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Cover of Jason and the Golden Fleece

Jason and the Golden Fleece

Apollonius Rhodius

216 pages

A highly original, scholarly journey into ancient myth that explores the dangerous intersections of heroism, love, and human ignorance.

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What it feels like

Reading this scholarly translation feels like stepping into the brilliant, intellectual world of the ancient Ptolemaic court. The text moves at a steady, deliberate pace, balancing the grand, dramatic sweep of a mythic quest with careful attention to linguistic accuracy and historical context. The atmosphere is both epic and deeply contemplative, immersing the reader in a dangerous world where human ambition collides with the unknown divine. The prose itself bridges the gap between ancient poetry and modern readability, supported by rich explanatory notes and maps that ground the soaring mythology. It is an experience crafted for classicists, literature scholars, and devoted mythology readers who want to explore the complex emotional depths of heroism, deceit, and love in antiquity.

Mood
  • mythic
  • dangerous
  • grand
  • contemplative
Tone
  • scholarly
  • dramatic
  • analytical
  • epic
Pace
steady
Themes
the nature of heroism · human ignorance of the divine · the complexities of love and deceit · the limits of science
The writing
The text offers a readable yet highly accurate scholarly translation of ancient Greek epic poetry, supported by detailed explanatory notes.
The arc
The journey moves from the grand ambition of a mythic quest into the dangerous and complex realities of love, deceit, and human limitation.
Who it's for
Classicists, students of comparative literature, and mythology enthusiasts who appreciate a deeply contextualized, scholarly approach to ancient epics.
Content notes
  • deceit
  • dangerous relationships

About the book

This is a new translation of the only extant Greek epic poem to bridge the gap between Homer and late antiquity - a major product of the brilliant world of the Ptolemaic court at Alexandria, written by Apollonius of Rhodes in the third century BC.

In telling the dramatic story of Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece and his relations with the dangerous Colchian princess, Medea, Apollonius explores many of the fundamental aspects of life in a highly original way: love, deceit, heroism, man's ignorance of the divine, the limits of science. A major critical re-evaluation of the poem - one of Virgil's primary 'sources' for the Aeneid - is now under way among classicists and scholars in the field of comparative literature. This volume offers the first scholarly translation into English for many years, combining readability with accuracy and an attention to detail that will be helpful to readers both with and without Greek.

The explanatory notes and accompanying maps provide all necessary background information to enjoy the poem, while a comprehensive introductory essay sites the poem in its cultural and historical context.

Description from Open Library.

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