This is a 3rd C BCE epic poem for e Hellenistic audience.
Book 1
King Pelias receives a prophecy that a man with one sandal will be his downfall. Jason loses his sandal, and believing him to be the prohecized one, the king sends him on a seemingly impossible quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece.
Jason recruits a bunch of heroes, including Hercules, and they set sail. They land in Lemnos where all the women have killed all the men. They are desperate for some more men and welcome the Argonauts. Only Hercules remains unmoved by their advances and is able to convince the rest of the aprty to continue their journey.
Jason and the Argonauts land in Hellespont next. THey fight the six-handed savages there and meet the more civilized Doliones. THey end up fighting the Doliones and accidentally kill their king. After a bunch of funeral rites are held, the two factions reconcile their differences. Which is a good thing because Jason and the group are stuck there due to weather. They have to start a cult for the local gods to clear things up.
Hercules and Polyphemus leave teh group at the Cius river when they go in search of HErcule's squire, Hylas. He has been kidnapped by a water nymph. THe Argos leaves without the three. Jason is told it is all part of their divine fate/plan.
Book 2
Begins with the Argonauts meeting the Bebrycians. Polydeukes ends up boxing the hulking Bebrycian, Amycus, and beats him. They have to make a hasty exit after that.
Next they meet Phineas and the Harpies. They help chase away the Harpies and Phineas tells them how to avoid the Clashing Rocks to get to Colchis.
A lot of random stuff happens, but the Argonauts eventually take on three of HErcules' allies from his war with the Amazons. They witness Zeus's great eagle feasting on the the liver of Prometheus.
Book 3
Jason and the Argonauts finally reach Colchis. They hide their ship. Athena and Hera enlist Aphrodite's and Eros' help in making Medea, daughter of Aetes the king of Colchis, fall in love with Jason.
Jason attempts to persuade them to give him the Golden Fleece, but Aetes refuses. Instead he tasks Jason with ploughing the plains of Ares with the fire breathing oxem. He must then sew four acres of plains with dragons teeth, and then he has to fight all the undead that will rise up to stop him.
Medea uses her magics to aid Jason and srengthened by her powers, he is able to accomplish all of the tasks.
Book 4
Medea flees with Jason and teh two go after the Golden Fleece. Medea uses her magic again to put a great snake that guards the fleece to sleep. Jason and her take the fleece and the Argos sets sail for Greece.
Medea's brother, Apsyrtus, catches up with them. Seeing that Jason gained the fleece fair-and-square, the only thing to be decided was Medea's fate for betraying the king. Medea tricks Apsyrtus and Jason kills him. They escape in the Argo.
Zeus is angry about the murder of Apsyrtus, so he curses them and blows their ship way out of the way. They wind up in the realm of the witch Circe. Circe decides that Jason and Medea alright and lets them go. She tells then how to avoid the Wandering Rocks and the sirens, which they do with the help of Hera.
THe Colchians catch up with them once again and this time a separate kingdom intervenes to mediate between the two. IT is said that if Medea cannot prove she is the true wife of Jason, they will execute her. THey learn of this and Jason and Medea are married in a secret cave. The Colchians eventually give up and let Medea go.
The Argo gets blown off course again and the Argonauts end up having to carry it across a Libyan desert for 12 days. They arrive at a lake and Triton takes pity on them and shows them the way home. They start another cult and the story ends.
