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Greek Author Claims Argonaut Myth Represents Pre-Mycenaean Trade Mission to Black Sea

7/28/2015

21 Comments

 
This week Periklis Deligiannis, a Greek civil engineer and writer on historical themes, posted a two part article to his blog (here and here) in which he attempted to analyze the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, and in so doing borrowed one of the graphics from my Argonauts book’s webpage. Deligiannis, who has written several books on Greco-Roman history, concludes that the myth of the Argonauts represents a pre-Mycenaean social order and that it records a trade voyage launched from Iolkos in Greece to Colchis on the Black Sea coast, and that this particular mission remained in Greek memory because the rising power of Troy soon cut off the trade route, prompting the Trojan War. The trouble is that he’s wrong for a number of reasons.
Picture
Deligannis makes a number of errors, beginning with the fact that he takes the developed Argonaut myth of the Classical and Hellenistic period as representative of the state of the story in the Archaic period and earlier, including all of the people and places of the standard version of the myth. There is no evidence that the full complement of fifty some-odd Argonaut celebrities drawn from all over Greece were original to the myth. Homer knows nothing of them, nor does Hesiod’s Theogony. The Hesiodic fragments contain episodes with some of the famous Argonauts, such as the Boread twins’ encounter with Phineus, but there is no indication that they were part of a coherent Argonautic adventure at that time; some internal evidence suggests they were originally independent myths later folded together.

Deligannis also errs in assuming that the destination for Jason’s trip was always Colchis. This is not established firmly until the Corinthiaca attributed to Eumelus but probably written in the 600s or 500s BCE (Pausanias, Description 2.3.8). The other early reference to his destination referred only to Aea, a mythical land of the dawn in the furthest east (Mimnermus, quoted in Strabo, Geography 1.2.40). The only truly early connection to Colchis is from Hesiod, where the scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes writes at Argonautica 4.284 that Hesiod had said the Argonauts sailed along the Phasis. However, while the Phasis does appear in the Theogony, it is not likely the river of Colchis, which was not so named until the Greeks had colonized the area and named its features after the Argonaut myth. In Hesiod’s day, Martin West concluded a few years ago, the Phasis was simply the great (and mythic) river of the east. 

(By the way, if you are keeping score, the same scholiast writes that the Argonauts had adventures with pygmies, half-dog people, and people with giant heads, the same weirdos who end up in ancient and medieval wonder stories.)

Third, Deligannis errs in accepting euhemerized accounts of the Golden Fleece as accurate, apparently without entirely understanding the source of the claims. He attributes to nineteenth century authors the “conclusion” that the Golden Fleece was either a symbol of the treasure of Colchis, or the golden, ram-shaped prow of a trade ship.

It has been suggested that the legendary Golden Fleece represents the decorative statue on the prow of the Minyan flagship in the first expedition, which supposedly had the form of a gilded ram. I do not refuse this suggestion, but it is also very plausible that the Golden Fleece represents the wealth of Colchis in precious and other metals (gold, silver, iron and others) in which the Minyans were actually interested (this is another suggestion made by the 19th century scholars).
The claim that the Fleece was the treasure of Colchis goes back to Strabo in Geography 1.2.39 and 11.2.19, as enhanced by Pliny’s account in Natural History 33.15. That said, Victorian scholars did indeed abstract from these the claim that the Fleece was itself symbolic of wealth, not simply part of that wealth. The claim that the Fleece was really the prow of a ship appears in Diodorus Siculus, Library 4.47 and in Tacitus, Annals 4.34.4. All of these claims derive from euhemerist readings of the story, particularly the rationalization written by Dionysus Schytobrachion at the same time Apollonius wrote his famous Argonautica. There is no evidence, though, that the Golden Fleece was originally part of the Jason myth, belonging as it does to the originally separate story of Phrixus.

Beyond all of this, there isn’t another case of a trade mission serving as the foundation of an epic myth, nor should it since mythology deals almost entirely with the affairs of the political elite, not the merchant or trade classes. In order for that claim to work, especially Deligannis’s claim that the rising power of Troy prevented the development of a trade route, we must accept all of the uncertain and speculative points above at face value.

At any rate, Deligannis appears to have a Greek-nationalist agenda behind his analysis, one that takes Greek mythology as an accurate representation of Greek history and Greek glory, except, of course, where he has to jettison certain parts, like the appearance of Heracles in the myth, as late additions in order to make his scheme work. As always, the question arises: What rules govern the determination of which sections are accurate and ancient, and which are later corruptions? This is why understanding the oldest sources in chronological order is so important.

Ultimately, Deligannis’s version of the Argonauts myth is much like that of Judith Bacon, who assumed the story was an account of a trade mission in search of amber, and it suffers from the same flaw: assuming the late form of the myth is a guide to its Mycenaean form and assuming that the identifications later made between the mythic and real worlds originated in reality rather than in the mapping of a fantasy onto Greek territory. The long and short of it is that there is no evidence of Greeks in Colchis until at least a century after the oldest references to Jason. Deligannis has taken a grain of truth—that many Greek myths have Mycenaean origins and contain some socio-historical information of varying quality—and spun from it a political fantasy of an ancient period of Greek dominance of the eastern world.

21 Comments
JaredMithrandir link
7/28/2015 09:40:12 am

As shaky as you make the Cholchis connection sound, there is no evidence against it either. and around 600 BC is pretty much as old as our Greek historical sources get period (I believe even Homer and Hesiod are younger then traditionally claimed, as shown by Homer mention Gyges of Lydia).

The idea that some Ancient Greeks traversed the Black Sea is pretty mild compared to most "Fringe History"

Reply
Jason Colavito link
7/28/2015 10:08:49 am

The trouble is that Homer doesn't know about the far shore of the Black Sea but does know about Jason. He knows only as far as Sinope, and even that passage in Iliad 2 is sometimes thought to be an interpolation. Archaeological evidence for Greeks in the Black Sea goes back only to the sixth century BCE.

Reply
Paradoxes
7/28/2015 10:14:41 am

Gildas the monk knew about the battle of Badon but never mentioned Arthur. In the RLC myth, Jacques Cholet knew about the coumesourde "stone" but not where it originated or the name Ernest Cros, or that the "stone" was called such,

JaredMithrandir link
7/29/2015 05:39:01 am

But unless he did say Jason's destination was somewhere else, it doesn't contradict anything. Homer is only making off hand references to the older myths.

The mere fact that Jason when East rather then West really gives the Black Sea as the only option.

Jason Colavito link
7/29/2015 06:31:26 am

The trouble is proving that the Greeks knew that the Black Sea had a far shore. It wasn't until long after Homer that the Greeks realized that the Black Sea wasn't the same as the River Ocean. This, though, is irrelevant because for the theory of a real voyage to be tenable, the Mycenaeans would have to have known about this in 1200 BCE, and that has extremely scanty evidence.

JaredMithrandir link
7/29/2015 06:27:51 pm

I think the events that inspired the Jason legend could easilly have been closer to 700 BC

David Bradbury
7/28/2015 08:20:43 pm

I thought Homer didn't mention a person called Gyges of Lydia, only a place named Gyges in Lydia (plus various plot points which sounded rather like events in the life of Gyges of Lydia).

Reply
Paradoxes
7/29/2015 01:54:20 am

How much can Homer be trusted? How much can any of the ancient writers be trusted? Most of the world then was illiterate and at the mercy of a handful of historians the reliability of which today just cannot be tested.

Alaric
7/28/2015 11:35:27 am

"Deligannis makes a number of errors, beginning with the fact that he takes the developed Argonaut myth of the Classical and Hellenistic period as representative of the state of the story in the Archaic period and earlier, including all of the people and places of the standard version of the myth."

That reminds me of all those people who come up with theories about King Arthur using elements like the Holy Grail and the Round Table that are only known from later versions of the legends (yes, technically I'm oversimplifying, but I don't want to make this too convoluted). I always get suspicious when a theory about something explains too much.

Reply
JaredMithrandir link
7/29/2015 05:55:29 am

Gildas doesn't mention Arthur, but at the same times saying nothing about who was at Badon so he doesn't contradict Arthur's existence. Face is that entire half century is mostly blank.

Reply
John
7/28/2015 03:36:20 pm

Wolter just recently posted a reply on his blog in regards to his new series:

"Mindy McCarthyJuly 27, 2015 at 8:50 PM
Who is going to be the other co-host?


Scott WolterJuly 28, 2015 at 7:08 AM
Mindy,

I'm waiting for the network to give me the go-ahead to start promoting the new series. I can't say anything yet until they tell me it's OK. Seems silly since it's supposed to air in about 3 weeks?

I'll let you know as soon as I can.

Reply"


Ok, I have a question: why the hell is history not already promoting this show yet? Why didn't they come out already weeks ago to let people know about an upcoming show in the works? And doesn't anyone find it interesting (but obviously not surprising) that only Wolter is the only one that confirms this show is happening? I don't get why this co-host is so mysterious, and why they aren't coming out to try to help get the ball rolling on this show as well. I mean, has History ever promoted a show so late in the game, based on such a horrible marketing strategy where the only person that confirms it's existence is one of its hosts?

Reply
Matt Mc
7/29/2015 02:22:34 am

Yeah networks do this from time to time. This is common when they have a show they expect to perform poorly. What happens is that a network purchases a show and then when it delivers it is way below expectations, the do not want to waste any additional money so they do little or no promotion. Shows like this tend to air in what they call the dead time, like August when rating are down across the board.

Reply
tm
7/29/2015 04:31:08 am

Either that, or Scott is just stringing Mindy along hoping to show her his hardened resolve.

Matt Mc
7/29/2015 04:39:42 am

I will put my money on the show airing. With little to no fanfare. Either way it shows his waning popularity.

What also could be the case it could be like Cities of the Underworld which did something similar at first airing. The reception was good enough that it was decided to continue past the pilot episodes but the show was revamped with a new host and a more streamlined approach to the way they approached the locations.

Shane Sullivan
7/29/2015 06:32:55 am

"Either that, or Scott is just stringing Mindy along hoping to show her his hardened resolve."

I can hear it now... "Hey, baby, wanna 'date' my 'rock'?"

Clete
7/29/2015 05:08:21 am

I am attempting to understand this. He filmed the episodes with a co-host but cannot tell us who it was. I think then that the co-host was either Larry the Cable Guy, Gary Busey, The Kensington Rune Stone, a box of rocks or someone, or something from Scott Wolters fertile mind.

Reply
Tony
7/30/2015 05:10:41 am

Good choices all, but my money's on Jenny McCarthy.

Duke of URL
7/30/2015 07:01:17 am

I'm confused. I thought it was accepted that the Golden Fleece was just exactly that - a sheepskin coated with gold flakes obtained by immersing it in running water that carried gold. I know that the Siberians in the 18th-20th centuries did this with wolfskins.
Such a fleece would be fantastically valuable, even more then than now.
So where do all these other things like ram's-head prows (which could NOT be all that valuable, since it would have to be simply gold-coated (one of solid gold would [a] sink the ship as soon as it was in the first storm and [b] come apart, since gold is a lousy material for sculpting)).

Reply
Jason Colavito link
7/30/2015 02:41:49 pm

No, not at all. Strabo decided the Fleece was used in mining because that explanation helped him personally, since his relative was governor of the province where the mining occurred. Archaeologists have favored that explanation because it is tangible and physical, but it is not the explanation favored by mythologists. They have about a dozen, but the current favorite is that it was a reflection of the Hittite "kursa," a magical hunting talisman. I have 20 explanations listed on my Argonauts website, not counting my own: http://www.argonauts-book.com/the-golden-fleece.html

Reply
Duke of URL
8/3/2015 05:54:14 am

Wow. Just read that (thanks, Jason) and it left my jaw hanging.

Tim Clarke
9/9/2016 06:53:41 pm

Of course the eastern end of the Black Sea IS east! There IS gold (&silver) in Georgia and it is found in river sand there. The fleece would not have to be extremely valuable, myths and stories exaggerate these things.... Another idea I have heard is that the fleece is a symbol of wisdom that the questers or travelling heroes find. one piece of ancient wisdom that travelled from Colchis is winemaking and intriguingly the argonaut Agaeos of Samos in mentioned as an inventor of wine. - one of the contributors suggests 700 bc as a possible time, an echo of the neolithic, of the spread of winemaking and metal working is another possibility.

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