PART
4 –
Ch.XXVI.4
Prehistoric
monuments of metallurgic art in
(Chryseion Koas – The Golden Fleece)
XXVI. 4. The golden fleece as sacred object of the
Pelasgian pastoral and agricultural tribes
With the help of Medea, the famous
enchantress, Iason also defeats the dreadful dragon from the grove consecrated
to Mars, and steals the golden fleece.
This fleece had, according to
legends, a divine origin (Menecratis
Tyrius, Fragm Hist. graec. II. p. 344). It had a particular religious,
economical and political importance for the ancient Pelasgian tribes from the
Carpathians, and for the tribes which had settled on Hellada’s lands.
As Pindar tells us (Pyth. IV. v. 164), the Pelasgian oracle from
Castalia, near Delphi, had commanded Pelias to prepare an expedition in order
to bring back the golden fleece of the ram, with which Phrixus had fled. And Valerius Flaccus shows Pelias saying
the following words to Iason: “You, who have the energy and the manly courage,
go my dear, and bring back the fleece of Nephele’s ram, to deposit it in our
Greek temple” (Argon. I. 55 seqq). Finally, according to another oracle, king
Aietes was to lose his reign when the golden fleece was stolen from him (Diodorus Siculus, lib. IV. 47. 6; Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopadie).
As we see, various interests of
economical and political wellbeing were connected to the possession of this
fleece. (Mars, Mavors of the Latin poets, Ares
of the Greeks, to whom the golden fleece was consecrated, had been in ancient
times the protector of pastoralists
and agriculture).
We have here a historical enigma.
Was this fleece, dedicated to Mars in the grove of the Colchi only a plain
natural sheepskin or fleece, or was it a consecrated object of metal and
therefore not subjected to decay? [1]
[1. The sheep wool, or the sheepskin with its fleece, had always played
an important role in the ancient Pelasgian cult (Pausanias, VIII. 43. 11; Polemonis
Iliensis, frag. 88 in Fragm. Hist. graec. III. 144; Servius, Aen. IV. 374). The Romanian people have even today the
religious custom to give a sheepskin to the officiating priest, as part of the
alms distributed after a burial (Marianu,
Inmormantarea, p. 363)].
Gold has been always the most
precious material in Pelasgian cults and sacrifices.
Gaea, the
great divinity of the Pelasgian people, presents the traditional gold apples at
Jove’s wedding with Juno.
Vulcan,
the divine craftsman of antiquity, presents to Jove, father of gods and men, a
vine with leaves and grapes of gold, worked with great art by himself (Homer, Ilias parva, Ed. Didot, fr. 3.
p. 595). Croesus, the renowned king of
The
golden fleece, dedicated to Mars in the rich country of king Aietes, belonged
to this kind of precious art objects, of divine origin. The poet Pindar describes this golden fleece of
the Colchi as not subjected to decay, eternal (Pyth. Iv. 23). According to Valerius Flaccus, it was an object made
of the most pure metal or gold
(Argon. lib. V. v. 231). And according to another tradition, which we hear from
Ovid, not only the fleece, but even
the ram itself was of gold (Heroid, XII. 202. 203). And in truth, the
invaluable worth of this fleece is allegorically expressed in the tale by the
fact that it was guarded by a dragon which never slept, exactly like the famous
gold apples of Gaea.
Finally,
we must not forget the extraordinary importance of this fleece: the famous
Pelasgian oracle from
[2. The figure of Phrixus’ ram was put on the sky among the constellations which govern the sowing of crops (Erathosthenes, c. 19; Hyginis, Fab. 138; Idem, Poet. Astron.II. 20; Manilis, Astron. III. v. 302; Columella, R.R. lib. X. v. 155). According to Dupuis (Origine de tous les cultes, VI. 271), Phrixus’ ram, called by Latin authors aries, princeps zodiaci, ductor exercitus zodiaci, dux gregis, princeps signorum, ovis aurea, Jupiter libycus, is the famous lamb of Christian religion, and of the Jewish religion under the name of the “Pascal lamb”. We also add that, according to Columella (XI. c. 2), in day 16 of the April Calendes (March 17), the sun enters the constellation of the Ram].
The
Argonauts’ expedition to Colchis to bring the golden fleece to Greece, belongs
to the legendary series of missions and actions undertaken with the purpose of
removing the sacred objects from the countries situated at north of the Lower
Istru.
So were Hercules’
tasks: to take the gold apples from the Hyperboreans from near Atlas; to bring from the Istrian country, or from
The
fight of the Argonauts with the
In the middle of the scene there is a tall and strong oak tree. The golden fleece is hung on its left side, on one of its branches. The dragon, guardian of the fleece, at the sight of the Argonauts, coils itself in fury around the tree’s trunk.
Iason, with a spear in each hand, attacks the dragon on the left side of the scene. But he seems battle weary, afraid and without hope.
Hercules, with a stance prepared for retreat, lifts his mace to strike the dragon on the right side. At the edge of the scene, on the lower part, there are three other Argonauts, one fallen to the ground, the other two still trying to fight, but from a distance and with little courage.
The battle seems almost lost for the Argonaut heroes. At this critical moment appears Medea on the top section of the scene, dressed in splendid Istrian attire, running fast down the crest of the hill, to help the Argonauts. She holds in her left hand the box with charms, while she throws with her right hand two enchanted leaves towards the dragon, to put it to sleep.
On her right
and left sides are the Getae heroes,
Boreas’ sons, with wings on their
backs.
A big and slow river (Oceanos potamos) is shown at the bottom of the picture, ornamented with river and seawater fish.