Aeetes- Greek FigureMortal"King of Colchis"

The Golden Fleece

Aeetes was a son of the sun god Helios and the Oceanid Perse, brother of the sorceresses Circe and Pasiphae. He settled far from Greece in Colchis, at the eastern edge of the Black Sea, where he ruled as king from his capital Aea. When the golden ram Chrysomallus bore the refugee Phrixus to Colchis after rescuing him from sacrifice, Aeetes welcomed him and gave him his daughter Chalciope in marriage. Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Zeus and presented its golden fleece to Aeetes, who hung it in a sacred grove of Ares and set a sleepless dragon to guard it. A prophecy warned that his reign would last only as long as the fleece remained in Colchis, giving him powerful reason to defend it against all comers.

The Trials of Jason

When Jason and the Argonauts arrived demanding the fleece, Aeetes had no intention of surrendering it. He set tasks designed to kill even a demigod: Jason must yoke two fire-breathing bronze-hooved bulls to plow a field, then sow dragon's teeth and defeat the armed warriors that sprang from the furrows. Aeetes expected Jason to die in the attempt. But his own daughter Medea, whom Eros at Aphrodite's command had struck with an arrow of desire for Jason, gave the hero protective ointments and secret knowledge that let him survive each trial.

Betrayal and Pursuit

Even after Jason completed the tasks, Aeetes refused to honor his word and plotted to burn the Argo and kill its crew. Medea led Jason to the grove by night, charmed the guardian dragon to sleep, and helped steal the fleece. She fled with the Argonauts, and Aeetes pursued them across the sea. In one tradition, Medea murdered her brother Absyrtus and scattered his dismembered body across the water, forcing Aeetes to stop and gather the pieces for burial. The grief-stricken king abandoned the chase and returned to Colchis, having lost his fleece, his daughter, and his son.