Exploring America's past Book

For mythology buffs, few stories are more fun than the tale of Jason & the Argonauts. You've got adventure on the high seas, fire-breathing bulls, monstrous serpents, witchcraft, treachery, and much more (click here for a summary of the whole adventure). It's a ripping good yarn, even if the Argonauts' ultimate goal is a little…ummm…weird…



A dead sheep: the face that launched a single ship.

Going to all this hassle for a sheepskin, even a golden one, seems like an awful lot of trouble. But it was a long time ago (this story is actually set before the Trojan War), so I guess it was just a different age. Anyway, if you want to read the ancient version of this story, you have two choices: Jason and the Golden Fleece by Apollonius of Rhodes (written in the third century b.c.) and this Roman version written around the year 90. While both versions have something to offer, I would recommend Apollonius' interpretation for two reasons:

1. Flaccus died before completing his version. Although it contains most of the story, including the snatching of the fleece, it isn't 100% complete like Apollonius' poem.

2. Apollonius made some interesting choices in his version, including his portrayal of Jason. Unlike your standard epic hero, Apollonius' Jason has little martial ability, breaks down in tears in the face of adversity, and has no real skills other than the fortuitous ability to make powerful women fall head-over-heels in love with him. It all makes for a very different and rather refreshing take on the epic genre. Flaccus' poem is more of a by-the-numbers epic tale.

So, if you are interested in reading one of the ancient versions of this story, I'd recommend grabbing the Apollonius poem as translated by Peter Green. I would only recommend Flaccus' version for readers who have already read Apollonius' poem and are interested in another take on the story. That said, Flaccus' version really isn't bad, and is different enough from Apollonius' story to be interesting on its own merits. The Latin epics of the Silver Age tend to be uniformly dismissed as feeble imitations of Virgil, but I thought this was pretty good. David Slavitt does a nice job as translator, although he does have a bad habit of slipping modern idioms in there from time to time (for example, he once describes sex as "the joys of nookie"). But overall this was a good rendition of a great story…just not quite as strong as Apollonius' Greek version. 3 stars.