Jason:
The hero of Greek legend who led the Argonauts in the quest of the Golden Fleece, the son of Aeson, King of Iolcus, brought up by the centaur Chiron. When he demanded his kingdom from his uncle Pelias who had deprived him of it, and was told he could have it in return for the Golden Fleece, Jason gathered around him the chief heroes of Greece and set sail in the Argo. After many tests and trials, including sowing the remaining dragon's teeth left unsown by Cadmus, he was successfull through the help of Medea, whom he married. He later deserted her and subsequently killed himself through melancholy. Another account says he was crushed to death by the stern of his old ship Argo, while resting beneath it.
(Source: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1981)The Argonauts were, simply, the crew of the Argo (the name means swift). But they were more than that -- the Argonauts were the greatest Greek heroes in the age before the Trojan War, the likes of Heracles and Orpheus.
The "tests and trials" included passing through the Symplegades, two massive rocks that, driven by the wind, clashed together. Other exotic things they saw were the Harpies and the Amazons. They also saw "acts of every shade of terrible".
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