PART 4 – Ch

PART 4 – Ch.XXVI.9

Prehistoric monuments of metallurgic art in Dacia

(Chryseion Koas – The Golden Fleece)

XXVI. 9. A trace of the name of the Argonautic heroes in Romanian traditional songs.

We continue with the Romanian traditions about Medea.

According to the ancient legends, Medea was abducted from the splendid palace of Aietes, the source of four beautiful springs, carved and built by Vulcan, one spring of milk, another of wine, the third of perfumed myrrh, and the fourth of warm and cold water (Apollonius Rhodius, Argon. lib. III. v. 322 seqq).

We find the same tradition about Medea in a series of Romanian carols, which, as far as we know, are sung only in the lower parts of the Danube. The content of this legend is as follows:

In some high kingly courts, from which three springs flow down, towards the countryside, sits in a silver swing one of the most beautiful heroines of our folk songs. She sews, embroiders and weaves with golden thread, when, lo and behold, a boat appears downstream on the river, covered in green cloth and gilded on the outside. It is a group of foreign heroes. They come from across the seas to abduct the beautiful girl, to take her over the mountains, to other courts, to other parents. And while she cries sad tears for her separation from her parents’ home, and for the fate which awaits her in a foreign country, they console her that they don’t take her to be their slave, but good daughter-in-law to their parents, Queen over Queens and mistress of the “argats” (TN – paid farm hand) [1].

[1. The beautiful heroine celebrated in this series of carols, has various names. She also has the epithet “Black-eyes”. King Aietes had had two daughters. The eldest, married with Phrixus, has in Greek poems the name of Chalciope, ”Blue-eyes”. Our folk poetry also mentions a heroine with the same epithet of “Blue-eyes” (Teodorescu, p. 83-87). The second daughter of king Aietes was Medea. Her complexion, as results from the ancient traditions, was darkish.

According to Pliny (XXXVII. 63), one of the most precious gems of antiquity was black, and had the name of Medea (Medea nigra). In antiquity the true value of the gems consisted in their sparkle, so it is probable that Medea, who had given the name to a sparkling black gem, might have also had in ancient rhapsodies the epithet Black-eyes, as on the other hand her sister was called Blue-eyes].

Mistress of the “argats” ?

This word is continuously repeated, invariably, in all the traditional Romanian songs which refer to the abduction of this charming princess from the high royal courts from near the ford of Braila. (TN – port city on the Danube, close to Galati and the confluence with Siret river).

The etymology of the epic term ‘Argonautai had become completely obscure during classical times. Iason and his other companions, the ancient authors tell us, were called Argonauts because they traveled with the ship Argo (Suidas, Lex.). But where derives the name of the ship Argo from? It has remained an enigma (Diodorus Siculus, lib. IV. 41). The word ‘Argonautai must have had in the beginning a completely different meaning in folk poetry.

As we know, the initiative of the expedition against the Colchi and Aietes’ capital, had belonged to the Pelasgians of Thessaly.

In the Homeric epoch Thessaly, renowned for its fertile plains and pastures, appears under the name of Argos, ‘Argos Pelasgichon. Even more, the entire Hellada was once named Argos (Strabo, Geogr. lib. VIII. 6. 5). In Homer’s Iliad, the inhabitants of Hellada appear under the name of ‘Argeioi, and in a more remote epoch they were called ‘Argeiadai, Argeadae.

According to the geographer Strabo, ‘Argos was a word of Macedonian and Thessalian origin, namely Pelasgian. In later times of antiquity it meant field (pedion), and according to Stephanos Byzanthinos all the fields situated near the sea were called argos (also Strabo, Geogr. lib. vIII. 6. 9; Pausanias, lib. VII. 7. 1).

In Romanian language argati (sing. argat) are paid farm hands; a word which we find used though only in the parts near the Black Sea and the Danube. There is no doubt that there is a connection between “argatii” of the heroic Romanian songs and the “Argonauts” of Greek legends. The subjects over whom the beautiful heroin, abducted from the courts near the ford of Braila, was to reign, are called “argati”. The hero, who comes to steal the sheep fleeces from the mountains of Buzeu, says that he had been “argat” for seven years (see Ch.XXVI.7).

We can therefore suppose in all probability that under the name “argati”, today modified in form and meaning, were once meant the legendary Argonauts, originally from Argos, namely Thessaly and Hellada, who had come to plunder in the happy countries of the Lower Istru.

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