcomed by thousands of Georgians for whom the legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece remains very much a part of the popular culture. After several days of celebration, Argo was towed and rowed up the Rhioni River (as the Phasis is now known) until she ran aground on a mud bank abreast of Jaladdi, the oldest Bronze Age settlement yet found on the Rhioni River.
Jason's route home varies depending on the version of the myth. Some say he returned the way he came, while others have him ascending the Danube or other rivers and proceeding overland to the Mediterranean. Severin and his crew returned via more conventional means, and Argo was eventually taken to the Exeter Maritime Museum in England.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica. Severin, Jason Voyage.
