1 00:00:13,585 --> 00:00:19,103 0f all the world's great myths, the earliest is the tale of the hero's quest. 2 00:00:24,625 --> 00:00:28,300 And one story has been told for more than 3,000 years. 3 00:00:31,665 --> 00:00:36,659 The story of Jason and the Argonauts is a classic tale of the hero's quest, 4 00:00:36,825 --> 00:00:39,703 an Ancient Greek ''Mission: Impossible''. 5 00:00:42,225 --> 00:00:48,175 It's got all the ingredients of fairy tale, heroes and princesses, magic and dragons. 6 00:00:48,345 --> 00:00:51,940 It's got a dark strain of tragedy at its heart. 7 00:00:54,145 --> 00:00:59,219 It was also the story of a sea voyage, a journey into the unknown... 8 00:01:01,025 --> 00:01:04,222 ..to reach the land where the sun rises. 9 00:01:04,385 --> 00:01:08,503 Jason's task, to paraphrase a modern version of the myth, 10 00:01:08,665 --> 00:01:11,975 was to boldly go where man had never been before. 11 00:01:45,145 --> 00:01:47,943 Stand fast! Hold your rank! 12 00:01:49,745 --> 00:01:53,533 Like many Greek myths, the tale begins in bloodshed. 13 00:01:53,705 --> 00:01:58,574 Jason's wicked uncle, Pelias, seizes the throne of Iolkos 14 00:01:58,745 --> 00:02:01,817 and deposes the rightful king, Jason's father. 15 00:02:04,145 --> 00:02:05,817 (WOMAN) Please... 16 00:02:05,985 --> 00:02:07,737 Nephew! 17 00:02:07,905 --> 00:02:12,774 To be secure, Pelias must kill Jason but the boy is whisked away. 18 00:02:16,665 --> 00:02:20,453 For Jason, the gods plan a different destiny. 19 00:02:46,865 --> 00:02:50,175 So, like Hamlet or ''The Lion King'' or Harry Potter, 20 00:02:50,345 --> 00:02:53,143 the boy knows about death and loss. 21 00:02:55,185 --> 00:02:58,495 He grows up here on Mount Pelion in central Greece, 22 00:02:58,665 --> 00:03:01,463 a magic mountain. 23 00:03:02,345 --> 00:03:05,462 (W0MAN) It's the summer resort of the gods. 24 00:03:05,625 --> 00:03:10,221 The gods used to move from 0lympus and spend the summer on Pelion. 25 00:03:10,385 --> 00:03:14,742 - Aesculapius, you call him? Asklepios. - The god of medicine, yes. 26 00:03:14,905 --> 00:03:17,339 - He lived here. - Oh, wow. 27 00:03:17,505 --> 00:03:20,224 It's the mountain of the centaurs, 28 00:03:20,385 --> 00:03:24,742 especially the most important of them all, the centaur Cheiron. 29 00:03:24,905 --> 00:03:30,025 - He was the one who taught Achilles. - Achilles, the hero of the Trojan War. 30 00:03:30,185 --> 00:03:33,416 He was the teacher of Achilles. 31 00:03:36,305 --> 00:03:41,140 Even today, when you talk to Greeks, the gods and heroes are real. 32 00:03:42,745 --> 00:03:47,261 Many argue that these stories have some kind of historical basis 33 00:03:47,425 --> 00:03:52,101 because they seem so rooted in real places, like Mount Pelion here. 34 00:03:52,265 --> 00:03:54,574 But you have to remember with myths 35 00:03:54,745 --> 00:03:59,182 that they mingle fantasy and fairy tale and real-life detail 36 00:03:59,345 --> 00:04:03,384 in a completely haphazard and delightful way. 37 00:04:04,345 --> 00:04:06,575 The story of Jason's like that. 38 00:04:06,745 --> 00:04:10,420 It begins with a boy who has lost his mother and father 39 00:04:10,585 --> 00:04:15,500 being brought up here on Mount Pelion by a kindly centaur, 40 00:04:15,665 --> 00:04:17,735 half man, half horse. 41 00:04:17,905 --> 00:04:21,420 From the very beginning we enter the world of magic. 42 00:04:26,985 --> 00:04:32,582 In Greek myth, Cheiron the centaur was the first practitioner of medicine. 43 00:04:38,465 --> 00:04:44,984 - Plenty of healing herbs here. - You can smell them everywhere, can't you? 44 00:04:45,145 --> 00:04:49,423 And Jason's name, a Bronze Age name, means ''the healer''. 45 00:04:57,185 --> 00:04:58,857 Wow! Look at that! 46 00:04:59,025 --> 00:05:01,141 Isn't that amazing? 47 00:05:01,305 --> 00:05:07,335 So this is the cave where Jason was brought up by Cheiron? 48 00:05:07,505 --> 00:05:11,976 (SPEAKING IN GREEK) 49 00:05:13,225 --> 00:05:17,298 In ancient times, tales were told of strange rituals up here, 50 00:05:17,465 --> 00:05:21,822 how men came to the cave dressed in freshly killed rams' fleeces. 51 00:05:21,985 --> 00:05:25,421 Some said human beings were sacrificed. 52 00:05:25,585 --> 00:05:28,577 So, Stathis, in Ancient Greece, 53 00:05:28,745 --> 00:05:31,942 there used to be a festival here every summer 54 00:05:32,105 --> 00:05:34,903 where people came up to the cave 55 00:05:35,065 --> 00:05:38,535 and dressed up in sheepskins and things like this. 56 00:05:38,705 --> 00:05:42,618 Has any festival like this survived into modern times? 57 00:05:42,785 --> 00:05:46,824 (SPEAKING IN GREEK) 58 00:05:46,985 --> 00:05:51,501 - It was as recent as the turn of the century. - 100 years ago. 59 00:05:51,665 --> 00:05:55,624 Amazing. You can imagine it, though, here, can't you? 60 00:06:01,665 --> 00:06:07,217 So there's a first clue to the ancient beliefs from which Jason's tale is spun. 61 00:06:08,945 --> 00:06:14,144 Like fairy tales, myths express our deepest thoughts, hopes and fears. 62 00:06:15,545 --> 00:06:21,256 But in myths, especially Greek myths, the hero doesn't always live happily ever after. 63 00:06:27,745 --> 00:06:32,182 At 20, Jason leaves Mount Pelion to claim his birthright, 64 00:06:32,345 --> 00:06:34,700 his father's kingdom. 65 00:06:34,865 --> 00:06:38,460 He loses a sandal carrying an old woman across a river. 66 00:06:38,625 --> 00:06:43,415 She's his protectress, the goddess Hera, in disguise. 67 00:06:46,425 --> 00:06:52,295 And then Jason heads down into the plain of Iolkos to his uncle's palace. 68 00:06:56,585 --> 00:07:01,659 Though King Pelias sat upon the throne of Iolkos, he was uneasy. 69 00:07:03,265 --> 00:07:07,941 A prophecy from the oracle at Delphi had warned him to beware a stranger 70 00:07:08,105 --> 00:07:11,302 who would come wearing just one sandal. 71 00:07:11,465 --> 00:07:15,219 So when Jason arrived and boldly claimed the throne, 72 00:07:15,385 --> 00:07:17,455 the king was afraid. 73 00:07:17,625 --> 00:07:22,574 The sacred law of hospitality forbade him from harming Jason directly, 74 00:07:22,745 --> 00:07:25,418 but Pelias was cunning. 75 00:07:26,785 --> 00:07:30,573 ''Tell me, young man,'' he said to Jason, 76 00:07:30,745 --> 00:07:35,899 ''if you were me and you were faced with a challenger to your throne, 77 00:07:36,065 --> 00:07:38,260 ''what would you do?'' 78 00:07:38,425 --> 00:07:45,183 Jason replied, ''I would set him a task that none but the gods could hope to perform.'' 79 00:07:46,225 --> 00:07:48,739 ''Very well, then,'' said Pelias. 80 00:07:48,905 --> 00:07:51,897 ''If you would wear my crown 81 00:07:52,065 --> 00:07:56,616 ''you must first bring me the Golden Fleece.'' 82 00:08:06,985 --> 00:08:09,135 But what was the Fleece? 83 00:08:11,265 --> 00:08:15,417 Well, the Fleece came from a marvellous golden ram, 84 00:08:15,585 --> 00:08:18,816 a gift of the king of the gods Zeus himself. 85 00:08:18,985 --> 00:08:22,534 The ram had flown east to the land where the sun rises 86 00:08:22,705 --> 00:08:26,698 and there, the king, a son of the sun god, had sacrificed it, 87 00:08:26,865 --> 00:08:31,063 and hung the Fleece in a sacred tree guarded by a dragon, 88 00:08:31,225 --> 00:08:36,094 a wondrous portent in a land no human had ever seen. 89 00:08:52,665 --> 00:08:56,658 Greek tradition set the tale of Jason in the age of heroes, 90 00:08:56,825 --> 00:08:59,623 the time of the Trojan War, 91 00:08:59,785 --> 00:09:02,618 what we call the Mycenaean Age. 92 00:09:02,785 --> 00:09:05,583 0f course, it sounds like a fairy tale, 93 00:09:05,745 --> 00:09:09,454 but Troy was a fairy tale till archaeologists dug it up. 94 00:09:09,625 --> 00:09:10,944 Wow! 95 00:09:11,105 --> 00:09:15,383 And in 2001 came another amazing discovery, 96 00:09:15,545 --> 00:09:18,423 the Bronze Age palace of Jason's Iolkos, 97 00:09:18,585 --> 00:09:22,339 frozen in the moment of its final destruction. 98 00:09:24,345 --> 00:09:28,054 (WOMAN SPEAKING GREEK) 99 00:09:28,225 --> 00:09:32,582 For Dr Adrimi-Sismani, the fruit of a lifetime's quest. 100 00:09:32,745 --> 00:09:39,503 And these are new? They haven't been used? 101 00:09:39,665 --> 00:09:42,133 (DR ADRIMI-SISMANI SPEAKING GREEK) 102 00:09:43,505 --> 00:09:46,497 (MICHAEL) Oh, yes. (LAUGHS) 103 00:09:47,785 --> 00:09:54,338 So this is a room in the Mycenaean palace of Iolkos, 104 00:09:54,505 --> 00:09:56,735 next to the kitchen block, 105 00:09:56,905 --> 00:10:02,662 destroyed - nobody's sure what the reason would be - towards 1200BC, 106 00:10:02,825 --> 00:10:05,419 so after the time, the legendary time. 107 00:10:05,585 --> 00:10:08,497 But the marks of the catastrophe everywhere. 108 00:10:08,665 --> 00:10:14,820 A shelf or something like this has fallen down, with these unused pieces of pottery around it. 109 00:10:14,985 --> 00:10:18,341 So this is the actual destruction debris 110 00:10:18,505 --> 00:10:21,258 of the last Mycenaean palace of Iolkos, 111 00:10:21,425 --> 00:10:26,624 in the position where it fell, 3,000 or more years ago. 112 00:10:26,785 --> 00:10:28,821 It's staggering, isn't it? 113 00:10:30,145 --> 00:10:34,343 So the key question, could this be the palace Jason knew? 114 00:10:35,185 --> 00:10:38,700 Is this the place remembered in the poetic tradition? 115 00:10:46,145 --> 00:10:48,613 But despite such a wonderful find, 116 00:10:48,785 --> 00:10:53,461 when dealing with myths, historians always have to be cautious. 117 00:10:55,305 --> 00:10:58,183 Dr Sismani is saying, ''As an archaeologist, 118 00:10:58,345 --> 00:11:03,499 ''I can't say this is the palace of Jason until I find his name inscribed here 119 00:11:03,665 --> 00:11:09,695 ''but what I can say is that this was the great centre of Mycenaean power at this time.'' 120 00:11:16,185 --> 00:11:19,336 So the tale has a place and a time. 121 00:11:19,505 --> 00:11:22,463 In the late Bronze Age, around 1400BC, 122 00:11:22,625 --> 00:11:28,575 Iolkos was the northernmost Greek kingdom, a seafaring place since prehistory. 123 00:11:30,665 --> 00:11:34,658 If there ever was such an adventure, it surely began here. 124 00:11:50,745 --> 00:11:54,374 But to go to the end of the earth, you need a boat, 125 00:11:54,545 --> 00:11:57,184 and not just any boat. 126 00:11:57,345 --> 00:12:02,578 This is going to be a 50-oared, Mycenaean boat, 127 00:12:02,745 --> 00:12:07,023 a reconstruction of the Argo made from wood from Mount Pelion. 128 00:12:07,185 --> 00:12:10,973 Its name, Argo, means ''swift''. 129 00:12:11,145 --> 00:12:14,740 The Greeks say it was the first boat to have a name 130 00:12:14,905 --> 00:12:16,896 and a personality. 131 00:12:23,265 --> 00:12:26,063 So why are you putting water on the wood? 132 00:12:26,225 --> 00:12:33,495 Because we have to keep it wet... to take the right shape. 133 00:12:33,665 --> 00:12:37,738 Ah, so it enables you to bend the wood? Right, yeah, yeah. 134 00:12:42,945 --> 00:12:47,735 Just look at it. Great pieces of tree just bent like... 135 00:12:50,865 --> 00:12:56,542 And this technique of taking three pieces of a tree and putting them together, 136 00:12:56,705 --> 00:12:59,822 - this is an ancient technique? - Yes. 137 00:12:59,985 --> 00:13:02,021 It's absolutely mind-blowing. 138 00:13:02,185 --> 00:13:07,134 It's so primitive. You put three trees together and sail to the Black Sea. 139 00:13:07,305 --> 00:13:11,378 - So could you sail this to the Black Sea? - Yes, yes. 140 00:13:11,545 --> 00:13:16,221 - To the Pontus - To the Pontus. It is very strong. 141 00:13:16,385 --> 00:13:22,654 When they built the Argo, they put a piece of wood in from Dodona, the magic wood. 142 00:13:22,825 --> 00:13:27,819 - Which is it? - The magic wood is this. The wood who speaks. 143 00:13:27,985 --> 00:13:29,577 - Yeah, yeah. - Yes? 144 00:13:29,745 --> 00:13:35,183 This is oak, the magic oak, from Dodona. 145 00:13:35,345 --> 00:13:38,496 (MICHAEL) This is the magic oak from Dodona. 146 00:13:53,225 --> 00:13:55,500 (CAR HORNS BEEPING) 147 00:13:55,665 --> 00:13:59,499 All Jason needed now was a crew. But not just any crew. 148 00:13:59,665 --> 00:14:03,101 He didn't wander around Volos looking for deckhands. 149 00:14:03,265 --> 00:14:09,534 The legend as it's come down to us is a roll call of every great name from the age of heroes, 150 00:14:09,705 --> 00:14:13,015 the most famous crew that ever was. 151 00:14:14,185 --> 00:14:17,780 This is the monument to the Argo and its crew. 152 00:14:17,945 --> 00:14:23,019 And here's the crew, all the most famous heroes in Greece. 153 00:14:23,185 --> 00:14:26,097 Hercules, Heracles, Orpheus, 154 00:14:26,265 --> 00:14:29,098 Castor, they're all here. 155 00:14:29,265 --> 00:14:31,415 Polidefkis... 156 00:14:31,585 --> 00:14:34,099 Theseus! (LAUGHS) 157 00:14:34,265 --> 00:14:36,984 They're like the Magnificent Seven, 158 00:14:37,145 --> 00:14:40,262 every one has their great talent or quality. 159 00:14:40,425 --> 00:14:43,895 And down here, Atalanta, the great runner, 160 00:14:44,065 --> 00:14:46,533 the only female member of the crew. 161 00:14:51,865 --> 00:14:56,939 The legend says that Jason sailed from Greece to Colchis, today's Georgia. 162 00:14:57,105 --> 00:15:03,101 To the earliest poets the Black Sea was part of the Great 0cean circling the earth. 163 00:15:03,265 --> 00:15:07,736 It was, literally, a voyage to the edge of the world. 164 00:15:14,465 --> 00:15:19,744 At the start of the journey, Jason is young, inexperienced in the ways of men 165 00:15:19,905 --> 00:15:24,456 and as Mount Pelion fades into the distance, he bursts into tears. 166 00:15:26,265 --> 00:15:29,462 There's something strangely unheroic about Jason. 167 00:15:29,625 --> 00:15:32,298 Things seem to happen to him by chance. 168 00:15:32,465 --> 00:15:37,823 If you think of the other Greek heroes: Achilles's great quality is killing people 169 00:15:37,985 --> 00:15:39,543 without thinking. 170 00:15:39,705 --> 00:15:45,575 Odysseus: wiliness and cunning, always two steps ahead of everybody else. 171 00:15:45,745 --> 00:15:50,421 They're the kind of models by which young men should live their lives 172 00:15:50,585 --> 00:15:53,861 and define themselves as men; Jason's different. 173 00:15:59,705 --> 00:16:02,697 Jason's not macho, he's not a killer. 174 00:16:02,865 --> 00:16:06,699 And he's receptive to the power of women. 175 00:16:11,905 --> 00:16:17,218 In fact, Jason's relations with women will be his fate. 176 00:16:17,385 --> 00:16:23,699 As with other great heroes in the world's myths, Gilgamesh, King Arthur, even James Bond, 177 00:16:23,865 --> 00:16:28,655 he achieves his quest only with the help of a divine woman. 178 00:16:35,545 --> 00:16:39,299 And so the journey, as some ancient writers understood it, 179 00:16:39,465 --> 00:16:41,421 was also an inward voyage, 180 00:16:41,585 --> 00:16:44,304 a tale of initiation. 181 00:16:49,385 --> 00:16:54,095 And Jason's first test was on the island of Lemnos. 182 00:16:58,905 --> 00:17:00,896 As they approached the island, 183 00:17:01,065 --> 00:17:06,014 the Argonauts realised that a host of warriors had come out to meet them. 184 00:17:06,185 --> 00:17:11,578 To their surprise, though, they soon discovered that the warriors were women. 185 00:17:11,745 --> 00:17:14,976 Their queen, Hypsipyle, was the first to speak, 186 00:17:15,145 --> 00:17:18,057 blushing in a most unwarlike fashion. 187 00:17:19,065 --> 00:17:23,502 ''Stranger,'' she said to Jason, ''do not be afraid. 188 00:17:23,665 --> 00:17:27,101 ''We are unprotected. We have lost all our men.'' 189 00:17:28,305 --> 00:17:33,254 She told how the women of Lemnos had been cursed by the goddess of love, 190 00:17:33,425 --> 00:17:37,862 and how, as a result, their men had abandoned them for other women, 191 00:17:38,025 --> 00:17:39,743 and left the island. 192 00:17:39,905 --> 00:17:44,979 ''So,'' she continued, ''we invite you all to stay here with us 193 00:17:45,145 --> 00:17:47,864 ''and if the prospect pleases you, 194 00:17:49,265 --> 00:17:51,574 ''to come to our beds.'' 195 00:18:06,945 --> 00:18:10,142 0f course, it sounds like another fairy story, 196 00:18:10,305 --> 00:18:17,302 but the tale of the Lemnian women was already well-known to Homer in the 8th century BC. 197 00:18:17,465 --> 00:18:22,778 The place where it happened, Bronze Age Lemnos, was the earliest town in Europe 198 00:18:22,945 --> 00:18:27,382 and, strangely enough, it imported metals from the Black Sea coast, 199 00:18:27,545 --> 00:18:31,015 on the way to Colchis, the land of the Golden Fleece. 200 00:18:31,185 --> 00:18:36,578 Astonishing to think that Poliochni was founded in the fifth millennium BC, 201 00:18:36,745 --> 00:18:39,578 before the Pyramids, before Stonehenge. 202 00:18:39,745 --> 00:18:43,101 The most advanced Neolithic culture on the Aegean, 203 00:18:43,265 --> 00:18:47,053 on a volcanic island, it was a metalworking place. 204 00:18:47,225 --> 00:18:50,217 Homer calls it ''smoke-shrouded Lemnos''. 205 00:18:50,385 --> 00:18:57,097 And it lasts all the way through to the Trojan War, so this was the Lemnos of the Greek myths. 206 00:18:57,265 --> 00:19:01,816 This was the town that the Argonauts came to in the story 207 00:19:01,985 --> 00:19:05,580 and the place where the Lemnian women received them. 208 00:19:08,105 --> 00:19:13,225 But the Lemnian women, don't forget, had been cursed by the goddess of love. 209 00:19:13,385 --> 00:19:18,254 She'd given them a stink so foul that they repelled all men. 210 00:19:19,265 --> 00:19:22,257 And where did that weird tale come from? 211 00:19:22,425 --> 00:19:27,180 Well, the women in Bronze Age Lemnos were skilled in dying cloth. 212 00:19:27,345 --> 00:19:32,260 They used a dye made from the glands of a sea snail mixed with human urine. 213 00:19:32,425 --> 00:19:36,737 It produces the richest colour and the worst stink on earth. 214 00:19:38,665 --> 00:19:42,214 A clue to a Bronze Age reality behind the tale? 215 00:19:58,945 --> 00:20:03,302 By making love to the women, the Argonauts broke the curse. 216 00:20:05,265 --> 00:20:10,817 - (MICHAEL) You are all the children of... - The Argonauts, yes! 217 00:20:18,585 --> 00:20:21,816 But the women of Lemnos had a dark secret. 218 00:20:21,985 --> 00:20:27,423 What they hadn't told Jason was that they'd murdered all their men, 219 00:20:27,585 --> 00:20:32,136 got them drunk, stuffed them in sacks and thrown them into the sea. 220 00:20:34,185 --> 00:20:37,143 Ah! So this is the cliff? 221 00:20:37,305 --> 00:20:40,183 - Oui! - The place where they threw them off. 222 00:20:40,345 --> 00:20:44,463 - Petassos: ''petaxa'' in Greek. Petaxa. - Throw. 223 00:20:44,625 --> 00:20:50,018 Wow. So the name of the cliff preserves the legend. ''Petaxa'' is to throw in Greek. 224 00:20:50,185 --> 00:20:52,540 This, in the legend, is the place 225 00:20:52,705 --> 00:20:56,857 where the Lemnian women threw them off the cliff into the sea. 226 00:21:02,705 --> 00:21:05,014 As so often in Greek myths, 227 00:21:05,185 --> 00:21:09,417 the fairy tale turns out to be strange and cruel. 228 00:21:11,025 --> 00:21:16,861 Queen Hypsipyle feel in love with Jason and asked him to stay and see his sons grow up. 229 00:21:17,025 --> 00:21:20,700 But Jason was a hero on a quest and he had to go on. 230 00:21:24,225 --> 00:21:28,935 We've had high winds for two days and we couldn't get off the island 231 00:21:29,105 --> 00:21:31,380 but the ferry's finally arrived. 232 00:21:33,345 --> 00:21:35,097 In the Bronze Age, 233 00:21:35,265 --> 00:21:40,259 the name of the month of May, Ploistio, meant the time when sailing began. 234 00:21:44,785 --> 00:21:47,538 In winter, it was best to stay in harbour. 235 00:21:47,705 --> 00:21:50,856 Even today, few Greeks, unless they have to, 236 00:21:51,025 --> 00:21:54,574 venture out of season across the wine-dark sea. 237 00:21:58,625 --> 00:22:01,583 Jason's quest, I'm sure, was a summer voyage. 238 00:22:01,745 --> 00:22:06,580 He wouldn't risk the wrath of Poseidon, the god of the sea. 239 00:22:15,825 --> 00:22:19,784 But as insurance, Jason landed at the island of Samothrace, 240 00:22:19,945 --> 00:22:24,382 home of the mysterious Great Gods, to get their magic protection 241 00:22:24,545 --> 00:22:27,901 before passing beyond the limits of the known. 242 00:22:35,385 --> 00:22:40,254 To reach the Black Sea, the Argonauts needed to navigate the currents 243 00:22:40,425 --> 00:22:43,974 pouring out of the Great 0cean through the Bosphorus. 244 00:23:13,705 --> 00:23:19,223 We're arriving in Istanbul, once Constantinople, greatest city in the world. 245 00:23:22,145 --> 00:23:26,855 Istanbul has always been the crossroads between Europe and Asia. 246 00:23:29,905 --> 00:23:33,864 It was founded by the Greeks around 700BC. 247 00:23:35,745 --> 00:23:41,980 In one version of the legend, it was Jason who built the first shrine on this spot, 248 00:23:42,145 --> 00:23:46,104 the beginning of one of the great colonisations in history, 249 00:23:46,265 --> 00:23:51,419 which opened up the Black Sea and southern Russia to Greek civilization. 250 00:24:00,385 --> 00:24:04,503 So this was built in the middle of the 6th century 251 00:24:04,665 --> 00:24:11,264 and for nearly 1,000 years was the main church of the Greek Orthodox world, 252 00:24:11,425 --> 00:24:18,103 the centre of the Greek Christian world that succeeded the world of the Ancients. 253 00:24:21,745 --> 00:24:25,135 But in the myth, all that is a dream of the future. 254 00:24:26,105 --> 00:24:30,337 For Jason, the straits of the Bosphorus were guarded by terrifying obstacles 255 00:24:30,505 --> 00:24:34,976 that crushed all ships trying to pass, the Clashing Rocks. 256 00:24:36,185 --> 00:24:40,895 0nly man knew the secret of how to sail through, Phineus the seer, 257 00:24:41,065 --> 00:24:46,219 who'd been blinded by the gods for telling too much of the future. 258 00:24:51,425 --> 00:24:54,462 ''Listen, Jason,'' said Phineus, 259 00:24:55,865 --> 00:25:00,780 ''about your destiny I can only reveal what the gods permit, 260 00:25:00,945 --> 00:25:07,384 ''for Zeus, the king of the gods, wills it that humanity shall never see all of heaven's design. 261 00:25:08,625 --> 00:25:15,178 ''But for the Clashing Rocks, as you approach the cliffs, release a dove to fly on ahead. 262 00:25:15,345 --> 00:25:19,896 ''The Rocks will clash shut. As they reopen, you must seize your chance 263 00:25:20,065 --> 00:25:23,501 ''and row through with all your might. 264 00:25:23,665 --> 00:25:27,180 ''But, sir,'' said Jason, 265 00:25:27,345 --> 00:25:32,294 ''will we get safely back to Greece? That's what we want to know. 266 00:25:32,465 --> 00:25:35,457 ''My son,'' said the old man, 267 00:25:35,625 --> 00:25:37,934 ''I can say no more. 268 00:25:38,105 --> 00:25:43,179 ''But remember this: your best ally is Aphrodite, the goddess of love. 269 00:25:43,345 --> 00:25:47,384 ''The success of your quest depends on her. 270 00:25:47,545 --> 00:25:49,775 ''Ask me no more.'' 271 00:25:58,105 --> 00:26:05,056 So Jason was the first sailor to pass the straits into the new world of the Black Sea. 272 00:26:05,225 --> 00:26:07,295 (FOGHORN BLASTS) 273 00:26:15,705 --> 00:26:19,698 So once the Argo whooshed through between the Clashing Rocks, 274 00:26:19,865 --> 00:26:22,459 they stayed open forever. 275 00:26:22,625 --> 00:26:25,298 That's them, according to the story, 276 00:26:25,465 --> 00:26:28,696 the landmark at the end of the Bosphorus. 277 00:26:28,865 --> 00:26:34,861 And ahead of them, for the first time for any Greek, according to the legend, 278 00:26:35,025 --> 00:26:39,223 there was open sea, a bare horizon. 279 00:26:49,825 --> 00:26:55,775 ''GloryI Your fire inflames men's souls, '' says a Roman poem on Jason. 280 00:26:56,825 --> 00:27:01,501 ''You are the siren song that drives men to risk their all. '' 281 00:27:03,185 --> 00:27:06,382 But are they heroes or mere dreamers? 282 00:27:16,305 --> 00:27:21,698 (W0MAN) The Golden Fleece is a present, first of all, of God to the Greeks. 283 00:27:25,425 --> 00:27:30,499 It is a way of travelling to this new world... 284 00:27:33,105 --> 00:27:38,133 ..which is rich in metals and in the knowledge of working the metals. 285 00:27:38,305 --> 00:27:41,217 So you think they got into the Black Sea 286 00:27:41,385 --> 00:27:44,900 even in the late Bronze Age, the age of heroes? 287 00:27:45,065 --> 00:27:48,102 - Of course. - That's the root of the story. 288 00:27:48,265 --> 00:27:51,780 Is there a real journey behind it at some point? 289 00:27:51,945 --> 00:27:54,823 Hundreds of journeys, hundreds of journeys, 290 00:27:54,985 --> 00:27:58,580 during the late prehistoric, the late Bronze Age, 291 00:27:58,745 --> 00:28:03,739 trying to get through the Bosphorus, into the Black Sea, 292 00:28:03,905 --> 00:28:07,022 because this was the richest part of the world. 293 00:28:08,545 --> 00:28:12,094 So it's a kind of El Dorado for these early peoples. 294 00:28:12,265 --> 00:28:17,055 And all these sagas, and all these tales, and all these poems, 295 00:28:17,225 --> 00:28:22,424 and all these tragedies, and all this money, richness, wealth... 296 00:28:22,585 --> 00:28:25,463 They're wealthy people, wealthy people. 297 00:28:26,665 --> 00:28:30,260 I think that finally became one story: Jason. 298 00:28:38,825 --> 00:28:44,616 Jason's journey along the Black Sea coast is a mix of real geography and fantasy. 299 00:28:44,785 --> 00:28:49,495 The Argonauts pass Amazons and fight off arrow-shooting birds. 300 00:28:52,585 --> 00:28:57,864 But on the way, you can still find traces of what seems like a real voyage. 301 00:28:59,985 --> 00:29:04,581 At one point, Jason lands in what sounds like an ancient industrial estate... 302 00:29:06,345 --> 00:29:08,700 the land of the Iron People. 303 00:29:10,345 --> 00:29:14,896 This is where experimental archaeology comes in. 304 00:29:18,825 --> 00:29:20,497 OK. 305 00:29:20,665 --> 00:29:23,338 I've brought with me a magnet. 306 00:29:26,185 --> 00:29:27,937 (LAUGHS) 307 00:29:28,105 --> 00:29:30,096 Isn't that great? 308 00:29:36,025 --> 00:29:38,300 (LAUGHS) 309 00:29:40,225 --> 00:29:43,774 There you are. They did work iron here. 310 00:29:43,945 --> 00:29:49,383 In fact, the old metalworkings are everywhere in the back of these hills. 311 00:29:49,545 --> 00:29:54,824 Many people think that this part of the story doesn't come from the Bronze Age, 312 00:29:54,985 --> 00:29:57,704 of course, but from the Iron Age. 313 00:29:57,865 --> 00:30:02,063 It just goes to show how many layers go into a legend. 314 00:30:12,065 --> 00:30:18,254 That night, we camped at a place the Turks still call Cape Jason, just as the ancients did. 315 00:30:19,465 --> 00:30:22,696 The locals have a great twist to the story. 316 00:30:22,865 --> 00:30:25,743 This, they say, is as far as Jason got 317 00:30:25,905 --> 00:30:32,743 because the Argo sank here and Jason and his brothers settled down and married local girls. 318 00:30:33,625 --> 00:30:35,980 (SPEAKING TURKISH) 319 00:30:43,785 --> 00:30:46,618 There were three Ancient Greek brothers 320 00:30:46,785 --> 00:30:50,539 who were called Yason, which is Jason, 321 00:30:50,705 --> 00:30:52,775 Giresun and Samsun. 322 00:30:52,945 --> 00:30:57,018 And Yason stayed here, Giresun... Am I right? 323 00:30:57,185 --> 00:30:59,745 - Yes. - Samsun at the city of Samsun. 324 00:30:59,905 --> 00:31:05,138 So the local legend is a tale of colonisation. Isn't that interesting? Amazing. 325 00:31:26,185 --> 00:31:32,294 Civilizations rise and fall, religions change, but not the human imagination, 326 00:31:32,465 --> 00:31:36,981 which hands on the gifts of the past, almost like a genetic code. 327 00:31:39,985 --> 00:31:44,536 In the abandoned Greek monastery of Soumela, there's a sacred cave. 328 00:31:44,705 --> 00:31:46,582 Come and look at this. 329 00:31:46,745 --> 00:31:48,940 Isn't that sensational? 330 00:31:50,145 --> 00:31:55,344 Here you can see the Christian world which overpainted Jason's pagan universe. 331 00:31:55,505 --> 00:32:01,262 But they still share the same myths, the divine woman, the supernatural powers 332 00:32:01,425 --> 00:32:03,814 and the heroes. 333 00:32:05,105 --> 00:32:11,260 You can see Jonah and the whale looking very like Jason being delivered from the dragon. 334 00:32:11,425 --> 00:32:14,974 The hero's task is still to enter the realm of death. 335 00:32:15,145 --> 00:32:18,535 The saints, the heroes... 336 00:32:20,705 --> 00:32:25,301 And by his courage and steadfastness gain everlasting fame. 337 00:32:26,665 --> 00:32:32,422 It makes you realise that all the great myths of humanity, the story of Jason included, 338 00:32:32,585 --> 00:32:37,340 are really about the conflict between good and evil, and facing death. 339 00:32:54,105 --> 00:32:56,539 (BELLOWING, CROWD SHOUTING) 340 00:32:59,785 --> 00:33:03,141 Just get ready to run if they come this way, OK? 341 00:33:03,785 --> 00:33:07,824 - (SNORTING) - (COMMENTARY OVER PA) 342 00:33:10,625 --> 00:33:16,814 Just before the Georgian border, I stumbled on a bull festival straight out of Jason's world. 343 00:33:16,985 --> 00:33:19,101 (BELLOWING) 344 00:33:19,265 --> 00:33:25,784 You think of all those Greek myths, like Zeus takes the form of a bull to seduce Europa, 345 00:33:25,945 --> 00:33:30,143 it's the bull that comes out of the sea to father the Minotaur, 346 00:33:30,305 --> 00:33:33,502 the bull-headed monster of the labyrinth... 347 00:33:34,985 --> 00:33:38,182 There's something about dreams here. 348 00:33:41,385 --> 00:33:46,857 Jason doesn't know it yet but that's one of the tests that lies ahead. 349 00:34:05,705 --> 00:34:11,223 And so we enter Georgia, ancient Colchis, the land of the Golden Fleece. 350 00:34:16,145 --> 00:34:18,864 Georgia has a wonderfully rich history. 351 00:34:19,025 --> 00:34:22,813 For centuries, it's been a bridge between East and West, 352 00:34:22,985 --> 00:34:26,694 and that bridge was first created by the Ancient Greeks, 353 00:34:26,865 --> 00:34:31,302 who began to found colonies here after 600BC, 354 00:34:31,465 --> 00:34:35,697 as they saw it, following in the footsteps of the Argonauts. 355 00:34:40,825 --> 00:34:42,895 (COCKEREL CROWS) 356 00:34:47,265 --> 00:34:49,620 (MICHAEL SPEAKS IN GREEK) 357 00:34:49,785 --> 00:34:52,583 And the Greeks are still here. 358 00:34:54,265 --> 00:34:59,100 This is Michael's mum and the children are preparing pictures for us. 359 00:34:59,265 --> 00:35:03,099 You're not going to believe this. Look at this! 360 00:35:03,265 --> 00:35:07,099 (CONVERSATION IN GREEK) 361 00:35:07,265 --> 00:35:09,574 Look at this! 362 00:35:09,745 --> 00:35:14,455 - Do they know any of the people? - I know all of them. 363 00:35:14,625 --> 00:35:16,820 - No! - It is my father. 364 00:35:16,985 --> 00:35:20,978 (SPEAKING IN GREEK) 365 00:35:21,145 --> 00:35:22,942 The faces of the people! 366 00:35:23,105 --> 00:35:26,461 The lyre player could almost be 0rpheus. 367 00:35:26,625 --> 00:35:31,540 There's Atalanta, the runner, and there's young Jason himself, 368 00:35:31,705 --> 00:35:33,775 big-boned, open face. 369 00:35:33,945 --> 00:35:39,577 - Fantastic! - (SPEAKING IN GREEK) 370 00:35:39,745 --> 00:35:42,020 - Yamas! Yamas! - Yamas! 371 00:35:50,785 --> 00:35:57,099 After sweeping along the coast of Colchis, the Argo entered the mouth of the River Phasis. 372 00:35:58,225 --> 00:36:01,774 In early Greek myth, this was the edge of the world. 373 00:36:07,985 --> 00:36:13,139 You see the surf line there, which is the waves meeting the river as it pours out, 374 00:36:13,305 --> 00:36:15,580 we've got to get through that. 375 00:36:17,105 --> 00:36:19,983 Today, the Phasis is called the Rhion. 376 00:36:22,545 --> 00:36:25,901 We've struck...we've struck land already. 377 00:36:30,305 --> 00:36:33,024 He's just walking across the estuary now 378 00:36:33,185 --> 00:36:39,101 to see whether there's anywhere where the water's deep enough for us to get in. 379 00:36:41,105 --> 00:36:47,704 Ancient heroes may have sailed into the Phasis but of course people don't do that today. 380 00:36:48,905 --> 00:36:51,942 The port's the other side. 381 00:37:00,745 --> 00:37:04,215 - (SPEAKING IN GREEK) - No problem. Fantastic. 382 00:37:04,385 --> 00:37:08,617 Can you remember the way out? (LAUGHING) Yeah? 383 00:37:13,265 --> 00:37:15,256 Now, strange as it may seem, 384 00:37:15,425 --> 00:37:18,656 the Argonauts had got all the way to Colchis 385 00:37:18,825 --> 00:37:22,977 without stopping to think how they would get hold of the Fleece. 386 00:37:23,145 --> 00:37:25,261 So they held a council of war. 387 00:37:25,425 --> 00:37:30,738 Some of the heroes favoured using force but Jason suggested a more subtle tack. 388 00:37:30,905 --> 00:37:36,457 ''My friends,'' he said, ''you stay on board while I go and parley with their king. 389 00:37:36,625 --> 00:37:40,538 ''I'll see if he's arrogant and confident in his power 390 00:37:40,705 --> 00:37:44,334 ''or if he's friendly, maybe we can strike a bargain. 391 00:37:44,505 --> 00:37:50,501 ''In exchange for the Fleece, the heroes of Greece could offer to vanquish his enemies.'' 392 00:37:51,465 --> 00:37:53,774 (THUNDER RUMBLING) 393 00:37:58,345 --> 00:38:03,339 To the Ancient Greeks, Colchis was a sinister, alien land, 394 00:38:03,505 --> 00:38:09,614 ruled by a cruel king, Aietes, whose power depended on keeping the Golden Fleece. 395 00:38:13,625 --> 00:38:16,059 They called his city Aia 396 00:38:16,225 --> 00:38:21,299 and they placed it somewhere in the waterways and lakes behind the coast. 397 00:38:22,945 --> 00:38:25,140 But was it a real city? 398 00:38:31,545 --> 00:38:35,424 Needless to say, archaeologists have combed this part of Georgia 399 00:38:35,585 --> 00:38:38,383 looking for the city of the sun god. 400 00:38:43,025 --> 00:38:48,053 In the 1870s came rumours of fabulous finds near the town of Vani. 401 00:38:48,225 --> 00:38:54,334 After every torrential rain, out of the hillside were washed gold ornaments, 402 00:38:54,505 --> 00:38:57,383 jewels, rings and necklaces. 403 00:38:57,545 --> 00:39:03,142 ''The whole hill,'' said one of the newspapers, ''is full of gold.'' 404 00:39:08,905 --> 00:39:14,855 The gold of Colchis even drew the legendary excavator of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann, 405 00:39:15,025 --> 00:39:20,577 the man who found the Jewels of Helen and the Mask of Agamemnon. 406 00:39:20,745 --> 00:39:24,738 Perhaps Schliemann hoped to find the Golden Fleece itself. 407 00:39:34,465 --> 00:39:38,777 Modern archaeologists have found much more gold at Vani 408 00:39:38,945 --> 00:39:41,220 and a walled, native Colchian city. 409 00:39:41,385 --> 00:39:44,183 What have you got here? Do you know yet? 410 00:39:44,345 --> 00:39:48,577 Its heyday was from 600BC, long after the Bronze Age, 411 00:39:48,745 --> 00:39:52,863 but just the time when the Greeks were planting colonies here, 412 00:39:53,025 --> 00:39:56,256 when the myth had become fixed in Georgia. 413 00:39:56,425 --> 00:40:02,261 Do you think there could possibly have been an expedition here, to this place, 414 00:40:02,425 --> 00:40:04,893 in the Bronze Age, to Colchis? 415 00:40:05,065 --> 00:40:11,254 Maybe in the myth, some memory preserved about the first explorers of the Black Sea area, 416 00:40:11,425 --> 00:40:15,259 and this connects with the period of Greek colonisation. 417 00:40:15,425 --> 00:40:22,615 In 8th century, when literally was fixed, this myth of Argonauts or the Golden Fleece country, 418 00:40:22,785 --> 00:40:27,700 it was Colchis where it stopped - this myth stopped in Colchis. 419 00:40:27,865 --> 00:40:31,778 And out of this Colchis is this country of original gold, 420 00:40:31,945 --> 00:40:34,778 the El Dorado for the Ancient Greeks. 421 00:40:34,945 --> 00:40:38,494 - Fantastic. - It's actually rich in gold. 422 00:40:38,665 --> 00:40:42,943 - True, it actually was rich in gold. - Rich in gold, yeah, wow. 423 00:40:43,105 --> 00:40:50,056 Who were Argonauts? They were good, well-organised band of robbers. 424 00:40:53,865 --> 00:40:57,016 A band of robbers? A simple act of piracy? 425 00:40:57,185 --> 00:41:00,939 Could that be the truth behind Jason's quest? 426 00:41:05,665 --> 00:41:09,021 - Quite a nice town, isn't it? - Yes. 427 00:41:09,185 --> 00:41:15,135 A Roman writer says that in his day the descendants of King Aietes still ruled here 428 00:41:15,305 --> 00:41:20,095 and mined gold in Svani, today's Svaneti. 429 00:41:22,225 --> 00:41:27,379 - This is Richard. - Richard! I'm Michael. Very nice to meet you. 430 00:41:27,545 --> 00:41:30,343 Svaneti is a wild valley in the Caucasus. 431 00:41:30,505 --> 00:41:34,134 Days before we arrived, it was still closed to outsiders 432 00:41:34,305 --> 00:41:38,742 and we could only go there with the protection of local families. 433 00:41:39,865 --> 00:41:45,815 We've been given a few rules. If you look the men too long in the eye, it's a threat. 434 00:41:45,985 --> 00:41:49,500 Don't look at the women at all. And never show fear. 435 00:41:54,425 --> 00:41:57,895 Heracles no doubt said the same thing to Jason. 436 00:42:16,665 --> 00:42:19,225 (MAN SPEAKING GEORGIAN) 437 00:42:25,465 --> 00:42:30,141 This is the place where, in my opinion, Argonauts turned to that side 438 00:42:30,305 --> 00:42:33,820 because at that time, the roads were different 439 00:42:33,985 --> 00:42:38,900 and this was the main caravan road which would go to Mestia and everywhere. 440 00:42:39,065 --> 00:42:41,135 - Across the Caucasus? - Across the Caucasus. 441 00:42:54,505 --> 00:42:59,625 Up here, the Greek writer Strabo offers another explanation of the legend. 442 00:42:59,785 --> 00:43:03,744 He says they panned for gold using fleeces. 443 00:43:07,465 --> 00:43:11,538 You create a wooden box, you put branches in at the bottom, 444 00:43:11,705 --> 00:43:16,540 and when you put the fleece in, you put the whole thing into the water 445 00:43:16,705 --> 00:43:20,823 so the water rushes through it like a sluice. 446 00:43:24,065 --> 00:43:26,181 This is the gold, top quality. 447 00:43:26,345 --> 00:43:29,701 - We call it ''baja holor''. - ''Baja holor''. 448 00:43:29,865 --> 00:43:31,856 (SPEAKING IN GEORGIAN) 449 00:43:32,025 --> 00:43:37,258 - (TRANSLATOR) It's from this river, yes. - Another clue to add to the myth. 450 00:43:37,425 --> 00:43:39,541 Thank you. Thank you very much. 451 00:43:46,065 --> 00:43:48,977 Hello. Nice to meet you. 452 00:43:49,145 --> 00:43:50,897 Hello, hello. 453 00:43:51,065 --> 00:43:53,625 (LAUGHS) Hi, hello, hello. 454 00:43:54,785 --> 00:43:57,299 - Hi. - (MAN) Drink? Vodka? 455 00:43:57,465 --> 00:44:00,184 - Oh, not yet! - (LAUGHTER) 456 00:44:00,345 --> 00:44:02,984 Bit early in the day for that. 457 00:44:03,145 --> 00:44:08,902 - What's brought the soldiers up here? - It's internal troops. 458 00:44:09,065 --> 00:44:12,535 It's basically police. They came to guard you. 459 00:44:12,705 --> 00:44:15,424 Oh, thank you very much. Thank you. 460 00:44:15,585 --> 00:44:18,941 There was potential trouble on the road yesterday 461 00:44:19,105 --> 00:44:24,338 and potential trouble here can rapidly turn to AK-47s being fired 462 00:44:24,505 --> 00:44:29,374 and after centuries of blood feud, it's best to send the police in! 463 00:44:35,785 --> 00:44:39,175 Hello. Hi, guys. Hello. 464 00:44:41,385 --> 00:44:47,824 Here, you can still get a sense of the Colchis portrayed by the Greek and Roman writers. 465 00:44:47,985 --> 00:44:50,499 This tower's fantastic, isn't it? 466 00:44:54,905 --> 00:45:00,662 These towers have been built since ancient times for defence against their neighbours, 467 00:45:00,825 --> 00:45:04,295 against blood feuds carried on for generations. 468 00:45:09,065 --> 00:45:13,741 To the Ancient Greeks, this was the very image of the Barbarian. 469 00:45:15,305 --> 00:45:19,696 In a society like that, loyalty to the clan is paramount. 470 00:45:19,865 --> 00:45:25,337 Hospitality is a sacred duty but also a way of showing your power and influence. 471 00:45:25,505 --> 00:45:28,895 Women are zealously guarded, the men rule 472 00:45:29,065 --> 00:45:34,742 and daughters must obey their fathers absolutely, especially in matters of marriage. 473 00:45:34,905 --> 00:45:38,659 (MAN SINGING CHANT-LIKE MEL0DY) 474 00:45:43,145 --> 00:45:47,024 (CH0IR 0F MEN SINGING IN CL0SE HARM0NY) 475 00:46:00,985 --> 00:46:05,376 Svaneti is so isolated that although they're Christian, 476 00:46:05,545 --> 00:46:09,333 songs and beliefs still survive from the pagan past. 477 00:46:10,625 --> 00:46:15,653 Songs like this, an ancient hymn in praise of the sun god, 478 00:46:15,825 --> 00:46:18,942 the sort of thing Jason might have heard. 479 00:46:29,305 --> 00:46:31,057 (APPLAUSE) 480 00:46:32,225 --> 00:46:34,022 (MICHAEL) Bravo! 481 00:46:35,585 --> 00:46:39,942 That night, the Argonauts were invited by King Aietes to a banquet. 482 00:46:40,105 --> 00:46:45,498 As the drink flowed, Jason calmly asked the king for the Fleece. 483 00:46:45,665 --> 00:46:48,099 The king reacted with murderous fury. 484 00:46:48,265 --> 00:46:50,301 Wow! Yes! 485 00:46:50,465 --> 00:46:56,461 But remember, the success of Jason's mission will depend on the goddess of love. 486 00:46:56,625 --> 00:46:58,183 (SPEAKING GEORGIAN) 487 00:46:58,345 --> 00:47:03,260 (MICHAEL) The whole story changes in tone, it becomes a different story, 488 00:47:03,425 --> 00:47:09,455 it becomes almost... a Greek clash with the Other, 489 00:47:09,625 --> 00:47:11,502 a clash of cultures. 490 00:47:11,665 --> 00:47:15,340 And a new character appears who will take the story over, 491 00:47:15,505 --> 00:47:18,941 a character who will turn out to be 492 00:47:19,105 --> 00:47:23,542 one of the greatest characters in all of myth and literature, 493 00:47:23,705 --> 00:47:27,095 the daughter of the King of Colchis, Medea. 494 00:47:37,585 --> 00:47:42,978 Now, an oracle had foretold that if King Aietes were to lose the Fleece, 495 00:47:43,145 --> 00:47:45,136 he should forfeit his throne. 496 00:47:45,305 --> 00:47:51,699 He wanted to kill Jason then and there but he could not break the law of hospitality. 497 00:47:51,865 --> 00:47:57,144 So he too set Jason a task that none but the gods could hope to fulfil. 498 00:47:59,505 --> 00:48:05,216 ''In my meadow, I have two fire-breathing bulls,'' he said. 499 00:48:06,225 --> 00:48:10,855 ''Yoke them, plough the field, sow it with dragon's teeth 500 00:48:11,025 --> 00:48:15,541 ''and then defeat the army that will spring from the ground. 501 00:48:15,705 --> 00:48:19,380 ''Do this and I'll give you the Fleece.'' 502 00:48:20,465 --> 00:48:22,899 The king thought the tasks impossible, 503 00:48:23,065 --> 00:48:27,502 but Aphrodite, the goddess of love, had done her sweet work. 504 00:48:27,665 --> 00:48:32,022 She made the king's daughter Medea fall in love with Jason. 505 00:48:32,185 --> 00:48:37,020 That night, Medea visited him and gave him a magic ointment 506 00:48:37,185 --> 00:48:43,021 that made him impervious to the fire of the bulls and the swords of the earth-born men. 507 00:48:43,185 --> 00:48:49,977 In return, Jason promised to be her husband and to take her back to Greece. 508 00:48:59,465 --> 00:49:03,378 As with all great myths, there are many strands to this tale 509 00:49:03,545 --> 00:49:05,581 and many meanings. 510 00:49:05,745 --> 00:49:11,456 The last stage of our journey here in Georgia was to find the Fleece itself. 511 00:49:21,625 --> 00:49:26,745 Up in the remote region of Peshavi, you can still visit the sacred grove. 512 00:49:29,465 --> 00:49:33,174 Here they still sacrifice the ram and show the fleece 513 00:49:33,345 --> 00:49:37,816 and you can meet Medea's descendants, the women oracles. 514 00:49:43,185 --> 00:49:48,976 They're Christians today but they did these things in the age of heroes. 515 00:50:03,265 --> 00:50:08,134 And after the sacrifice, they eat the flesh and drink to life. 516 00:50:10,905 --> 00:50:12,975 (MICHAEL) Thank you. Thank you. 517 00:50:15,105 --> 00:50:17,938 Thank you. 518 00:50:28,225 --> 00:50:30,614 They do vegetarian too! 519 00:50:34,745 --> 00:50:36,224 Thank you, thank you. 520 00:50:39,225 --> 00:50:42,456 Jason and Medea enter the sacred grove. 521 00:50:42,625 --> 00:50:46,061 Medea has prepared a magic potion from her herbs 522 00:50:46,225 --> 00:50:50,503 which she anoints on the eyes of the serpent to make it sleep 523 00:50:50,665 --> 00:50:53,498 and Jason takes the Fleece from the tree. 524 00:50:53,665 --> 00:50:56,179 In some versions, he kills the serpent, 525 00:50:56,345 --> 00:51:00,543 but in one ancient version he seems to have been swallowed by it 526 00:51:00,705 --> 00:51:06,735 and he's only regurgitated and brought back to life by the intervention of the goddess. 527 00:51:06,905 --> 00:51:09,738 Maybe that's a clue to the original story. 528 00:51:09,905 --> 00:51:13,500 Perhaps, in origin, it's a kind of initiation story, 529 00:51:13,665 --> 00:51:17,419 in which the young hero undertakes an impossible quest, 530 00:51:17,585 --> 00:51:24,343 enters the realm of death and is redeemed only by the divine woman herself, 531 00:51:24,505 --> 00:51:26,382 whose lover he must become. 532 00:51:40,665 --> 00:51:45,614 So with the Golden Fleece in his hands, Jason swears by the everlasting gods 533 00:51:45,785 --> 00:51:48,663 he will be true to Medea forever. 534 00:51:49,985 --> 00:51:52,135 Wah! 535 00:52:12,385 --> 00:52:18,062 The ancient storytellers told many versions of Jason's return to Greece. 536 00:52:20,825 --> 00:52:24,420 Some took the Argo round the eastern part of the world 537 00:52:24,585 --> 00:52:27,304 and up through the deserts of Africa. 538 00:52:29,265 --> 00:52:33,304 0thers, through the frozen wastes of the Arctic, past Britain 539 00:52:33,465 --> 00:52:36,218 and through the Pillars of Hercules. 540 00:52:37,545 --> 00:52:40,105 Apollonius says they went up the Danube 541 00:52:40,265 --> 00:52:44,497 and carried the Argo through central Europe to the Mediterranean. 542 00:52:48,225 --> 00:52:52,457 But all agree that they arrived here at the island of Anafe, 543 00:52:52,625 --> 00:52:56,982 which Apollo made rise up to save them from a last storm. 544 00:53:02,985 --> 00:53:06,773 And there, you might have thought, the story ended. 545 00:53:06,945 --> 00:53:11,541 Jason and Medea go back to Greece, swear undying love, 546 00:53:11,705 --> 00:53:14,219 and live happily ever after. 547 00:53:15,065 --> 00:53:17,818 But Greek myths are not like that. 548 00:53:17,985 --> 00:53:22,183 It's given to few mortals to live happily ever after. 549 00:53:22,345 --> 00:53:26,224 Human beings can be almost children of the gods, 550 00:53:26,385 --> 00:53:32,335 they can fulfil every oracle, protected by the queen of the gods herself, 551 00:53:32,505 --> 00:53:37,863 but if you overstep the mark, if you fail to show due reverence, 552 00:53:38,025 --> 00:53:42,223 both to the gods and to your fellow human beings, 553 00:53:42,385 --> 00:53:45,104 if you break your most solemn vows, 554 00:53:45,265 --> 00:53:48,860 then fate will catch up with you 555 00:53:49,025 --> 00:53:52,779 and your true destiny will be revealed. 556 00:54:00,265 --> 00:54:02,825 So Jason returned to Iolkos 557 00:54:02,985 --> 00:54:06,216 with the Golden Fleece and his bride, Medea. 558 00:54:07,025 --> 00:54:11,382 His wicked uncle, King Pelias, was astonished to see him 559 00:54:11,545 --> 00:54:14,981 but Medea used her magic to destroy Pelias. 560 00:54:15,145 --> 00:54:20,424 She persuaded his daughters that they could rejuvenate him if they chopped him up 561 00:54:20,585 --> 00:54:22,940 and boiled him in a cauldron. 562 00:54:23,105 --> 00:54:29,135 So Pelias died, Jason was made king and the oracle was fulfilled. 563 00:54:30,305 --> 00:54:34,423 For a while, they prospered and Medea had three sons. 564 00:54:34,585 --> 00:54:38,783 But the people of Iolkos were afraid of Medea and her witchcraft 565 00:54:38,945 --> 00:54:45,464 and, in the end, they drove Jason and his family into exile. 566 00:54:56,705 --> 00:54:59,139 They came south to Corinth. 567 00:55:03,105 --> 00:55:08,179 This is where the story enters the most cruel and dark side of human nature. 568 00:55:10,625 --> 00:55:14,903 It's the bit they never tell in the Hollywood and TV versions, 569 00:55:15,065 --> 00:55:19,980 but it's what makes it a great Greek myth, rather than just a fairy tale. 570 00:55:31,465 --> 00:55:35,856 Here in Corinth, the famous Jason was made king. 571 00:55:39,025 --> 00:55:45,134 He was offered a beautiful young princess as a wife and he accepted 572 00:55:45,305 --> 00:55:48,456 and broke his solemn promise to Medea. 573 00:55:53,705 --> 00:55:57,254 Now, of course, Medea was a larger-than-life character, 574 00:55:57,425 --> 00:56:00,701 she had gods among her ancestors as well as humans 575 00:56:00,865 --> 00:56:04,460 and her passions were correspondingly extreme. 576 00:56:04,625 --> 00:56:07,583 In revenge for what her husband had done, 577 00:56:07,745 --> 00:56:10,737 she murdered their children. 578 00:56:16,585 --> 00:56:22,376 Medea's crime, you might think, is a pure creation of the poets. 579 00:56:22,545 --> 00:56:28,461 And so it is, except for a strange discovery in a lonely bay 580 00:56:28,625 --> 00:56:31,662 just over the water from Corinth. 581 00:56:31,825 --> 00:56:38,094 The ancients connected those events with a headland 582 00:56:38,265 --> 00:56:43,897 where there was a temple to Hera, the queen of the gods, 583 00:56:44,065 --> 00:56:47,455 a temple dedicated by Medea herself. 584 00:56:47,625 --> 00:56:53,336 And the tomb of the murdered children and a weird statue of a frightening woman, 585 00:56:53,505 --> 00:56:56,463 simply known as The Terror. 586 00:57:10,985 --> 00:57:13,579 And Medea's punishment? 587 00:57:13,745 --> 00:57:17,818 She was immortal and the gods protect their own. 588 00:57:18,825 --> 00:57:23,216 They took her back to Mount 0lympus and gave her a new husband, 589 00:57:23,385 --> 00:57:27,856 the great Achilles himself, a true hero. 590 00:57:31,385 --> 00:57:36,778 And as for Jason, well, he ends the story as he began it, 591 00:57:36,945 --> 00:57:40,142 alone in the world with one sandal. 592 00:57:40,305 --> 00:57:44,935 And he wanders back to Iolkos, to the thing that made his fame, 593 00:57:45,105 --> 00:57:47,539 his old boat, the Argo itself, 594 00:57:47,705 --> 00:57:53,257 whose rotting hulk was now lying on display by the seashore. 595 00:57:53,425 --> 00:57:56,383 And sitting weeping in its shadow, 596 00:57:56,545 --> 00:58:02,017 the magic beam, the speaking prow, crashes down on his head and kills him. 597 00:58:03,625 --> 00:58:07,220 Made by the gods, destroyed by the gods, 598 00:58:07,385 --> 00:58:10,058 his destiny had been fulfilled.