Jason of the Argonauts

He is always billed as ‘the hero Jason,’ but whenever readers get right down to it and examine works concerning his life and deeds, the distinction of hero seems less obviously earned and more arbitrarily assigned. On the one hand, he is most definitely written about chiefly in epic and also featured in a famous play, and he is placed in the epic in extreme circumstances of the type which normally beset the stock hero. However, unlike the more solid heroic personas Herakles, his cousin Theseus, and even the old-style Perseus, Jason receives more than his fair share of mortal and divine help and intervention. In fact, his main mortal helper, a mere woman, has arguably as many or more heroic traits as Jason himself. 

If we examine both Medea and Jason according to Lord Raglan’s list of heroic characteristics, we see that Medea starts off well down the road to heroism. The first two descriptives require the hero to be the child of a royal virgin and a king. Jason is the son of king Aeson, rightful king of Iolcus, and either Polymede, daughter of Autolycus, or Alcimede, daughter of Phylacus and Clymene. Interestingly enough, however, is that Autolycus is not ever mentioned to definitely be king. Phylacus is, but as his mother’s personage is disputed according to discordant sources, this heroic characteristic cannot be fully settled. Medea’s parentage, however, is much more concrete in ancient writings.