Culture

Was the Quest for the Golden Fleece a Real Event?

Cara Schulz By |

A recent article in the Quaternary International suggests that the myth of Jason and the Argonauts took its inspiration from an actual voyage that occurred sometime between 3,300 and 3,500 years ago. A team of geologists, led by Avtandil Okrostsvaridze from Ilia State University in Georgia, report that they have found evidence that the Golden Fleece was real and was the product of ancient gold extraction techniques.

But did these scientists find definitive evidence? The Wild Hunt turned to a Ph.D. Candidate in the Centre for Classics and Archaeology at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and a London-based archaeologist and historian of religion to take a Pagan-friendly look at the paper.

Jason seizing the Golden Fleece from a fragment of a sarcophagus, National Museum of Rome. [Credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen, cc. lic. Wikimedia]

Jason seizing the Golden Fleece. From a fragment of a sarcophagus, National Museum of Rome. [Credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen, cc. lic. Wikimedia]

Mythos of the quest for the Golden Fleece
Although there are different written accounts of the quest, the basic myth is as follows. Before the Trojan War, Jason gathered together a group of heroes known as the Argonauts to sail to Aietis’ palace in the Kingdom of Colchis [modern day Georgia] to take the Golden Fleece. The fleece was thought to be from the famed golden-haired, winged ram of Zeus. Jason needed the fleece to restore his father as king of Thessaly in Greece.

Jason and the Argonauts faced many challenges – and fathered many children – during their voyage and received help from Gods and mortals. The most famous person who assisted Jason was Medea, King Aitis’ daughter. After they returned home, Jason sets Medea aside to marry another woman. Medea kills that woman and the children she bore to Jason, and then flees to Athens. Jason’s father takes the throne, but Jason dies, lonely and unloved.

Gold mining theory
In the academic paper, geologist Avtandil Okrostsvaridze stated that the quest was a real voyage to the kingdom of Colchis to learn how they extracted gold from rivers, streams and sand deposits.

The team of geologists carried out an eight-year study to test the theory. They compared geological data and archaeological findings with the myths the kingdom of Colchis. The locals in this region have been using wooden bowls to pour water and sand mixtures over thick sheep’s pelt for thousands of years. The sand, being lighter, washes out, while the heavy gold particles become trapped in the sheep’s wool.

This was not the first time that the “gold mining theory” has been suggested. Back in the second century AD, Roman historian Apian Alexandrine put forth this very theory. Since that time, it has been periodically entertained by archaeologists and historians. Yet this is the very first time that geologists have done a thorough examination to test the theory. Will it hold up to scrutiny?

Ethan Doyle White, is a London-based archaeologist and historian of religion currently engaged in PhD research at University College London (UCL). He has “a particular research interest in the pre-Christian belief systems of Europe and the manner in which they have been interpreted and utilised by contemporary Pagan new religious movements.”  He said:

Having read the original research paper, I’d say that the ScienceAlert article does a fairly good job of accurately summarising its conclusions. However, I must express some concerns regarding the original research paper itself. While I certainly would not go so far as to claim that the arguments presented are invalid, I am concerned by the fact that the paper has been written by geologists and then published in a geological journal. Now, without meaning to knock geology as a discipline, the study of rock strata really doesn’t provide the sort of theoretical and methodological basis needed to analyse the development and origins of ancient mythology, for which a blend of history, archaeology, folkloristics and perhaps also linguistics would be required.

Further, I would pay close attention to the statement in the paper’s acknowledgements: “The authors would like to thank the general director of the mining corporation “Golden Fleece”, Dr Mustafa Mutlu, which has funded this research”. I think that that is potentially very telling; a company with a vested interest in the name and concept of the Golden Fleece was funding the entire project.

Caroline Tully [Courtesy Photo]

Caroline Tully [Courtesy Photo]

Caroline J. Tully, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Centre for Classics and Archaeology at the University of Melbourne, primarily focuses on Aegean Archaeology. However, she is “also interested in the reception of the ancient world, particularly the reception of ancient Egyptian religion.” She said:

Like many non-Classicists, when talking about Classical Literature these authors are clumsy and rather cursory. I don’t think there is any point in trying to match the Argonauts’ journey with the alluvial paning for gold in Colchis using wooden utensils and sheepskin. I don’t think there is any point in claiming that the Argonauts’ journey was “real” – it may have been, it may not have been. As far as I’d go would be to say “The story of the Golden Fleece in the Jason and the Argonauts myth sounds like it may have been inspired by actual techniques of gold collection, using a wooden utensil and a sheepskin, by people who lived in the region of ancient Colchis and who still use that method today.

So, I’m saying that the description of a “golden fleece” in Colchis as it appears in the myth of the Argonauts’ voyage may certainly have been inspired by the actual method of collecting gold in ancient and modern Colchis – as Tim Severin suggested in 1984.  

When asked specifically about the geologists’ research approach, Tully said:

While they are rather cursory on their Classical literature, on the other hand, where the authors of this article have expertise, in their sciency approach to the subject, they seem fine and I would cite them myself. They seem to have done the work and know the topic. I, on the other hand, have no science background so I have to take their word for it. But the article is in a peer reviewed journal, which would suggest that it was of a reasonable scholarly standard. I would trust the authors in their expertise re the geology and mineralogy of Georgia / Colchis. What they’ve said in regards to the sciency angle seems reasonable to me.

I’m not saying their claims about the mythology are wrong, just that they shouldn’t bother trying to specifically match Jason and the Argonaut’s voyage – especially because they are not specialists in Classical Archaeology or Classical Literature… They should stick to their specialty – science.

Tully then went on to speculate more deeply on the theory from both a mythological or historical standpoint. She said:

Surely lots of Greeks went to the corners of the Black Sea. There were Greek colonies all around the Black Sea. That is well known. So, Jason and the Argonauts could be a sort of generic adventure that combines stories from all those sailors’ adventures. I mean there might be evidence of “Jason” over there in Colchis, I don’t recall any inscriptions saying “Jason was here” but there might have been and that would be mentioned in Severin’s book

Jason is quite interesting. His name comes from the root for “medicine” or “doctor” or “healing”, that sort of thing, the root being “Ia” as in “Iatros, or any mediciney word that derives from the Greek root “Ia”. thats “i”, not “L”. Anyway, there is talk that perhaps Jason was originally the magical one who had knowledge of herbs and poisons, rather than (or as well as) Medea.

What Tully is referring to here is a theory proposed by scholar Yulia Ustinova in 2004. In her paper titled Jason the Shaman, Ustinova claims that Jason’s mythical biography define him not only as a hero and a father, but also as having a “shamanic personality.”  She concludes, “The most important functions of a shaman are healing, retrieving of the souls of the sick from the malevolent powers, and escorting the souls of the dead to the nether world … These major elements, initiation period under the tutelage of a skilled shaman and seer, a horrible ordeal, healing talents and a voyage to the netherworld in order to bring back a dead soul and a magical object are present in Jason’s mythic personality.”

The Goddess Athena helping Jason's ship, terracotta relief, British Museum [Credit: Townley Collection, cc. lic. Wikimedia]

The Goddess Athena helping Jason’s ship, terracotta relief, British Museum [Credit: Townley Collection, cc. lic. Wikimedia]

Tully went on to say, “The idea that collecting gold with a sheep skin influenced the story of Jason and the Argonauts is perfectly feasible…” because, as suggested earlier, myths can be based in historical fact. She added as an aside:

Speaking of myths being real.. there’s a great new book out by Adrienne Mayor called “The Amazons.” Classicists have always thought the Amazons were completely mythical, but Mayor, who is a classical scholar, interprets archaeological remains of female warriors from around the Black Sea and into Central Asia as what probably were … the “Amazons” of Greek myth. Of course “myth” doesn’t mean “untrue”… but we mainly tend to think that the bulk of myth is just a story. But its perfectly feasible that myth has components of actual events in it.

While Tully believes that the geologists do make a reasonably good case from a scientific perspective, she said that their work would have been more convincing if they were “better writers” or knew more about “classical literature and archaeology.” Tully also would have liked to have seen a photo of one of the collected fleeces. However she also noted that this failing is not unusual in the academic world. She said:

This is a bit like the spate of articles that came out with varying degrees of dry sciency language when it was discovered that there indeed was a crevice that produced psychoactive gases under the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Because the scientists verified it.. but they aren’t very evocative writers.

In the end Tully summed up her discussion of the topic by saying, “Yes, it is a perfectly reasonable claim which seems to be backed by science. (Well, except that I think they can’t possibly say that it is “proof” that the Argonaut’s story was ‘true”. It’s suggestive that  some of the Argonauts’ story may have had factual components).”

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36 thoughts on “Was the Quest for the Golden Fleece a Real Event?”

  1. Picture caption: “Jason seizing the Golden Fleece from a fragment of a sarcophagus”
    Gee, I thought he seized it from the limb of an oak tree 😉

  2. As a student (and wanna-be “researcher”) of Pagan Myths and Religions I find this fascinating.

    In so many cases it is possible, with lots and lots of research backing, to tie old mythical/literary accounts to much older practices and belief.

    Even if this research might have been clumsily presented I still think that it is a worthy addition to our knowledge of the old Tales.

  3. Interesting, but as both a pagan and a scholar, I have a little skepticism of someone who uses the term “sciency” instead of “scientific”.

    • Tully is Australian… we put “y” and “ie” on everything, it’s called colloquialism.
      Also this is a great article I enjoyed reading it and also the criticism presented.

      • And you shorten a lot of words to the first syllable and put an “o” on the end. I never said “journo” or “muso” before my best friend from Brisneyland.

        …but you see, diversity is great, except when Americans think your local culture makes you sound stupid or childish.

        • I think “journo” looks ridiculous, but that’s because Karen Traviss utterly ruined it for me.

      • I don’t mean to be rude or pompous; but as I said, I’m an academic, and feel it’s inappropriate to use slang terms in a scholarly article because it distracts from the content. Also, where I live, most of us pagans are pretty firmly in the broom closet because many of the local Christians still think we worship *their* devil. It has nothing to do with diversity; it has to do with how one presents oneself in an academic setting.

        • As a language arts major, there’s actually a big difference between “slang”, colloquialisms, and informal speech. As someone who knows people from all over the world, I think I can say with some confidence that what’s appropriate in one area may not be in another.

          Informal speech and colloquialisms denote a relaxed voice common to everyday speech such as conversations with friends and family and co-workers amongst themselves “at the water cooler”; it is also common for academics to employ informal voices when writing for or speaking to an audience consisting of a significant portion of laity (or “non-academics” –itself, an informal term when compared to the more-formal “laity”).

          Slang tends to carry connotations of a lower socio-economic class or character, and the trendy, faddish language of young people.

          In Australian regional dialect, Ms Tully’s use of “sciency” is informal, and in certain contexts would be appropriate in writing by an academic –heck, even Carl Sagan seriously used the term “planty business” when speaking to an audience of largely laypersons (and often young laypersons) in an episode of the original series of Cosmos.

          I mean, you’re certainly welcome to be a snob, and I’m still equally welcome to tell you that you’re completely unjustified this time around.

          • Well, I’m out of the broom closet and one of the reasons I got into academia, from a previous background as a non-academic Pagan scholar, was to communicate interesting academic research to a non-academic audience. That’s not why I used “sciencey” though. I did just use it as a colloquialism. That’s how I talk casually. I often describe Processual Archaeology as “sciencey” – because it is – as in “concerned with being scientific”. I think this article was concerned with being scientific regarding mythology. But as I said, this here on the blog isn’t an academic article and I wouldn’t use the term in an academic journal, I may use it in a lecture, it depends on the audience.

          • I was raised to be a precise user of language, though (as anyone can see here) I’m not as consistent as my mother might have wanted me to be. My elder daughter majored in linguistics — her required “foreign language” credit was fulfilled by her courses in American Sign Language, a reason for much parental pride — and I delighted in listening to her describe and think out loud about what she was learning.

            I consider it a (very subjectively held) advantage to be the son of immigrants whose language universe was fluency in three or four distinct languages. My late father was a natural polyglot. I learned to appreciate language quite as much and in similar ways as music.

          • Correct: the exact words I used were, “but as both a pagan and a scholar” rather than “as a pagan and an academic”. As I am new to this site and was impressed by Professor Tully’s article, I was attempting to offer constructive criticism rather than attacking her. I also did not expect to be bullied by a fellow pagan. Also, having just finished my last research paper for the semester this afternoon, my mind is still in critical mode.
            Congratulations on your choice of a major; I am currently finishing my MA in English at a local university, where I teach, and enjoying it immensely. I hope Australia has a higher regard for the liberal arts than the southern US. Here the current attitude, when not completely anti-intellectual, is dismissive of any field not associated with science, math and technology.
            As to your presumptuous assumption that I am opposed to diversity, then please tell me why I have chosen to teach English to students from all over the world? I thought I had decided to do so because I wanted to learn more about other cultures, first hand. I am also lucky enough to live in a region with a large and varied Native American population.
            Now, if you will excuse me from replying further, I have about 24 exams to grade and input, having told my students I would have them done by noon, tomorrow.

            .

  5. Didn’t you hear? The quest for the golden fleece is still ongoing.

    Everyday Llewellyn releases books written by grifters cleverly disguised as authors who make GW Bush look like a Rhodes scholar. They publish these books, laden with ‘facts’ their authors pulled from the rectal repository in the hopes that they will be a runaway success with the ignorant and uniformed and generate a billion dollars in sales for them.

    I pity Pagan scholars of the future generations, trying to do quality research with with all the misconceptions this garbage will throw in their paths. It will truly be an uphill battle for them.

    I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out Llewellwyn is secretly owned and operated by Christian Dominionists bent on sabotage of the Pagan reconstruction.

  6. As I look through the posts here, I see many have not capitalized the name of our religion, Pagan.

    Please stop disrespecting our religion in print.

    It certainly deserves the respect of being given proper capitalization just like lesser faiths like Christianity and Islam.