Absyrtus’s Family Tree

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Family

• Aeetes(parent),Idyia(parent),Chalciope(sibling),Medea(sibling)— Marriage

  Aeetes, king of Colchis and son of Helios, and the Oceanid Idyia bore Medea, Chalciope, and Absyrtus. Medea later murdered her brother to aid her escape with Jason and the Golden Fleece.

Slain by

• Jason

  Jason ambushed and killed Absyrtus on a sacred island after Medea lured her brother into a trap. He ritually mutilated the body to avert blood-guilt, but the murder haunted the couple's return voyage.

  ⚠ In Apollodorus's version, Medea herself kills and dismembers Absyrtus as a child aboard the Argo; Apollonius has Jason ambush the adult Absyrtus on a Colchian island.

• Medea

  Medea murdered her brother Absyrtus during the flight from Colchis, dismembering the boy and scattering his limbs across the sea to slow their father Aeetes's pursuit.

  ⚠ Apollonius's Argonautica 4.452-481 presents an adult Absyrtus ambushed by Jason at Medea's instigation, while earlier traditions (Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.9.24) describe Medea dismembering a young boy.

Associated with

• Aeaea

  The murder of Absyrtus brought Medea and the Argonauts to Aeaea, where Circe performed purification rites for the killing. Absyrtus's death thus connects directly to the island's role in the Argonautic voyage.

• Aeetes

  Aeetes pursued the Argonauts to recover the Golden Fleece and his daughter Medea. Medea killed her brother Absyrtus and scattered his remains, forcing Aeetes to stop and gather them for burial.

• Argonauts

  The Argonauts' escape from Colchis was secured by Medea's murder of Absyrtus. In Apollonius's version, the Argonauts are cornered by Absyrtus's pursuing fleet before the ambush resolves the standoff.

• Colchis

  Absyrtus was a prince of Colchis, the kingdom at the eastern edge of the Black Sea ruled by his father Aeetes. His murder during the Argonauts' flight is one of the defining events of Colchian mythology.

• Golden Fleece

  When Medea fled Colchis with Jason and the Golden Fleece, she killed her brother Absyrtus and scattered his limbs to delay King Aeetes's pursuit — a horrifying price paid for the fleece's recovery.

• Voyage of the Argo

  Absyrtus was murdered by his sister Medea during the return leg of the Voyage of the Argo. In some versions, Medea dismembered his body and scattered the pieces to slow their father Aeetes' pursuit.