Argonauts
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"The Argo sped on in a fresh breeze, and soon they saw a beautiful island, green and flower-laden, the habitation of the beguiling sirens, who lure passers-by with their singing, but only to destroy them. Half bird and half maiden, they always lay in wait for new quarry, and no one who came near could escape them. Now they sang their sweetest airs to the Argonauts, who were just about to cast their rope ashore and make fast the ship, when Orpheus, the singer from Thrace, rose in his seat and began to strike such rich and ringing chords on the strings of his divine lyre that drowned out the voices decoying his friends to death."--Gods and Heroes: Myths and Epics of Ancient Greece (1838-40) by Gustav Schwab |
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The Argonauts were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, Argo, named after its builder, Argus. They were sometimes called Minyans, after a prehistoric tribe in the area.
See also
- Argo Navis
- Argonaut Mine
- Jason for more details on the quest for the Golden Fleece
- Toronto Argonauts, a Canadian Football League team
- Argonaut Rowing Club, a rowing club based out of Toronto
- University of West Florida; the mascot of the University
- Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts
- -naut