Summary

Éétès, sometimes written Æetès (Ancient Greek: Αἰήτης, Aiêtês), is a figure from Greek mythology, known primarily as the King of Colchis whom Jason and the Argonauts must confront before stealing the Golden Fleece. He is the son of Helios; the identity of his mother (as well as his wife) varies among ancient authors, but she is generally accepted to be a nymph. In the literal sense, Éétès is a demigod, brother of the magician Circé, Pasiphaé, wife of King Minos of Crete, and Persès.

His father Helios made him the first king of Corinth, but Eetes preferred to abandon Greece for Colchis. There, he created a rich and powerful kingdom, reigning from his capital Aïa (identified by some with Koutaïssi). A ruthless ruler who practiced human sacrifice, he was also a friend of certain gods, such as Hephaestus and Ares.

Aeetes welcomes Phrixos and takes possession of the Golden Fleece. Years later, Jason and the Argonauts land in Colchis to obtain the fleece. The king only agrees to give it to them at the price of a series of trials that Jason must complete. The betrayal of the king's daughter, Medea, enables the Argonauts to steal the golden fleece and flee. Other versions of the myth have added two confrontations between Aeetes and his brother Perses, the king of Scythia: the first, in which Perses is defeated by a Greco-Colchidian alliance, and the second, in which Aeetes is overthrown. In this second version, it is Medea (and possibly Jason) who returns to Colchis and helps her father regain his crown.

Eetes first appears in Homer's Odyssey as a magician king. Numerous authors, including Hesiod, Eumelos, Mimnerme and Sophocles, developed the myths surrounding the king of Colchis. With Apollonius of Rhodes and his Argonautics, Aeetes became a popular theme in Greek mythology. The Romans added to the myth with, among other things, the conflict between Aeetes and his brother. Only Diodorus of Sicily, in the 1st century B.C., mentions the king's death at the hands of the Argonauts.

Eetes gradually evolved from a mythical figure, ruthless, cruel and an enemy of the Greeks, to a semi-legendary king. Roman and Byzantine historians and geographers considered him a historical figure. Modern Georgian historiographers identify Aeetes as the symbol of a king (or dynasty) who led Colchis to prosperity before the Greek colonization of the Euxin Bridge, creating an empire stretching from Anatolia to the Crimea and including numerous colonies across the Mediterranean Sea.

Certificates

Homer is the first known author to quote Aeetes in the Odyssey (Canto X, 137, etc.): "Aeetes with perfidious thoughts".

Etymology

There are several hypotheses about the etymology of the name Aiêtês (ancient Greek: Αἰήτης):

In the 1st century, the geographer Strabo, on a visit to Colchis, noted the popularity of the name Éétès throughout the region, but there's no indication whether this name spread before or after the myth of the king was popularized. The name remained popular until the 6th century, when Prince Éétès distinguished himself in the Lazic War.

The myth of Eetes is linked to the epic of the Argonauts.

Homer describes him as a "magician" and brother of Circe. Homer also mentions the voyage of the Argonauts in his Iliad, indicating a legend predating the 8th century BC.

In his Theogony, Hesiod describes not only the genealogy of the Colchidian king, but also the arrival of Phrixos and the Golden Fleece of Chrysomallos in Colchis, and Jason's mission. Hesiod, however, makes Medea's abduction Jason's main mission in Colchis.

In the 8th and 7th centuries BC, at the beginning of the Hellenic period, the Aeetes myth underwent numerous variations.

The Naupacties, an anonymous 6th-century work, directly influenced Pindar and Apollonius of Rhodes, but makes the king a more violent figure than in earlier works.

In 462, Pindar wrote his IV Pythica, an ode in honor of the victory of King Arcésilas IV of Cyrene. It is the first detailed account of the voyage of the Argonauts. The poem is said to have inspired Apollonius of Rhodes to write his Argonautics. Apollonius also drew inspiration from Homeric style: Aeetes and Medea are compared to Minos and Ariadne, and the description of Aeetes and his armor are reminiscent of the heroes of the Iliad.

Herodotus also mentions the King of Colchis and Jason's abduction of Medea.

There are also two lost plays by Sophocles, Colchis and The Women of Colchis, whose fragments reveal the lamentations of Medea who has betrayed her father.

In the 3rd century B.C., Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautics was responsible for the myth's popularity. The myth had already spread during the Hellenistic period.

Callimachus of Cyrene, a contemporary of Apollonius, wrote several poems in opposition to the latter; in his Aitia, he portrays Aeetes as an angry king. It is not known whether this work was published before or after the Argonautics.

Pausanias the Periegete, in a scholia to Apollonius of Rhodes, cites the semi-legendary poet Eumelos of Corinth, who is said to have written about the Corinthian origin of Aeetes around 750 BC.

Roman authors took up the myth of Eetes. New facts are given about the king's life. Thus, Strabo, Tacitus, Justin, the pseudo-Apollodorus, Caius Julius Hyginus and Cicero mentioned his reign, as well as his overthrow by his brother.

In the 1st century B.C., Diodorus of Sicily, in his Geography, is the only author to recount the death of the king, killed by the Argonauts.

The Oxyrhynchus Papyrus is a set of papyri discovered in Egypt; no. 4712 dates from the 1st century: "116 fragments of a papyrus scroll written at the beginning of the first century appear to be a Hellenistic epic poem on an argonautic theme. Fragments 1 and 2 seem to deal with a dream, in which Medea sees Jason being slaughtered by the bulls of Eetes (a scene very similar to Medea's famous dream in Ap. Rhod. 3.616-6362)".

Caius Valerius Flaccus (1st century) described the political situation in Colchis when the Argonauts arrived, including the invasion of the Scythians.

Genealogy and family

The genealogy of King Aeetes has evolved and changed over the centuries, and each of the ancient Greco-Roman authors who wrote about his myth modified the composition of the family of the King of Colchis. Throughout the development of mythology, the only constant character is Helios, the god and personification of the sun, making Aeetes a demigod. Homer is the first poet to quote part of Aeetes' genealogy. According to him, he is the son of Helios and Perse, one of the 3,000 Oceanides, daughter of the Ocean, and the only cited brother of Circe, herself considered a goddess living on the island of Eea. Hesiod writes

"The glorious daughter of the Ocean, Perse gave the indefatigable Sun Circe and the monarch Eetes. Éétés, son of the Sun who enlightens mortals, married, according to the advice of the gods, Idyie with beautiful cheeks, this daughter of the superb river Ocean, Idyie, who, tamed by her loving caresses, thanks to Venus with her golden finery, gave birth to Medea with charming feet."

Hesiod thus confirms Homer's version and adds Idyie, the youngest of the Oceanides (and therefore Aetetes' aunt), as the king's wife and mother of Medea, the first mention of her as Aetetes' daughter. In fragments of another of Hesiod's works, quoted in the scholia of Apollonius of Rhodes, he adds Iophossa as the daughter of Aetetes and wife of Phrixos, with whom she gives birth to four children. Iophossa does not appear in later versions, however. The Naupacties mention the princess Medea of Colchis, without making her the king's daughter. In the fragments of this text, we find a certain Eurilite as the wife of Éétès and mother of Absyrte. According to W. Preston, this name is merely an archaic version of Asterodius, the queen of Colchis and Caucasian nymph mentioned by Apollonius of Rhodes. Epiminedes names Ephyra as the mother of Aetheres, who is either an Oceanid (according to Simonides of Céos) or a Nereid who married Epimetheus at first marriage. Another version, also found in the scholia of the Argonautics, names Thetis (the Nereid mother of Achilles) as the wife of Aeetes.

Sophocles partially addresses the genealogy of Aetetes in the discovered fragments of his play The Scythians. In this text, he makes Circe, Medea and Absyrte the children of Aetetes. Circe has traditionally been included not as the king's daughter, but as his sister, but this version is nevertheless repeated by Denys of Miletus in the 5th century BC. Sophocles assigns two wives to the King of Colchis: the Nereid Neera as Absyrte's mother and Idyie (or Eydouia) as Medea's mother. Denys of Milet replaces Absyrte with Égile, often considered a synonym, and appoints Hecate Queen of Colchis. This Hecate is the niece of Eetes, daughter of Perses, but is often associated with the goddess of magic and protector of Colchis.

Pindar cites only Medea as the daughter of Aeetes in his IV Pythics. A scholia in his Olympic Odes, later taken up by Diophantus of Alexandria in a commentary on Apollonius' Argonautics, names Antiope as the wife of Helios and mother of Aetetes and Aloe. The latter later inherited the kingdom of Asopia and gave birth to Epic of Sicyone. Apollonius of Rhodes is the first to establish a concrete genealogy: according to him, Aeetes is the son of Helios and Perseus, the brother of Circe and Pasiphae, and the father of Absyrte, Medea and Chalciope. Absyrte, the eldest royal son, is the son of Asterodida, the Caucasian nymph and first queen of Colchis. When Asterody disappears, Aetestes marries Idyie, the youngest of the nymphs, who becomes the mother of two daughters, Medea and Chalciope. The historian Nestan Egetashvili finds a link between the names "Asterody" and "Asterion", a derivative of the ancient Greek ἀστέριος ("starry") and notes the fact that Nonnos of Panopolis in the 5th century calls the inhabitants of the Caucasus "Asterians", indicating a link between Colchis and star worship.

The myth of Aeetes continues to develop in Roman authors, who demonstrate a greater knowledge of the Caucasus and give more details of the political situation in Colchis under his reign. In Roman mythology, Helios is replaced by Sol, the personification of the sun often associated with Roman emperors, and is thus cited as the father of Aetes by, among others, Caius Julius Hyginus, Caius Valerius Flaccus, Diodorus Siculus and the pseudo-Apollodorus, who follow the tradition of Hesiod and name Perse as his mother. Cicero also names a Sol as the king's father, but differentiates him from the solar deity and theorizes the existence of five Sol in mythology. In his History of Pontus, Diophantus of Alexandria makes Antiope the mother of Eetes and Aloe. The Orphic Argonautics cite a certain Asterope as the mother of the King of Colchis, but her origin is unknown. Hyginus is the only one to name the Oceanid Clytie as queen of Colchis.

Pasiphae, Circe, Perses and Aloe are all mentioned as siblings of Aeetes in numerous Roman sources, but only Pausanias the Periegete and Diophantus recognize Aloe. Cicero gives Aeetes two children (Medea and Absyrte) and ignores Chalciope, adding that the Aeges mentioned in some texts is merely an error by Pacuvius in the transmission of Absyrte's name in Roman literature. With the development of Roman culture, authors became increasingly precise about the political and historical role of members of the royal family, with Diodorus making Circe (sister of the king) the creator of herbalism and Hecate, wife of Eetes, the queen of Chersonese Taurica. Strabo considers the Medes to be descendants of Aeetes via his grandson Medos. In the 6th century, Stephen of Byzantium theorized that the city of Panticapaeum (in present-day Crimea) was founded by an unnamed son of Aetes, who would have received these lands from the Scythian king.

Although the Aeetes myth is set in ancient Georgia, and the Kingdom of Colchis is now considered a Georgian state, there are no references to these two lands in the Georgian Chronicles, one of the main historical resources of medieval Georgia that links the Kingdom of Georgia to the myths of antiquity. This may seem odd, considering that the authors of these chronicles were probably well aware of the existence of such an important myth. At the beginning of the 20th century, historians Mosé Djanachvili and Mikheïl Tamarachvili attempted to find a direct link between the myth of Eetes and the Judeo-Christian mythology present in the chronicles.

In 1903, Djanachvili published his "Genealogy of the Phasianids", the name he attributed to the dynasty of mythical rulers of Colchis. Ignoring Eumelos' version that Aeetes came from Corinth, he makes the king a native of Colchis and a son of Helios II, himself a king of Colchis, based on Cicero's theory that Aeetes' father was a namesake of the sun god. Djanachvili also relies on Cicero's assertion that Aeetes and Circe were natives of Colchis. According to Djanashvili, Helios II is a descendant of the Sun and a son of Colkhos, son of the river god Phase and founder of the Colchidian kingdom, likened to Egros, a figure from Georgian mythology mentioned in the Georgian Chronicles as the ancestor of the Colchidians.

The Phasianides version also adds Circe II as the daughter of Eetes and niece of the sorceress of Eea, and also differentiates between Absyrte and Égile. Cyrille Toumanoff, a genealogist of the royal families of the Caucasus, found in the name Égile (in ancient Greek: Αἰγιαλεύς) a derivative of αἰγιαλός ("beach") and a root similar to Argveti, an ancient province marking the border between Colchis and Iberia, or Engouri, a river in Mingrelia (ancient Colchis) flowing into the Black Sea. Djanachvili also noted that the name Absyrte bears a close resemblance to that of the Absars, the name given to the Abkhazians in the Georgian Chronicles.

Historian Irina Tatišvili has pointed out that there is a link between Georgian mythology and the myth of Eetes, dating from before the 4th century BC. A Bronze Age inscription found during archaeological excavations at Vani, one of the largest cities in Colchis, cites "Earth, Sun and Stars" as the main deities of the Georgian pantheon, a link to the realms of Aia, Helios and Asteroid.

Origins

Little is known about Aeetes' life before his arrival in Colchis. A version adopted by Cicero refutes the traditional idea that he was born in Thessaly and later emigrated to Colchis, and makes Aeetes and his sister Circe Colchidians by birth. A demi-god, he is described as a powerful man who "shines on mortals" and possesses a resounding voice. Philostratus the Younger describes Aeetes as a giant beyond human stature. His forehead is charged with profound reflection and ineffable radiance, like the other descendants of Helios.

He is not only a magician, according to Homer, but also a formidable warrior rivaled only by Heracles.

Aetès is distinguished from humans by his personal relationship with the gods of Olympus. In his youth, he travels in his father Helios' chariot to bring Circe to the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Helios gave him horses "as fast as the wind" and Ares, god of war, a stiff corselet to celebrate his victory over the giant Mimas. It was also during his youth that Helios told him of a prophecy concerning the Golden Fleece and its eventual betrayal by his descendants.

According to Pherecydes of Syros, he is close to Cadmos, who kills the dragon of Thebes, and Athena shares the dragon's teeth between the two men: these will be the teeth that Jason will plant during one of his trials (another version states that it is Phrixos who offers these teeth to Aetestes when he lands in Colchis).

When Helios divided his lands between his sons, Eetes received the province of Ephyra, his mother's namesake, and founded the city of Corinth. His brother Aloe (de) received the lands of Asopia. The two kingdoms are separated by the Asopos River. However, Aeetes does not appreciate his own kingdom. Iamze Gagua interprets this feeling to the lack of good agricultural land at the end of the Bronze Age, which eventually leads to the colonization of the Black Sea by the Greeks, an interpretation also indicated by Stephen of Byzantium, Pausanias and Eudocie Makrembolitissa. He entrusted Corinth to Bounos, son of Hermes, with the condition of preserving the kingdom for his descendants. This condition is interpreted by Gagua as an indication of the links preserved between the first Greek settlers and the cities of Thessaly. He left for Colchis. Following the death of Bounos, Epopeia, son of Aloe, annexed Corinth, but Medea, Aeetes' own daughter, regained possession of her father's kingdom when a great famine broke out.

Arrival in Colchis

When Aeetes landed in Colchis, the region was under Scythian domination, with a strong influence of Egyptian culture. As king, he created a powerful and wealthy state. Apollonius of Rhodes confirms this by describing Colchis as a "land without rival", while the region grew rich by developing a thriving gold market. This is in line with archaeological discoveries in western Georgia, such as the village of Choulaberi (Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti), which would have contained the royal treasury of Colchis around the 13th century BC. The kingdom of Aeetes was a confederation of violent tribes, often used by the king in his military campaigns. Despite Colchis' location on the Black Sea, the kingdom's weakness was the lack of a powerful navy, partly due to Aeetes' desire to isolate himself, leading to a total absence of economic links between Colchis and Greece.

His capital was Aïa, a wealthy city built by the king, whose exact location remains the subject of controversy. Most modern historians identify it with Koutaïssi (formerly Koutaïa), a version possibly accepted by Stephen of Byzantium, who wrote that Aeetes built his capital 300 stadia from the Euxin Bridge. However, Apollonius and those influenced by him place Aïa at the mouth of the Phase, on the shores of the Euxinian Bridge, leading some historians to compare the ancient city to Nokalakevi, an ancient fortress near Senaki. Justin calls it Colchos. Apart from descriptions of the royal palace and religious sites, the city is little described in ancient texts, but we do know that the king often used the public baths of Aïa.

According to Flaccus, the city's largest religious building is the Temple of Sol, which contains a box with the sun's rays. Situated on the banks of the River Phase, the temple's heavy doors depict historical scenes combining Aeetes' origins with Colchis' past: Sesostris' war against the Getes, the colonization of Phase by the Egyptians, the evolution of Colchis culture between Egyptian and Scythian influences, the rape of the nymph Aea by the god Phase and the lamentations of Circe and Pasiphae at the death of Phaeton. Aeetes also built a sanctuary to Zeus Phixios, the god of fugitives, and to Hecate, the goddess of magic promoted by the royal princess Medea. The gardens of Ares are dedicated outside Aia in honor of her friendship with the god of war. The cult of Phase was also well developed under Aeetes, who made Aquitès, the priest of Phase, the country's most powerful religious figure, often organizing large-scale ceremonies before the war. Many nymphs live in the valleys of Phase in the kingdom of Aeetes, all of whom fear Hecate.

Eetes has a complicated relationship with the gods of Mount Olympus. Hera calls him a "terribly disproportionate" man, and he often competes with the deities. However, he remains close to Ares, a symbol of the violent, warlike personality of the King of Colchis. Hephaestus, god of smithy and metallurgy, contributed greatly to Aeetes' wealth: he built him a solid steel plow, an adamantine plow and fire-breathing bulls with copper hooves to pull it, and many parts of the royal palace, including the bronze colonnades and the four court fountains. Apollonius says these gifts were made to thank Helios for his help in the battle of Phlegra against the Giants.

The palace of Aeetes is distinctly described by Apollonius. It includes sumptuous stone colonnades and copper battlements. The four fountains of Hephaestus are filled with water, wine, milk and flavored oils. At the top of the palace is a stone cope resting on brazen triglyphs. The historian Nodar Chochitachvili, who led numerous archaeological expeditions in search of the Aeetes palace, theorized that it was built from eklare, a pinkish stone often used in construction and found in ancient times in large mines around Koutaïssi. The courtyard is open-air but filled with vines, an indication of the viticulture developed in Colchis, confirmed by archaeological finds. Within the palace are numerous rooms, but the royal couple's chambers are in a separate building, as is Absyrte's residence, while Medea, Chalciope and their servants live in the main part. The palace, which amazes all who visit it, is widely compared to Alcinoos', but there are some key differences: Alcinoos' palace is rich in gold and silver, while Eetes' palace is poor in greenery, symbolizing the less nourishing nature of Colchis.

Greek sources portray Eetes as a ruthless king, distinguished by his ability to instill fear in his enemies. He is powerful and wealthy, maintaining firm control over his kingdom, but also dangerous and "extremely cruel". He thus earns the epithet of ολοόφρων - also borne by King Minos of Crete - which is often translated as "brutal", and less often as "the wise". To preserve his kingdom, he committed himself to isolation and encouraged, under the influence of his wife Hecate, the human sacrifice of visitors arriving in Colchis. Diodorus turns the king into a cruel tyrant against his own family, imprisoning his daughter Medea when she denounces human sacrifice, and exiling his other daughter Circe to Italy when she kills her husband, the violent king of the Sarmatians.

His wealth was famous in Thessaly, and it was out of interest in this wealth that Augias later joined the Argonauts. Aeetes' violence and power are known as far back as Alcinoos. However, his violence is directly linked to the fact that he is surrounded by a multitude of warrior tribes, listed by Apollonius: the Amazons, the wild Chalybes, the Tibarenes, the Mossinians, the Philirians, the Macrons, the Béchères and the Byzères. It had virtually no contact with Greece, but was richer than the Thessalians. The Sarmatians were his primary enemies, while he maintained formal relations with the Heniacs and Alans, as evidenced by the service of general Anausis of Alania at the king's court.

The extent of Eetes' kingdom is unclear, but it included a large part of the western Caucasus. Denys of Miletus has him ruling as far as the Meotide Palus (today's Sea of Azov), where his kingdom borders the Chersonese of his brother Perses. While Roman authors agree that tensions existed between the two brothers, only Diodorus adopts the version according to which Hecate, daughter of Perses, poisoned her father, took control of his throne and married Aeetes, uniting the two crowns and forming an empire stretching from Anatolia to the Crimea.

The Golden Fleece

Phrixos arrives in Aeetes' Colchis on the back of Chrysomallos, the golden-fleece ram summoned by Hermes to rescue Nephele's children from their father. Before they set off, Nephele instructs the ram to take Phrixos and his sister Hellé to Eetes, but Hellé dies on the way (falling into the sea at the Hellespont strait) and Phrixos arrives alone at Aïa. Arriving in the Caucasus, Phrixos sacrifices Chrysomallos to Zeus Phixios, purifies his fleece and enters the palace of Aeetes without an intermediary, under the protection of Hermes. In gratitude and as a token of hospitality, Aeetes offers Phrixos his daughter Chalciope in marriage. However, years later, when the Argonauts arrived, Aeetes admitted that he would never have welcomed Phrixos had it not been for the intervention of Zeus and Hermes, and for the wealth that accompanied the golden fleece.

The king consecrates the golden fleece on an oak tree in the gardens of Ares, 70 stadia west of Aïa. According to one version, Aeetes protects the fleece with a number of immortal snakes, born of the blood of Typhon, which flows over the Caucasus mountains after being slaughtered by Zeus. Mary Williams sees in this myth a comparison between Éétès and Typhon (Typhon has a "terrible mouth", Éétès has a "terrible voice" and the snakes have "terrible heads"). The most common version, however, replaces these serpents with a dragon "bigger than a great ship", with grey eyes, who knows neither death nor sleep. He is the son of Gaia and Typhon, or Echidna and Typhon. According to Flaccus, the dragon is fed and cared for by Medea, who is the only one capable of giving him orders. Colchis becomes known as the guardian of the Golden Fleece, a symbol of power for Aeetes. The fleece gives the king absolute power over his kingdom, a fact appreciated by Sol. Some even see the fleece as a symbol of the sun, capable of controlling time.

The fate of Phrixos varies according to the different versions of the myth. According to Apollonius, he dies in the palace of Aeetes at an advanced age, leaving four sons with Chalciope. Another version says that Phrixos sacrifices himself to save Colchis from a terrible famine. According to Hyginus, Aeetes himself ordered the murder of Phrixos after a prophecy predicting the betrayal of a descendant of Aeolus (Phrixos' grandfather). According to Flaccus, Aeetes nevertheless buried him in a large tomb at the mouth of the Phase. Still fearing his own death at the hands of Phrixos' sons, he agrees to send them to Orchomena to avenge Athamas' attempt to kill their father, and offers them a small fleet of ships.

Phrixos appears to Aeetes one night in a dream: he thanks him for taking him in, but predicts the loss of his throne once the fleece has left the gardens of Ares, and advises him to marry Medea quickly to keep her away from Colchis. The dream ends with an image of Phrixos giving Aeetes the "fatal fleece" (fatalia visus). At the same time, a Colchidian priest informs the king that the fleece must be brought back to Thessaly if he is to prevent a series of devastations in his kingdom. These events are taking place during a series of nefarious signs across Colchis. It is as a result of these prophecies that Aeetes agrees to an alliance with neighboring Aghbania and promises Medea in marriage to an Aghban prince, but he nevertheless ignores the advice about the fleece and prays to Ares for protection. He then doubles his efforts with human sacrifices, fearing theft of the fleece by foreigners.

Diodorus tried to explain the story of the Golden Fleece by removing the mythological elements. According to his version, Phrixos arrives in Colchis on a ship bearing a ram on its prow. Arriving at the king's court, he meets the king of the Scythians, who spends the night with his associate Crios (resembling χρυσός, "gold"). The next day, the two kings sacrifice Crios and flay his skin, according to an ancient Scythian tradition, giving rise to the tradition of a golden fleece. According to Diodorus, the dragon is a symbol of the Chersonesian military bastion placed in front of the temple of Ares to protect the relic.

Jason and the Argonauts

Aeetes' reputation in Thessaly is that of a rich, powerful and ruthless king, while the golden fleece is known as a symbol of great wealth. When Prince Jason claimed the throne of Iolcos as his legitimate heir, the usurper Pelias sent him to Colchis to bring the fleece back to Greece, to prove his worth. According to Flaccus, Pelias assures his people that he would have invaded Colchis and brought back Aetes' head himself, to avenge the supposed murder of Phrixos, were it not for his advanced age. Pindar says that the oracle at the Fountain of Castalia explains to Pelias the desire of Phrixos' soul to return to Thessaly via the Golden Fleece. Jason gathers a band of heroes, including demigods, who, inspired by Hera, set off from Iolcos for Colchis on the Argo. Before they set off, the crowd cries out to the Argonauts, demanding that "they ravage the palace of Aeetes with fatal fire".

On their way, the Argonauts hear of Aeetes as a terrifying king, anticipating a hostile encounter. When they meet the sons of Phrixos, stranded on an island in the Euxine Bridge, they fear a conflict between the Greeks and the powerful Colchidian tribes. The Argonauts are themselves bewildered, between the reputation of Eetes and the renowned welcome of Phrixos. Jason and his crew enter Colchis by the mouth of the Phase during the night, and moor the Argo in the marshes of Ares' gardens. According to Apollonius, Jason decides to use diplomacy to convince Aeetes to let him have the fleece and, accompanied by Telamon, Augias and the sons of Phrixos, they enter Aia, camouflaged in a fog created by Hera. According to Diodorus, the cooperation between Jason and Medea begins as soon as they arrive: meeting the Colchidian princess on the beaches of the Temple of Hecate, where she lives, Jason agrees to use her help to steal the Golden Fleece in exchange for her hand in marriage.

According to Apollonius, once at the royal palace, Chalciope recognized his sons and welcomed them with joy, leading Eetes and Queen Idyia to present themselves to the arrivals. The king organizes baths and a large banquet in their honor, during which he questions the Argonauts about their identity and their links with his grandsons. Argos explains the Argonauts' mission, the political problems of Iolcos and the divine origins of these Greeks, while Jason offers his help in fighting the Sarmatians (identified as Valerius Flaccus' Scythians by Danelia) in exchange for the Golden Fleece. This request provokes the king's anger, and he accuses the Argonauts of trying to overthrow him, while condemning his grandsons for having guided them. Apollonius compares Aeetes to Ares: in a fit of rage, he threatens them with mutilation and accuses them of lying to the gods; he expresses anger and rage, and his eyes are bright red. Preventing Telamon from engaging in combat with the king, Jason certifies to the latter that he has no desire for his throne and once again offers his military assistance, as well as the promise of a military alliance with the Hellenic world. Then Aeetes offers Jason two tasks in exchange for the fleece: plant dragon's teeth using the dangerous fire-breathing bulls, and defeat the dragon protecting the fleece. When Jason accepts the mission, the king expels them from his palace. According to D.N. Levin, an analyst of Greek mythology, the banquet legend presents evidence that Aeetes simply misunderstood the Argonauts' request, while Williams sees Aeetes as a ruler unwilling to enter into conflict.

Caius Valerius Flaccus shares a different version of the Argonauts' arrival in the capital of Aeetes. According to the Roman author, they are led to the Temple of the Sun by Medea, where a great religious ceremony takes place. Once inside, the Greeks witness the entrance of the king and his son Absyrte, who are followed by Prince Stirus of Aghbania (Medea's fiancé, whose marriage is delayed by the conflict between Colchia and Scythia), then Chalciope and his four sons, and finally the many princes and senators of Colchia who have gathered to support the impending war against the Scythians. It is in the temple that Jason announces his mission to recover the Golden Fleece and emphasizes the peaceful nature of his journey, hoping to receive the same welcome received by Phrixos. The Argonauts offer the King of Colchis many gifts, including a blood-red cloak from a Taenarium cauldron, a bridle and a sword encrusted with precious stones, as well as the promise of massive fame throughout Thessaly. Here, too, Aeetes is angry at the request, mocking the Argonauts' mission by asking, "What plan of folly is this, to ask for the serpent's fleece?" Eetes nevertheless agrees to give the fleece to the Greeks, in exchange for their help against his brother Perses of Scythia, who is then preparing to invade Colchis, an offer accepted by Jason. In the evening, the Argonauts attend a royal banquet, during which the king listens in silence to their exploits.

Valerius Flaccus underlines the geopolitical situation, as well as the view of the gods upon the Argonauts' arrival: Mars and Sol are the only deities to support the preservation of the Golden Fleece in Colchis, one appreciating its cult throughout Colchis and the other favoring the absolute power held by his son. It's clear that Aeetes had good relations with many of his neighbors, as shown by the seven generals present at the royal banquet from seven unknown lands: Carmeïus, Aron, Campesus, Odroussa, Iaxartès, Latagus and Tchoaspès. Also present at the Argonauts' arrival at the court of Aeetes was ambassador Myraces of Parthia, who had arrived in Colchis from the Caspian Sea to negotiate a treaty of alliance between Parthia and Colchis. Herodotus emphasizes that Aeetes had a constant fear of losing his kingdom.

Valerius Flaccus is the only author to describe in detail the conflict between Eetes and his brother Perses, the mythical king of the Scythians. According to him, the tensions between the two kings are rooted in a disagreement over the golden fleece: Perses fears the fleece and asks his brother to send it back to Greece in order to save their kingdoms, but Aetes refuses to listen to his advice. Danelia sees in this conflict the rationality of Perses, who is prepared to take radical measures to protect the interests of the Helios domains.

When the Argonauts landed in Colchis, war already seemed imminent. Perses and his great army of Hyrcanian barbarians settle on the banks of the Phase, while an Aghbanian contingent crosses the "Aghbanian Gate" to join Prince Stirus of Aghbania, Aeetes' promised son-in-law. It is precisely this promised marriage between Medea and Stirus that prompts many suitors for the hand of the Colchidian princess to ally themselves with the Scythians: Anaousis (general of the Heniacs and Alans), Cæastès (king of the Choatres), who is fascinated by Medea's reputation as a magician, and ambassador Myracès of Parthia, who then asks the princess in marriage to confirm the alliance between Colchis and his empire. However, the choice of Éétès in Stirus is directly linked to the proximity between Colchis and Aghbania.

Flaccus describes the many legions that joined Perses against Colchis. These include Colaxes (son of Jupiter), Auchus and his thousands of Cimmerians, the Indian Datis and his Gangaridians, the three brothers Anxour, Sidon and Rhadalus, Cyene and his Hyleans, Cyris and his Thracians, the Sindi legion (descendants of Scythian slaves), Phalces and his Corallians, Teutagonus and his Batarnaeans, the Dranges, the generals Otaces and Latris of Iberia, the Iazyges, the Thyssagetes, the Exomates, the Taurians, the Ballonites and the Samartes. The Aeetes army was smaller, but included thousands of soldiers and many kings, an alliance of Colchidians, Aghbanians and Amazons, led by the royal prince Absyrte.

The gods are actively involved in the preparations. Mars anticipates a "vast encounter", but Juno asks Minerva to try to negotiate a delay in the conflict to give the Argonauts time to take the Golden Fleece and leave Colchis without getting involved in the war. Jupiter initially supports Perses to punish the ruthless Aetestes, but when he changes his mind, Juno sends Minerva to convince the Argonauts to take part in the conflict. The alliance between the Greeks and Eetes worries the Scythians, and Perses sends an embassy to Jason to convince the Argonauts of the Colchis king's future treachery, but Mars prevents the embassy from reaching the Argo.

On the night of the Argonauts' arrival, Mars announces the start of the battle. Flaccus describes the confrontation thus:

"So then, when steel met steel and the howling ranks closed in conflict and hero breathed on hero through clashing bars, there immediately followed the fall of warriors and the breaking of bodies and weapons in carnage, bloodshed and collapse on either side; helmets rolled on the field, and from the corselets gushed bloody rain; the barbarians swarmed, here shouting in triumph, there with groans, while the lives of the warriors mingled with the dust. "

The battle proved bloody. The Colchidian general Monæsès is killed by the Scythian Caspius, the Scythian general Carésus kills the Colchidians Dipsas and Strimon, before being killed by Crémédon of Albania, who is in turn crushed by chariots, Mélas (son of Phrixos and grandson of Éétès) also falls during the battle. Stirus kills Anaoussis. On another front, the Colchidians are defeated by Rambelus and Otaxes, but are saved by the sons of Phrixos. The battle continues for 24 hours, during which the Colchidians fight bravely and fearlessly, swiftly slaughtering the invaders, with Absyrte leading the chariot of Helios. The Gaetes and Iberians are the first to be defeated and flee. The Argonauts also demonstrate their courage: Argos kills three enemy generals, Calaïs defeats the mercenary Riphéus, Euryte wins over the Exomates, Nestor kills the Scythian Helix. The Argonauts Zetes, Canthos and Iphis are killed on the battlefield. When night falls, Perses admits defeat and curses the Argonauts, before fleeing.

During the battle, Juno devises a new plan to help the Argonauts. Using the help of Venus, she takes the form of Chalciope and shows Medea Jason's courage, urging her to marry him and follow him to Thessaly.

According to Flaccus, despite the Argonauts' offer of help in the battle against Perses, Aeetes refused to keep his promise. On his way to the royal palace, Jason is challenged by the king, who accuses him of piracy and of trying to force Pelias' suzerainty over Colchis, and refuses him the Golden Fleece. He then proposes a new deal to Jason: the fleece in exchange for a heroic ordeal: to plant the teeth of the dragon killed by Cadmos, using the fire-breathing bulls and bronze hooves given to Colchis by Hephaestus. Jason is perplexed by this new request and compares Aetestes to Pelias, accusing both of betraying their promises, but accepts nonetheless.

The versions of Flaccus and earlier writers converge here. Jason and Argos return to the Argo and explain the new situation, while Argos promises to enlist the help of Medea's magical powers. The Argonauts propose a night attack on the royal palace to defeat Aeetes, but Jason refuses to flee the ordeal. During the night, the Argo withdraws from the Phase and is docked on the Euxine Bridge, while Argos returns to the palace to confide in Chalciope. Meanwhile, the King of Colchis convenes an assembly to discuss the situation. In his speech, he swears not to abandon the Golden Fleece and promises to burn the Argo with her crew if Jason wins the trials. He also vows to take revenge on the sons of Phrixos who guided the Argonauts to his kingdom, still fearing his father's prophecy about his fate. Richard L. Hunter, in his analysis of Apollonius's Argonautics, compares the assembly at Aeetes, led by a tyrant, with the democratic assemblies of the Greek world. At night, the king sends out a sentry to keep an eye on the ship.

The majority of the gods do not support one side or the other during this episode, including Ares, who had previously been a close ally of Colchis. However, according to Flaccus, Juno receives help from Venus when she notices that Medea hesitates before supporting the Argonauts: Venus descends to Colchis and assures the princess that her fate in Colchis would be to marry a Caucasian prince, but it is only through magic that the goddess guarantees Medea's betrayal. According to Apollonius, it is Chalciope, convinced by her son Argos, who laments the fate of her children at the hands of their father to Medea and begs her sister to come to the aid of the Argonauts, a request quickly accepted by Medea, who has already fallen in love with Jason through the intervention of Eros. The princess prepares an ointment using essential oils and Colchis flowers to protect Jason from the flames of the bulls, and meets him near the temple of Hecate. Pindar, Apollonius and Flaccus say the two agree to marry that very evening, but Flaccus emphasizes Medea's fear of her father.

In the morning, Éétès goes to the beaches to see if the Argo is still around. The Argonauts Télamon and Éthalidès (Échion alone according to Flaccus) meet him to announce Jason's eagerness and to collect the dragon's teeth. In preparation, Éétès dons the corselet offered by Arès and a golden helmet adorned with four feathers. He is protected by numerous shields and carries a long spear, symbols of war. On a chariot led by Absyrte, he makes his way to the field of trial, followed by a large crowd of his subjects. During the ordeal, the king remains aloof, positioned on the banks of the Phase. Behind him, the armed tribes of Colchis watch from the hills of Aïa. According to Pindar, he weeps when Jason defeats the bulls. Apollonius describes him as "amazed" by Jason's strength. According to Flaccus, he prays to the gods for the hero's defeat, but his prayers are in vain: Jason manages to plant the dragon's teeth. According to Pindar, Aeetes tells the story of the Golden Fleece to his assembled subjects during the trials.

Aeetes is surprised and silent when the Spartans, warriors who sow dragon's teeth, kill each other because of the stone thrown by Jason. According to Apollonius, he mourns the death of the Spartans "like a farmer who sees his shoots destroyed by Zeus". At the end of the trials, Jason shows his own anger and accuses the king of wanting to start a war between Colchis and Thessaly. As for Aeetes, he gathers his assembly of Colchidians at the royal palace to come up with a new plan against the Argonauts, and delivers a violent speech, promising to destroy the gardens of Ares with the Argo. He addresses the Colchidians from his chariot, carrying a shield, spear and pine torch. This speech led the historian Alexandre Couat to compare Aeetes' tyranny to that of the Athenian general Thucydides.

While Pindar claims that it is Aphrodite who is behind Medea's decision to follow Jason, following the trials, by stirring up in her a hatred of Aetetes, Apollonius and Valerius Flaccus identify her fear of her father as the reason for her departure. Flaccus adds that she is more afraid of the king than of the ocean, and quotes her lamentations, wishing to receive last kisses from him, praying for a prosperous reign for Aetestes in Colchis, and hoping that her other children will bring her more joy. With Jason, she puts the snake in Ares' gardens to sleep, much to his chagrin, using her magic (Pindar assures us that Jason kills the snake), allowing Jason to take the Golden Fleece. Diodorus Siculus, attempting to present a more realistic version of the myth, replaces the serpent with Draco, general of the tauric guard charged with protecting the relic; it's only when the only tauric survivors of the Argonauts' assault reach Aïa that Aeetes discovers his daughter's betrayal and the theft of the golden fleece.

When he discovers the theft, Aeetes gathers an army of enraged Colchidians on the banks of the Phase. Riding in his son's wagon, pulled by four horses whipped to a bloody pulp and dressed in war clothes, he heads for the sea to confront the Greeks, but it's too late: aided by Hera and Hecate, the Argonauts and Medea have already fled. On the beach, Aeetes cries out to Zeus and Helios for revenge. The Queen of Colchis begs for her daughter's return, promising all the riches of Colchis to the Greeks in exchange. Chalciope, also on the beach, later disappears, fearing her father's wrath. Stirus of Aghbania, who only appears in Flaccus's Argonautics, considers himself insulted by Medea's departure and sees in Aeetes a king who has lost national respect. The Naupacties offer a different version, according to which the Argonauts flee while the king is distracted by his wife. Diodorus Siculus is the only person to describe a possible battle between the Colchidians and the Argonauts on the beach: Aeetes is said to have killed Iphitos himself, but the king is finally assassinated by Meleager, allowing the Greeks to leave Colchis.

Following the Argo's departure, Aeetes launches a large fleet against the Argonauts, threatening his men with execution if they fail to recapture Medea. As with the rest of the Aeetes myth, there are many versions of the pursuit. According to Flaccus, Stirus of Aghbania and Absyrte lead the Colchidians, but Stirus is killed in a clash with the Greeks. According to the pseudo-Apollodorus, Aeetes himself is in charge of the pursuit, but the majority of authors keep the king in Aïa, even if his soldiers hope for his help. During the first days of the pursuit, most of the Colchidians disappear, either going into exile for fear of their king, or being massacred by the Argonauts. Prince Absyrte leads the last small contingent of Colchidian soldiers to the Brygian islands in the Adriatic Sea.

According to Apollonius, Medea devises a plan to get rid of her brother: she invites him aboard the Argo to negotiate, with the promise of returning the Golden Fleece, but as soon as they meet, Absyrte is murdered by the Argonauts and his sister, who massacre his crew. In this version, the place of his death is the Adriatic, hence the name of the Absyrtides islands. Other versions of the myth, however, differ widely. Phecydes of Syros portrays the prince as a newborn child, taken hostage by Medea at Jason's request, killed during the pursuit and thrown into the Phase. According to Sophocles, he is a young child killed in the royal palace. Procopius and Arrien identify the town of Apsaros (modern-day Batoumi) as the scene of the murder. Seneca and Ovid see the dismembered body of Absyrte scattered across the fields of Colchis. The pseudo-Apollodorus offers a more detailed account, according to which a young Absyrte is killed near the western shores of the Euxine Bridge, forcing Aeetes to suspend his pursuit to recover his son's body and bury it in a place he names Tomeus (modern Constanța), after which he returns to Colchis and sends the rest of his army to search for the fugitives.

The Argonauts' journey is long and perilous. Encountering Circe, Aeetes' sister, she predicts that they will not escape the king's rage, and that he will be ready to invade Greece to capture Medea. When the Argonauts take refuge with Alcinoos at Drepanum, he fears an invasion by the King of Colchis, and when he offers the Colchidians Medea back if she is a virgin, his wife Arete officiates her marriage to Jason, offering the Argonauts sanctuary. The pursuit is in vain, and the Colchidians, fearing the ruthless Aetetes, scatter across the Mediterranean Sea; numerous Colchidian colonies spring up in the Cerunian Mountains, on the Absyrtides islands and across Illyria.

Herodotus mentions that, years after the theft of the Golden Fleece, Aeetes sent an embassy to Greece to demand Medea's return, as well as financial reparations. This request was refused, however, as the Greeks sought revenge for the kidnapping of Io. Medea's later abandonment of Jason, along with the murder of her children, is considered to be Aeetes' final act of revenge.

Estate

While Greek authors are silent on the life of Aeetes after the Argonauts' flight, their Roman counterparts have provided some details, without agreeing on a common version. We know that the disappearance of the Golden Fleece led to profound instability in the kingdom. Eetes' brother Perses took advantage of the situation to dethrone him and proclaim himself king of Colchis. In his Tusculanes, Cicero recounts the sadness of the deposed sovereign and criticizes him for loving his power more than his family:

"Your evils, foolish prince, are of your own making. They did not lie in what happened to you; and time, moreover, must have cushioned your pain. For, as I shall show, grief is the idea of a recent evil. But you mourn the loss of your kingdom, not your daughter. You hated her, perhaps with good reason. What drives you to despair is the deprivation of a crown. But to succumb to boredom, because you can't reign over free men, isn't that crossing all the bounds of modesty?"

In the Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus, Medea returns to Colchis after learning of her father's overthrow, kills Perses and restores Aeetes to the Colchidian throne. According to Hyginus, Medus, the son of Medea and Aegeus, also takes part in the campaign against Perses. Justin adds that Jason accompanies both of them and returns to Colchis, this time to aid Aeetes, and, after helping his father-in-law, embarks on a series of military campaigns to conquer the vast lands of Mesopotamia. In the same version, Medus continues Jason's conquests and becomes the ancestor of the Medes. Another version ignores the fate of Eetes and assumes that Medus succeeds Perses when the latter is overthrown.

Certain aspects of the Aeetes myth are not part of the traditional story, such as the unification of the kingdoms of Colchis and Chersonesis following the marriage of Aeetes and Hecate, when the latter poisoned her father Perses. Stephen of Byzantium cites an unnamed son, who founded the city of Panticapeum (in modern-day Crimea), as well as a grandson, Thetalos, the mythical ancestor of the Thessalians.

The kingdom of Aetes is Colchis, an ancient state commonly located in present-day western Georgia.

Some historians doubt the Caucasian location of Colchis, preferring to situate it on the Anatolian coast, north of the Black Sea, or in Africa. Rimzag Gordeziani points out, however, that these theories are at odds with the links between myth and historical reality: the mention of the Hellespont indicates that the Argonauts' voyage took place in the Pont-Euxin; the etymology of proper names, in the various versions of the myth, which are not directly linked to Greek, would have links with Proto-Kartvelian, the ancestor of modern Georgian ; archaeological finds (dating back to the Bronze Age) from Iolcos show similarities with artifacts from the same period found in western Georgia, suggesting trade links between the two regions, and the use of the terms ko-ki-da and ko-ki-de-jo in ancient Mycenaean texts in reference to the eastern coast of the Euxinian Bridge).

According to historian Ivané Djavakhichvili, the name Colchis derives from that of the province of Cola (northeast of modern Turkey, historically part of Georgian Tao).

Over the centuries, Colchis became the general term used for the whole of western Transcaucasia (called Egrissi by local Georgians), from Abkhazia and Trabzon to the Likhi range, a definition that would correspond to the political map of 1240-1220 BC according to Nodar Chochotachvili.

It is precisely during this period that some modern historians have attempted to place Aeetes, around the 14th and 12th centuries B.C. (i.e., according to Herodotus, a generation before Alexander's abduction of Helen and a generation after Io's abduction).

One of the earliest mentions of Colchis dates back to the reign of Adad-nerari I of Assyria (early 13th century BC). A tablet mentions the Nairi, a confederation of forty Transcaucasian kingdoms, including Colchis. This contradicts the version most often used in Georgian historiography, which asserts that Colchis only emerged as an independent state in the 8th century B.C. with the fall of Diaokhi. According to Chota Badridzé, Colchis and Diaokhi appeared at the same time in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, sharing the same proto-Karto-Zanic language.

There is also debate about the beginning of Colchis' economic development and its relationship with Greek colonization of the Euxinian Bridge.

One interpretation of the Aeetes myth links it directly to Greek colonization. Thus, the king's departure from Corinth and his installation in Colchis symbolize the first wave of colonization of the Pont-Euxin. This would be followed by a second wave with Phrixos (who brought the Golden Fleece with him). The latter's marriage to Chalciope would represent the alliance between Colchidians and Hellenes. According to Iamze Gagua, the children of Phrixos represent the mixed heritage of the Colchidians. The third wave corresponds to the arrival of the Argonauts, who seem to have come more as conquerors than for commercial reasons.

For Gagua, Medea's betrayal symbolized the failure of Aeetes' Colchis and a step towards the fall of his power.

According to Gordeziani, the development of the Aeetes myth dates back to the period between the 8th and 6th centuries B.C., in order to justify Miletus' eastern expansion.

The political state of Aeetes' Colchis is also the subject of debate. Apollonius lists numerous warrior tribes living around Colchis, several of which are historically accurate. Several passages in the Argonautics indicate an alliance between the king and these tribes, making Colchis a possible confederation of tribes that, as in Diaokhi, unite in times of war. Gagua compares the soldiers born of dragon's teeth to the Caucasian tribes. The historian Guiorgui Melikichvili nevertheless identifies signs of political centralization in Colchis around the 13th century BC, but Gouram Koranachvili associates these signs with the late date of the myth's development, at a time when Colchis was already a unified kingdom. Apollonius mentions a political assembly and Valerius Flaccus speaks of senators of the kingdom.

Aeetes' Colchis is a prosperous kingdom, as evidenced by the wealth of the royal palace, while the Euxine Bridge where the Argonauts travel is made up of barbarian territories, making the kingdom a developed land amidst barbarian tribes. In comparison, Jason's Iolcos is described as a poor city. Colchis at the end of the Bronze Age does indeed seem to be the center of considerable economic development, as evidenced by agricultural technology, the domestication of the bee and the cultivation of honey, the existence of a fishing fleet and the advanced development of textiles. Paleobotanical research in the region also demonstrates the cultivation of plants that only returned to the agricultural sector of western Transcaucasia in the 17th century. It is possible that the golden fleece itself has its roots in Colchidian gold-mining practices, notably the use of fleeces to catch gold flakes in rivers, a practice still used in Svanetia. It's also possible that Aeetes' Colchis developed an international trade network, as Medea's use of shellfish from the Caspian Sea shows, while the fact that Pasiphae, Queen of Crete, is Aeetes' sister possibly symbolizes links between the two kingdoms.

The capital of Aeetes is Aia, also known as Cytaea by Apollonius. This name is linked to Koutaïa, the ancient form of Koutaïssi: kout- is a Proto-Kartvelian prefix, while Koutaïa means "empty place between mountains", a comparison to the Aïa of Greco-Roman mythology, which is described as being situated between several hills. Recent archaeological excavations have revealed a network of defensive walls around an ancient city beneath modern Koutaïssi, as well as a palace identified as the residence of the kings of Colchis dating from the 14th-13th centuries B.C. W.E.D. Allen, however, identifies Aïa with Nokalakevi, an ancient Mingrelian fortress closer to the shores of the Black Sea, assuming that Koutaïssi cannot be the near-coastal city of Éétès. This version is contradicted by Chochitachvili, who points to a network of estuaries and rivers linking Koutaïssi directly to the sea, as attested by archaeological finds.

Among the religious rites maintained by Aeetes in the texts of Apollonius, Flaccus and Diodorus, the practice of human sacrifice is the most emphasized, not only before the arrival of the Argonauts, but also with the description of Medea's murder of Absyrte. Gagua links the murder of the child Absyrte to the tradition of piercing children with a wooden awl as part of polytheistic rites in Svanetia. According to Apollonius, so as not to mix the dead with farmland, the Colchidians hang their ancestors on willow branches, a tradition confirmed by Claudius Aelianus in the 3rd century.

Eetes in Roman culture

Aeetes appears in Roman culture not as a mythical figure, but as a real-life ruler who reigned centuries before the foundation of Rome.

One of the first authors to devote an analysis to the King of Colchis was Cicero. In his Tusculanes, he criticizes him for crying more for the loss of his kingdom than for the flight of his own daughter. The Roman philosopher makes Aeetes an example not to be followed by the rulers of the republic and one of the first tyrants of the Greco-Roman world, his reign being compared to those of Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse and Tarquin the Superb of Rome. In his De natura deorum, Cicero raises an ambiguity in the Greek myth of Aeetes: he is the son of a god and a nymph, yet is not considered a deity. His daughter Medea has Helios and Ocean for grandparents, yet is seen as human. On the other hand, Circe (sister of Éétès) is considered a goddess in Italy. The author uses Éétès to oppose the transfiguration of the mortal Ino of Boeotia.

Strabo finds the Argonauts' journey plausible: he cites Aia as a contemporary city on the Phase, Aeetes as a historical figure, and Colchis as a kingdom rich in gold, silver, iron and copper. According to Strabo, it was precisely this wealth that prompted the voyage of Phrixos, and later of the Argonauts, to Transcaucasia.

Diodorus Siculus, attempting to combine mythology with historical reality, writes that the city of Formia was founded by the Argonauts under the name of Caeëtes in honor of their enemy.

Arrien, who visited the region in the 2nd century, claims to have seen the anchor of the Argo in the town of Phase.

Caius Valerius Flaccus speaks of a Colchidian-Scythian war in his own version of the Argonautics in honor of the emperor Vespasian and his conquest of Brittany. This opened the ocean to the Romans, just as the Argonauts' mission opened the Euxinian Bridge to the Greeks. Flaccus considers Aetas to be a Scythian king and sees the theft of the Golden Fleece as a transition of historical power from the East to Greece. His work, which includes some historical aspects (such as the Caucasian tribes mentioned) and a detailed account of the war, is a reflection on the military and geographical expansion of the Romans of his time. In his Aeneid, Virgil draws inspiration from Aetes in his description of Queen Dido of Carthage.

As the Byzantine Empire expanded eastward, Eetes continued to appear in Byzantine texts. According to Procopius of Caesarea, the king really did exist, and built one of the Phase fortresses. The Byzantine encyclopedia Souda (10th century) mentions an "Epic on Aeetes".

The heirs

Aeetes, traditionally seen as a legendary king of Colchis, is also considered by some to be the ancestor of the region's line of rulers:

According to Strabo, the name Eetes had been popular throughout Colchis since the myth.

Modern Georgian historiography refers to the dynasty of historical kings of Colchis as "Aetides", making the rulers Akes, Koudji, Saulaces and Aristarchus descendants of Aeetes.

According to Nodar Chochitachvili, "Éétès" has been the title of the kings of Aïa since the 13th century BC.

Archaeologist Otar Lordkipanidze believes that if naming Aetes the ancestor of the Colchidian rulers is not an invention of classical authors, it's possible that the Colchidian rulers saw themselves as his descendants.

Modern culture

In post-Roman culture, Éétès is practically only represented in the context of the myth of the Argonauts and his daughter Médée. In the Argonauticorum, a 1778 play by the Hungarian András Dugonics, Éétès is even replaced by King "Almos". In Georgia, however, Éétès gained in popularity from the 18th century onwards. At the end of the 19th century, Georgian author Akaki Tsereteli wrote Medea, a three-volume work never completed, the last volume of which should have dealt with the overthrow of Éétès and the return of his daughter to Colchis. Georges Charachidzé, a specialist in Caucasian folklore, identified numerous links between Caucasian mythology and the character of Aeetes, while at the beginning of the 20th century, archaeologist Akaki Tchantouria collected a series of folk tales from across western Georgia, telling the story of a golden ram seen first as the protector of the region, then of the princely Dadiani dynasty and a friend of the sun. In Christa Wolf's novel Medea: Voices (1995), Eetes is a ruthless ruler who lets mad women dismember Absyrte, after which Medea flees. Otar Tchiladzé devotes a novel to Éétès, whose sister is Kamar, a witch who educates Médée. In 1975, Georgian novelist Valerian Kandelaki wrote his Aieti about the life of the king. In Madeleine Miller's Circé (2018), Éétès is a demigod, brother and possible lover of the sorceress Circé.

In film, Éétès appears mainly in works linked to the Argonauts: he is played by Jack Gwillim in Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and Frank Langella in the 2000 mini-series of the same name.

In the 21st century, Éétès remains a subject of interest in Georgia. Many restaurants, hotels and businesses bear his name, as do a district of the town of Khobi and an ecological association for the protection of Black Sea beaches. The rugby stadium in the town of Koutaïssi, and its club, are named "Aïa". During the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the Russian government organized an event showing Aeetes welcoming the Argonauts to Sochi, a version widely criticized by Georgian and Greek historians. In 2020, an advertisement by the Tbilvino wine company shows Aeetes as one of the first men to drink wine.

Eetes' relevance to Greco-Roman mythology

The image of Aeetes is that of an antagonistic figure in a myth told from the point of view of Jason and the Argonauts. Apollonius of Rhodes made the King of Colchis a one-dimensional, villainous character, and reinforced this description by associating him with the serpent that guards the Golden Fleece. He is resentful and difficult-tempered. In ancient texts, Aeetes prefers his power to the well-being of his subjects, refuses to consider the recommendations of his advisors, and is paranoid, seeing enemies everywhere, inside and outside his kingdom. Flaccus portrays him as a perfidious man, a deceitful traitor who deserves to be deceived by his own daughter. Latin texts use terms like furor ("rage"), ira ("anger") and impietas ("impiety") to describe him. Gregory Hutchinson calls him an "oriental tyrant" and Richard Hunter - a "barbarian villain".

Eetes symbolizes the divorce between prehistory and history. His association with Ares and Hephaestus, and his comparison with the heroes of the Iliad, make him a representation of the violent civilization of the Bronze Age, in contrast to the civilized and peaceful Greeks. Chronologically, Aeetes is one of the last demigods of Greek mythology, a symbol of the past vanquished by the Argonauts. Aeetes also represents a decisive moment in the relations between East and West, as do the other members of his family, whose domains represent the journey of Helios: Circe is in the western Mediterranean, Pasiphae is in Crete, Perses reigns over Tauris, while Aeetes lies within the limits of the East. Medea's departure is also a symbol of the migration of science and culture from the East to Greece. The king's kinship is directly linked to the sun cult in Colchis, a cult recounted by Greeks and Romans and confirmed by archaeological excavations. Proposing an alternative geography, Austrian philologist Albin Lesky compared Aïa to the Champs Élysées and Éétès to the king of the dead, a theory taken up by Jacob Wackernagel, who compares the name Éétès to that of Hades, and by Russian historian Askold Ivantchik, who associates Colchis with the Underworld.

Professor Mary Williams, however, criticizes the simplification of such interpretations based on the "Hellenocentric" view of Jason and his companions. She sees in Eetes not a barbarian, but a king of Corinthian origin who communicates in Greek with his guests, lives in a wealthy palace within a prosperous kingdom, and is powerful enough to be in contact with the gods. Many of the king's characteristics make him a Homeric hero who has built a stable kingdom and must face invaders: Herodotus describes the Argo as a warship, the king receives the Argonauts with hospitality and is described by Castor as "wise", while Jason's trials appear difficult for Greeks, but testify to Colchis' role in the development of metallurgy and agriculture in the region. According to historian Rusudan Tsanava, Aeetes is also the model of a good father who asks Jason to prove his heroism, sends Absyrte to save his daughter Medea and bequeaths the kingdom of Corinth to her. According to Williams, too little attention has been paid to Éétès in a complex story:

"Although Jason and Medea have each received their share of attention, little has been given to the other important characters of the epic, particularly Aeetes, whose character is wonderfully constructed and quite entertaining. Apollonius' presentation of Aeetes in the "Argonautics" is of fundamental importance, although he is a figure to whom relatively few verses are devoted, for Aeetes is a major stumbling block to the success of Jason and his crew."

According to historian Mary Williams, Apollonius' Aeetes is a king who agrees to offer the Golden Fleece, but only to a true hero, hence the difficulty of the tasks he assigns to Jason, while the latter violates his oath by secretly using Medea's magic and subsequently killing Absyrte. Williams sees in Apollonius's tale not a conflict between good and evil, or between civilized and barbarian, but between the old world of Homeric values, represented by Aeetes, and the new reality of the Greek world. The historian Iamze Gagua, for his part, sees an allegory between the first contacts between Greek colonists and the Colchidian world, represented in three phases: the arrival of Aeetes from Corinth in Colchis, the arrival of Phrixos and the voyage of the Argonauts.

Aeetes and Georgian historiography

In Georgian historiography, Eetes is not just a mythical figure, but a semi-legendary king of Colchis, reigning at the end of the Bronze Age (around the 13th century BC). This assumption is based on Roman historians who treated him as a historical king (Arrien, Strabo, Zosimus), but also on certain similarities between myth and reality (notably the invasion by the Scythians recounted by Flaccus and medieval Georgian historians). The historicist version presents the reign of Aeetes as the independence of Colchis from the Egyptian sphere of influence. Using Greco-Roman accounts and archaeological finds from the late Bronze Age, the creation of the first Colchidian army and navy is attributed to Aeetes, as is that of a centralized state, following the subjugation of the Georgian and Caucasian tribes living around Transcaucasia. In later versions of the myth, Aeetes becomes a powerful king, unifying the independent princes of western Transcaucasia and becoming the overlord of Tauride and Mitanni. Historian Roïn Metreveli considers Eetes to be one of the greatest diplomatic rulers in Georgian history.

According to Nodar Assatiani, the myth of Aeetes is an attempt by Greek authors to explain the progress of metallurgy and agriculture in Colchis, as well as the vast power of the region. It's also possible that Apollonius invented the links between Aeetes and Hephaestus to symbolize the importance of technology in Aia, while the bronze of his bulls represents the fact that the Colchis of Aeetes existed during the Bronze Age. These interpretations led Chochitashvili to find in Aetes a powerful monarch who encouraged an agricultural revolution in his country (including massive hemp cultivation), developed industrial fishing and encouraged gold mining, entrusted to the Svane tribe of the Missimians (renowned for their use of fleeces to harvest gold flakes from the rivers of Svanetia), then exporting this gold as far as Crete.

Like the myth of the Trojan War, it is possible that the Colchis of Aeetes possesses certain historical elements, but the lack of archaeological excavations in modern western Georgia (as was done in Hisarlık for Troy) prevents this theory from being confirmed. The Georgian explanation of the myth sees Eetes as a king trying to defend his kingdom against Greek invaders, and the Argonauts' demand for the Golden Fleece as a demand for tribute from the Greeks. According to Gagua, the story of the Spartans is an allegory to show how the Greeks used the division among the Caucasian tribes to subdue Colchis.

Archaeologist Akaki Tchantouria, a proponent of the historicity of the king of Colchis, found a golden death mask during an excavation in Imerethia, which he named the "Mask of Aeetes". Guorgui Kalandia, director of the Museum of Cultural History in Tbilisi, follows this theory: while death masks are common in Colchis, this one contains symbols of the sun. Today, the mask is kept in the History and Architecture Museum of the Dadiani Palace in Zugdidi.

The myth of the Argonauts and the question of the Colchidian colonies

While the myth of the Argonauts has long been seen as an allegory of Greek colonial and military expansion, a less studied element is the Colchidian colonization symbolized in many passages of the various versions of the story.

Pindar describes how the Argonauts' return journey led to the founding of the kingdom of Cyrene.

According to Apollonius of Rhodes, the Colchidian troops sent by Aeetes to hunt the Argo decided to settle at certain points along their route to avoid returning to a ruthless and angry king. Thus, they found the Absyrtides in the Adriatic Sea, where Prince Absyrte was murdered. When other soldiers failed in their negotiations with Alcinoos, they settled in Drepanum with the Phaeacians, until they were expelled by the Bacchiades, forcing them to live on a desert island. It was from this island that they colonized the Ceraunian Mountains, Oricum and the Balkans. In the Argonautiques, the Liburnian islands were already inhabited by Colchidians before the Argonauts' voyage.

According to Callimachus of Cyrene, Colchidian exiles settled across Illyria and built the city of Pola near the Temple of Harmony. The Greeks named this city the "City of the Exiles" and Gordeziani finds a link between Pola and Rbola (რბოლა, "to run" in Proto-Kartvelian).

Strabo also confirms the presence of Colchidians as far away as Crete and Italy, and Pliny the Elder mentions Colchidian cities in the Adriatic, including Colchinium (modern Ulcinj). Nadareishvili uses Strabo's survey to justify the similarities between the Mycenaeans of Crete, the Etruscans of Italy and the Georgians of Colchis, and finds a direct link with Greek mythology: Aeetes reigned in Colchis, Pasiphae in Crete and Circe in Italy.

Stephen of Byzantium turned Panticapaeum into a Colchidian colony built under Eetes.

There are links between Colchis and the Adriatic cities, confirmed by archaeological discoveries showing Colchidian artifacts dating from the 15th - 11th centuries BC in Italy and in the Danube valley (2nd millennium BC). Gordeziani identifies numerous similarities in the Colchidian and Macedonian vocabularies, indicating a possible Zane origin for both. Other clues point to close contact between Colchis and Crete during the Mycenaean period.

There is no agreement among ancient authors as to the return journey of the Argonauts. However, each version demonstrates a possible Colchidian presence outside the Transcaucasus, from the Caspian Sea to the Volga and from the Baltic Sea to Western Europe. Some believe that Apollonius of Rhodes rewrote his Argonautics after being exiled to Rhodes for his first work, in which he describes a powerful Colchis in competition with the Phoenicians for dominance of the Mediterranean.

Gordeziani compares these versions with the theory of Kartvelian emigration to the Aegean Sea towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC.

Eetes, Hattusili, Ethiopia

A minority opinion refuses to see Aeetes as a monarch of western Transcaucasia. German philologist Paul Dräger situates Aïa in Ethiopia, and criticizes the nationalism of Georgian scholars who assume, without doubt, that Colchis would indeed be in Georgia, a view criticized by Gordeziani, who cites the numerous geographical markers used by Apollonius to situate the kingdom of Éétès on the Euxine Bridge.

Iuri Mosenkis's theory identifies Eetes with King Hattusili III, a Hittite ruler who reigned from 1267 BC to 1232 BC. In support of this hypothesis, Mosenkis finds numerous similarities between the myth and Hattusili's reign, including :

Mikheïl Tamarachvili, who uses stellar descriptions in numerous versions of the Argonaut myth, dates Jason's voyage to Colchis to around 1292 BC. This date corresponds to the Hittite reign of Muwatalli II, Hattusili's brother. During this period, Hattusili served as governor of the southern provinces of the Hittite kingdom.

Bibliography

Pindar, 4th Pythics

Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautics

Herodotus, Histories

Xenophon, Anabasis

Cicero, De natura deorum

Cicero, Tusculanes

Caius Flavius Hyginus, Fabulæ

Strabo, Geography

Caius Valerius Flaccus, Argonautics

Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library

Philostratus the Younger, Pictures

Pausanias the Periegete, Description of Greece

Claude Élien, Varied history

Justin, Abrégé des Histoires philippiques de Trogue Pompée

Sources

1. Aeëtes
2. Éétès
3. Néère n'apparaît que chez Sophocle. Les listes traditionnelles des Néréides, suivant la version d'Hésiode, ne la listent pas parmi les filles de Nérée et Doris.
4. Une scholie anonyme à Apollonios remplace Persé par Éphyra et Antiope.
5. Ici Egros est, selon la tradition géorgienne, un fils de Targamos, l'ancêtre mythique des Caucasiens, et le fondateur du mamasakhlissat (unité politique sous contrôle d'un chef tribal) de Colchide, ou Egrissi.
6. Aïa, la capitale colchidienne dans le mythe des Argonautes, tient son nom de Gaïa, ou « Terre ». Astérodie, comme il l'a été souligné par Nonnos, est la mère d'Éétès et le symbole du culte des étoiles en Colchide.
7. ^ Yarnall, Judith (Jan 1, 1994). Transformations of Circe: The History of an Enchantress. University of Illinois Press. p. 28. ISBN 0252063562. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
8. ^ Hesiod, Theogony 960; Apollodorus, 1.9.23; Hyginus, Fabulae 25; Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.243–244; Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.19
9. ^ Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 3.241
10. ^ Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 3.242
11. ^ Preston's note to Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 3.330 "Asterodea" (p. 168) quoting "Sophocles assigns them, as their parent, Neera, one of the Nereids" & "Now in his hands" (p. 269) quoting "In his Scythians, Sophocles says, that Absyrtus was not the uterine brother of Medea : they were not the offspring of one bed; the youth was newly sprung from a Nereid.—Eiduia, the daughter of Ocean, bore the virgin. "
12. Bartolomeo di Giovanni (Bartolomeo di Giovanni di Domenico, ca. 1458 - 1501; fl. 1480-1501): pintor italiano que trabajó en Florencia, y cuyas obras fueron identificadas como de su autoría por Bernard Berenson.
13. a b Hesíodo, Teogonía 958 ss
14. Homero, Odisea X 134
15. Yarnall, Judith (Jan 1, 1994). Transformations of Circe: The History of an Enchantress. University of Illinois Press. σ. 28
16. Hesiod, Theogony 960; Apollodorus, 1.9.23; Hyginus, Fabulae 25; Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.243–244; Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.19
17. Απολλώνιος ο Ρόδιος, "Αργοναυτικά", 3.241, 3.242, 3.330
18. Hyginus, Fabulae Preface, 23