Jason and the Argonauts
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2025
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From clashing rocks to golden treasure, Jason and the Argonauts is the ultimate Greek mythological adventure. But what lies behind the legend? And why has it endured for millennia?
In this episode, Tristan Hughes is joined by bestselling author Caroline Lawrence to chart Jason’s epic quest for the Golden Fleece. From harpies and dragons to the witch Circe and the bronze giant Talos, discover the mythical monsters, heroic crossovers and extraordinary journey that make this tale a timeless example of the hero’s journey — from Greece to Colchis and back again.
For more of Caroline Lawrence and Jason and the Argonauts on The Ancients:
The Minotaur: https://open.spotify.com/episode/72Efg0BmVFYunKg2FsDOQO
The Golden Fleece: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6OtHIiiC87BN4RMyOngK0t
Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
All music from Epidemic Sounds
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today we are delving back into the history hit archive and the podcast I have is one |
| 0:09.2 | that I feel you are going to absolutely love by the way I got a treat for you because it |
| 0:14.3 | features the one and only the brilliant storyteller and fantastic historian of ancient history, |
| 0:20.8 | Tom Holland talking through the epic ancient Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts. |
| 0:27.8 | Now this talk was originally recorded at the Chalk Valley History Festival of 2016, |
| 0:33.4 | so it is a few years old now, but it has lost none of its quality as you are about to find |
| 0:40.5 | out his Tom. |
| 0:41.5 | Well ladies and gentlemen, where are the hero of a Greek myth? |
| 0:51.7 | I would not need to worry about the appalling arterial traffic in South London on the M3, |
| 0:59.1 | on the A303, the tractors that block your path as you are driving into Wilton, the people |
| 1:04.5 | who drive in firmly slowly as you are hurtling towards Emsbourne Wake, but unfortunately |
| 1:09.7 | I am not the hero of a Greek myth, so I have only just made it. |
| 1:15.7 | There is quite a lot of mud, I have had to run through the mud, so I hope you are |
| 1:20.2 | bare with me if I just try and catch my breath here. |
| 1:24.6 | And of course it is incredibly fitting that I should be late and held up by traffic because |
| 1:31.2 | the story I am going to tell you today begins with a flying ram and not just any ram, a |
| 1:43.0 | ram with something very, very distinctive about it. |
| 1:47.4 | But I will come to what is distinctive about the ram in a minute because as in a fairy |
| 1:55.4 | tale, so with this Greek myth, we begin with an evil stepmother. |
| 2:08.2 | Who is this evil stepmother married to? |
| 2:12.8 | She is married to a themas, the king of Thessaly. |
| 2:19.8 | And had I been efficient and got here an hour ago, I would have been able to load the map |
... |
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