Jason's Quest Trivia Quiz

Answer: His mother pretended he had died at birth

Jason's mother, Alcimede, had just given birth to him when she learned that Pelias was killing his nephews (and presumably nieces, though no one mentions them in the legend). She told her servants to weep and wail as though the baby had died and then she managed to send him to Chiron, a centaur with a reputation for being a good foster father.

Answer: Half man, half horse

The top half of the centaur was usually shown as a man, and the lower half was a horse. There were a few female centaurs but not many. Chiron is the most famous centaur. He was said to have been a good foster father and teacher to several Greek heroes, including Achilles, Ajax, and Perseus, as well as Jason.

Answer: A sandal

On his way back to Iolcus to claim his throne, Jason saw an old woman crossing a river and stopped to help her. As he waded across the river one of his sandals came off and was lost in the rushing water. The legend says that the old woman was actually the goddess Hera in disguise. King Pelias had been warned by a soothsayer to beware of a man with only one shoe so he guessed who Jason was and thought of ways to stop him getting the throne back.

He decided to send him on a quest.

Answer: A winged ram

The Golden Fleece was taken from a winged ram whose name was Chrysomallos. In one version of the story, the ram was said to be the son of Poseidon, God of the Sea, and had helped two children escape death at the hands of their stepmother. Sadly one of the children died but in return for getting the other one to safety, the ram was returned to his father and became the constellation of stars that we call Aries.

The ram's gold fleece was kept and hung from an oak tree in a sacred grove; it was a symbol of kingship and if Jason was able to take it back to his country, it would show he was worthy of being the king.

Answer: Armed soldiers

The dragon is sometimes referred to as a giant serpent but whatever it was, its teeth were supposed to be magic. To plant the teeth, Jason had to use a team of fire-breathing bulls so clearly it's not only dragons that breathe fire but cattle can do it too! Jason got past the armed soldiers by throwing a stone into their ranks; they started fighting each other and when they were all dead, Jason was able to reach the Golden Fleece.

Another version of the legend says that the dragon wasn't killed by Jason but put to sleep by Medea, the daughter of Aeetes. Either way, it lost its teeth.

Answer: The Argonauts

King Pelias knew that the Golden Fleece was guarded by a dragon that never slept so he assumed that Jason would fail to rescue the Fleece. He could therefore afford to look generous and gave Jason all the materials he needed to build a ship. To build the ship, Jason hired a man called Argus who was helped by the goddess Athena. Argus named the ship Argo, a variation of his own name, and the crew became known as the Argonauts.

The crew consisted of a number of Greek heroes, some better known than others. They included Orpheus and Heracles.

Answer: His lyre

On the route between Jason's homeland and the Fleece, there was a group of three rocky islands on which lived some creatures known as Sirens. Sirens are sometimes shown as a cross between birds and women but other images make them look more like mermaids. Whatever form they took, they could certainly sing - and their songs were so beautiful that sailors would always steer their ships towards them and on to the rocks, where they perished.

However, when the Argonauts got near to the islands on their way home, Orpheus took out his lyre and played songs that were more beautiful and also much louder than the Sirens' songs. As a result, the sailors weren't entranced by the Sirens and sailed safely past.

Answer: Harpies

Harpies are usually pictured as birds with women's heads; sometimes they are shown to be beautiful, sometimes ugly, but either way they were usually evil. They are often associated with the spirits of the wind, and they always came and went with great speed.

Phineus was marooned on the island until Jason and the Argonauts arrived. He promised to help them navigate the right course if they would get rid of the Harpies. As the Argonauts included the Boreads, the sons of the North Wind, they were able to drive off the Harpies and the Argo sailed on, with Phineus's help, past other obstacles.

Answer: Chopped him up and put him in a pot

Medea showed Pelias's daughters that she could kill an old ram, turn it into a stew, and then use magic herbs to bring it back to life as a young ram. She told them she could make their father young again if he was cut up and stewed in the same way so his daughters killed him and cut him into small pieces. However, Medea did not use her magic on that stew and he died.

Answer: Part of his ship, the Argo, fell on him

After the Argo returned from the Quest of the Golden Fleece, the ship had been dedicated to the gods. However, if you moor a wooden ship, it will decay unless you look after the wood and that's what happened to the Argo - it rotted. When Jason curled up to sleep in the shadow of his great ship, a bit of rotten wood fell off and killed him.