Golden Fleece in the context of "Iolcus"

In Greek mythology, the Nereids or Nereides (/ˈnɪəriɪdz/ NEER-ee-idz; Ancient Greek: Νηρηΐδες, romanized: Nērēḯdes; sg. Νηρηΐς, Nērēḯs, also Νημερτές) are sea nymphs (female spirits of sea waters), the 50 daughters of the 'Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanid Doris, sisters to their brother Nerites. They often accompany Poseidon, the god of the sea, and can be friendly and helpful to sailors (such as the Argonauts in their search for the Golden Fleece).

The Argonauts (/ˈɑːrɡənɔːt/ AR-gə-nawt; Ancient Greek: Ἀργοναῦται, romanized: Argonaûtai, lit. 'Argo sailors') were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, Argo, named after its builder, Argus. They were sometimes called Minyans, after a prehistoric tribe in the area.

Helle (/ˈhɛli/; Ancient Greek: Ἕλλη, romanized: Héllē), sometimes also called Athamantis (Ancient Greek: Ἀθαμαντίς, "daughter of Athamas"), was a character in Greek mythology who figured prominently in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. Helle is known for giving her name to the strait of Hellespont ("sea of Helle"), into which she fell while crossing it on the back of a flying golden ram with her brother Phrixus—the same flying ram from which the Golden Fleece derived.

Jason (/ˈdʒeɪ.sən/ JAY-sən; Ancient Greek: Ἰάσων, romanized: Iásōn [i.ǎːsɔːn]) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece is featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea, the granddaughter of the sungod Helios.

Jason appeared in various literary works in the classical world of Greece and Rome, including the epic poem Argonautica and the tragedy Medea. In the modern world, Jason has emerged as a character in various adaptations of his myths, such as the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts and the 2000 TV miniseries of the same name.

In Greek mythology, the Argo (/ˈɑːrɡoʊ/ AR-goh; Ancient Greek: Ἀργώ, romanized: Argṓ) was the ship of Jason and the Argonauts. The ship was built with divine aid and carried the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece from Iolcos to Colchis. After the journey, the ship was retired and dedicated to Poseidon, the divine ruler of the seas.

The ship has gone on to be used as a motif in a variety of sources beyond the original myth from books, films and more.

In Greek mythology, Argus (/ˈɑːrɡəs/ AR-gəs; Ancient Greek: Ἄργος, romanized: Árgos) was the builder and eponym of the ship Argo, and consequently one of the Argonauts; he was said to have constructed the ship under Athena's guidance. Argus was commissioned to build the Argo by King Pelias (ruler of Iolcus) so that the crew that would come to be known as the Argonauts could find and bring the Golden Fleece back to Iolcus, which was in Thessaly.

The Argonautica (Greek: Ἀργοναυτικά, romanized: Argonautika) is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. The only entirely surviving Hellenistic epic (though Callimachus' Aetia is substantially extant through fragments), the Argonautica tells the myth of the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden Fleece from remote Colchis. Their heroic adventures and Jason's relationship with the Colchian princess/sorceress Medea were already well known to Hellenistic audiences, which enabled Apollonius to go beyond a simple narrative, giving it a scholarly emphasis suitable to the times. It was the age of the great Library of Alexandria, and his epic incorporates his research in geography, ethnography, comparative religion, and Homeric literature. However, his main contribution to the epic tradition lies in his development of the love between hero and heroine – he seems to have been the first narrative poet to study "the pathology of love". His Argonautica had a profound impact on Latin poetry: it was translated by Varro Atacinus and imitated by Valerius Flaccus, it influenced Catullus and Ovid, and it provided Virgil with a model for his Roman epic, the Aeneid.

In Greek mythology, Orpheus (/ˈɔːrfiːəs, ˈɔːrfjuːs/ ; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: [or.pʰeú̯s]) was a bard, legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned poet and, according to legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, and descended into the underworld to recover his lost wife, Eurydice.

The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music (the usual scene in Orpheus mosaics), his attempt to retrieve his wife Eurydice from the underworld, and his death at the hands of the maenads of Dionysus, who got tired of his mourning for his late wife Eurydice. As an archetype of the inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the most significant figures in the reception of classical mythology in Western culture, portrayed or alluded to in countless forms of art and popular culture including poetry, film, opera, music, and painting.

In Greek mythology, Medea (/mɪˈdiːə/; Ancient Greek: Μήδεια, romanized: Mḗdeia; lit. 'planner, schemer') is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis. Medea is known in most stories as a sorceress, an accomplished pharmakís, a worker in pharmakeía (medicinal magic), and is often depicted as a high-priestess of the goddess Hecate. She is a mythical granddaughter of the sun god Helios and a niece of Circe, an enchantress goddess. Her mother may have been Idyia.

She first appears in Hesiod's Theogony around 700 BC, but is best known from Euripides's 5th-century BC tragedy Medea and Apollonius of Rhodes's 3rd-century BC epic Argonautica. In the myth of the Argonauts, she aids Jason in his search for the Golden Fleece. Medea later marries him, but eventually kills their children and his other bride according to some versions of her story.