Medea
Let start with who was on the mission. There may be more, but these are the people that everyone agrees were there.
Acastus, son of King Pelias
Actor, son of Deion the Phocian
Admetus, prince of Pherae
Amphiaraus, the Argive seer
Great Ancaeus of Tegea, son of Poseidon
Little Ancaeus, the Lelegian of Samos
Argus the Thespian, builder of the Argo
Ascalaphus the Orchomenan, son of Ares
Asterius, son of Cometes, a Pelopian
Atalanta of Calydon, the virgin huntress
Augeias, son of King Phorbas of Ellis
Butes of Athens, the bee-master
Caeneus the Lapith, who had once been a woman
Calais, the winged son of Boreas
Canthus the Euboean
Castor, the Spartan wrestler, one of the Dioscuri
Cepheus, son of Aleus the Arcadian
Coronus the Lapith, of Gyrton in Thessaly
Echion, son of Hermes
Erginus of Miletus
Euphemus of Taenarum, the swimmer
Euryalus, son of Mecisteus, one of the Epigoni
Eurydamas the Dolopian, from Lake Xynias
Heracles of Tiryns, son of Zeus
Hylas the Dryopian, squire to Heracles
Idas, son of Aphareus of Messene
Idmon the Argive, Apollo's son
Iphicles, son of Thestius the Aetolian
Iphitus, brother of King Eurystheus
Jason, captain
Laertes, son of Acrisius the Argive
Lynceus, the look-out man, brother to Idas
Melampus of Pylus, son of Poseidon
Meleager of Calydon
Mopsus the Lapith
Nauplius the Argive, navigator, son of Poseidon
Oileus the Locrian, father of Ajax
Orpheus, the Thracian poet and musician
Palaemon, son of Hephaestus
Peleus the Myrmidon
Peneleos, son of Hippalcimus
Periclymenus of Pylus, the shape-shifting son of Poseidon
Phalerus, the Athenian archer
Phanus, the Cretan son of Dionysus
Poeas, son of Thaumacus
Polydeuces, the Spartan boxer, one of the Dioscuri
Polyphemus, son of Elatus, the Arcadian
Staphylus, brother of Phanus
Tiphys, the helmsman
Zetes, brother of Calais
(This list brought to you by link)
Now, because I'm lazy, I'm going to list the similarities between the myth and the new series:
1. Both stories have a main character named Jason.
2. Both stories have multiple demigods going on a quest together.
3. In the Argonautica, there are two characters that fly (Zetes and Calais; Sons of Boreas), and in The Lost Hero, we are introduced to a character (Jason) who can fly.
4. At the end of the second chapter of The Lost Hero, Annabeth shows up looking for the man with one shoe, who just so happens to be Jason, and in the Argonautica, King Pelias was told to beware the "One-Shoed Man". Guess who that was? Yup, that's right! Jason.
5. In the Argonautica, the Argo is caught in a tempest at the beginning of it's voyage. In TLH, Jason, Leo, Piper, and Hedge fight off the Anemoi Thuellai in the middle of a storm caused by the aforementioned baddies.
6. Furthermore, once the tempest ceased in the Argonautica, a rainbow appeared! In TLH, after the battle Annabeth showed up with Butch, a guy with a rainbow tattoo and preseumably the Son of Iris (Goddess of the Rainbow.)
7. The Argonautica starts off in a peaceful Greece with no war. It can be assumed that up until now everything has been peaceful for the demigods at Camp Half-Blood.
8. Both Jasons endure an elemental attack that should have killed them but they both survive....I'll explain this in detail later on.
I know there are more connections but until I have more information from The Heroes of Olympus series I can't list anymore right now. Don't worry, though, I've got more for you. I've come up with a few theories based on the Argonautica. So without further ado, again in list form, here are my theories:
1. We will see the Colchis Bulls again because they were a major part of the Argonautica.
2. We will see Circe and possibly the Sea of Monsters again, because the Argonauts travel through the Sea of Monsters during and after their quest, and they go to see Circe to be purified after killing Medea's brother.
3. There will be demigods that we know from PJO included in the 7 halfbloods of the New Great Prophecy. Why do I say this? Well I have two reasons, first off, most of the Argonauts were already seasoned heroes, and because R.R. said he wasn't going to throw too many new characters at us.
4. Zeus may be particularly interested in the quest of the Seven (maybe one of his children is involved, but I don't think that child is Jason) because he both blessed and aided the Argonauts....although when Jason and Medea murdered Apsyrtus he did get pretty mad and set a storm on them....oh well...
5. Rachel Elizabeth Dare may be sent with the demigods on their quest/quests because not only was the prophet Mopsus on the Argo, but the ornament on the bow of the Argo gave prophecies to the Argonauts....yeah, I know weird, right?
6. There may be a double agent or a baddie that goes turncoat. I'm thinking this because Jason's cousin Acastus sort of ran away from his dad, Pelias, to join the Argonauts.
7. Bad harpies, that's all I'm saying!!! OK, well the Harpies in the Argonautica were pretty mean and vicious and they've been known to be like that all throughout mythology, so I'm guessing that they may go bad in The Heroes of Olympus.
8. In the Argonautica, Zeus stated that he had planned the events that happened to the Argonauts because he wanted to use them to find the most powerful city in the Ancient Greek world. He planned on giving the reins of the empire to the city he deemed best. Maybe this means that we will see the light of Western Civilization move in this series, or Camp Half Blood may be replaced as the best place for young demigods.
9. At least one major/powerful demigod will die and possibly two minor ones. In the myth Zeus supposedly said "Strive towards the stars, men! I have set a hard and painful road to heaven for you!" He was talking about Heracles, Castor, and Pollux.
10. Aeolus may be a baddie because the text of the myth says that he would let the Anemoi Thuellai out whenever he got tired of listening to them. This contradicts the belief that only the gods could allow him to set them free, and brings a new element to the board....now I feel it is indeed possible that he could be a bad guy.
11. The BBG could be mad at all demigods. In what sense is the BBG mad? Well, it can be assumed that after Kronos got his butt kicked, that the demigods may have gotten over zealous in both their abilities and their actions, thinking that the gods wouldn't punish them. This theory came about as I read about Boreas' role in the Argonautica. Supposedly he was mad at the Argonauts because they didn't think the winds could do them any harm so he asked Aeolus to let them out.
12. Athena and Hera will play big roles in The Heroes of Olympus because they were very prominent supporters of the Argonauts and aided them a lot.
13. We will see Aphrodite and Eros because they played big parts in the Argonautica.
14. I think Jason may be connected to Chiron in a big way or he was trained by a teacher with no other demigods around because the mythical Jason (who's name was Diomedes prior to being called Jason) was taught by Chiron. He was the only demigod that he was training at the time, although after Jason left Chiron's care, Achilles became Chiron's student.
15. This is the last one, and the one I'm most proud of thinking up! When Jason (myth Jason) arrived in Colchis, King Aeetes set him to the task of yolking the Colchis bulls, you remember them, right? Well they breathe fire, horrible , melt-your-skin-off-your-face fire. Medea gave Jason a special ointment/powder/charm/potion to use. It protected him from the flames. What really got me about this part, though, was a line explaining the heat. It goes : "The scorching heat surrounded Jason, striking him like a lightning bolt, but Medea's charm kept him safe from harm." So...maybe our Jason survived the strike because of some protectant charm, magic, balm, powder, or potion. If that's the case, who gave it to him? Was it Piper? A child of Hecate? An Olympian? Or Maybe it was Percy.
That's all I've got for you this week. Look out for the next article cominjg at you soon. If you want to reread the sample chapters, go t the link You can see both the American and the UK/Australian covers for the first book over in the images section of this site. The book is due out on October 12 in the U.S.
Don't forget to go vote for the next topic. I choose on Thursday so vote, vote, vote. Thanks guys, See ya'!
Jason and the Dragon
