Colchis- Greek LocationLocation · Landmark"Land at the Edge of the World"

The Land of the Sun

Colchis lay at the far eastern shore of the Black Sea, in the land the Greeks identified with the Caucasus. It stood at the edge of the known world — the place where Helios rose each morning from his golden palace. Its king, Aeëtes, was Helios's own son. Colchis was rich and fertile, watered by the river Phasis, and famous for its gold.

Phrixus and the Golden Fleece

Colchis entered Greek myth when the prince Phrixus arrived on the back of Chrysomallus, the golden-fleeced ram sent to rescue him from his murderous stepmother Ino. The ram carried Phrixus across the sea to Colchis, where King Aeëtes received him hospitably and gave him his daughter Chalciope in marriage. Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Zeus and hung its miraculous golden fleece in a grove sacred to Ares, where it was set under the guard of an ever-wakeful dragon.

The Argonauts' Arrival

When Jason arrived in Colchis to reclaim the Golden Fleece, Aeëtes had no intention of surrendering it. He ordered Jason to yoke two fire-breathing bronze bulls and plow a field, then sow dragon's teeth from which armed warriors would spring. Aeëtes's own daughter Medea, a priestess of Hecate, had fallen in love with Jason through Aphrodite's doing. She gave him ointments that made him fireproof and told him to throw a stone among the sown warriors so they would turn on each other. When Aeëtes still refused to yield the fleece, Medea led Jason to the sacred grove and put the sleepless dragon to sleep with her sorcery.

Medea's Betrayal

Medea fled aboard the Argo with Jason and the fleece. When Aeëtes sent his fleet in pursuit, she killed her own brother Absyrtus and scattered his limbs across the water so that Aeëtes would have to stop and gather them for burial. Colchis was left with a dead prince and an empty grove.