JASON, chief of the Argonautic expedition, was son of Aeson, king of Iolcos, and of Alcimede or Polymede. His father was obliged to yield to the superior power of his brother Pelias, and was driven from his kingdom. Jason was secretly carried by his mother to the valleys of Mount Pelion, and there delivered into the hands of Chiron the centaur. By him he was trained to the arts of war, and began his adventurous career by joining in pursuit of the Calydonian boar. Then, in obedience to the orders of an oracle in Magnesia, he presented himself at Iolcos to reclaim the kingdom, covered with the skin of a leopard, and armed with two javelins. Pclias had been warned by an oracle to beware of a man who should appear with one foot shod and the other uncovered. Jason, by some accident, entered Iolcos in this manner, and the suspicions of Pelias were of course immediately excited. He boldly demanded the kingdom, to which he was the rightful heir; but Pelias prevailed on him to proceed to Colchis to get possession of the golden fleece, promising on his return to resign the crown. He was accompanied in this expedition by all the bravest of the Greeks (see Argonauts) ; and, after many curious adventures, they all arrived in safety in Colchis. Jason proceeded to present himself at the court of Aeetes, and explained to him the object of his voyage. The king agreed to restore the golden fleece, provided he submitted to certain conditions the former would impose on him. He must tame brazen-footed bulls, whose nostrils breathed flames, and plough with them a field sacred to Mars. He must then kill a dragon which kept watch day and night over the golden fleece, and sow in the field which he had tilled the teeth of this serpent, from which armed men would spring, ready to attack him. The destruction of Jason seemed inevitable, but he was extricated from his difficulties by Medea, the king’s daughter. His lofty bearing, and the intrepid nature of the enterprise, had captivated the heart of Medca, and she determined to deliver her lover from all his dangers, if he promised her eternal fidelity. By her magic herbs, he performed the conditions, to the astonishment of Aeetes and his subjects; and, having obtained possession of the golden fleece, returned to his native country, accompanied by Medea, whom he afterwards married. Medea, however, carried along with her Absyrtus, her brother; and when she heard that her father was in pursuit, she tore him to pieces, and scattered his limbs in different places, that she might escape whilst her father was employed in collecting the mangled body of his son. They arrived in safety in Iolcos, where they were received with the greatest joy. Aeson was restored to youth again by the magic power of Medea; and Pelias, the usurper of the crown, wishing to be restored to the flower of youth, allowed himself to be cut up by his daughter at the persuasion of Medea, and thrown into a boiling caldron. Thus Pelias perished by a miserable death. But Jason was obliged to fly with Medea, and proceed to Corinth, where they lived in great harmony for four years. At the end of that time, having divorced Medea, he married Glauce, or Creusa, daughter of Creon, son of Sisyphus, king of Corinth; but his inconstancy was severely avenged. Medea slew his sons in his presence, and burnt Creusa, together with Creon and Jason. Another tradition states that they returned to Colchis, and reinstated on his throne Aeetes, whom a faction had expelled.