Essay on Jason vs Odysseus - 937 Words

Artful VS Artless Both famous heroes from antiquity, Jason and Odysseus have much in common and just as much not. It has been said that The Voyage of the Argo, written centuries past The Odyssey, is an imitation or some form of plagiarism of the primary epic poem of ancient Greece. I like the other train of thought; it is more an acknowledgement or tip of the hat, so to speak, specifically to The Odyssey. Both tales center on a hero and a fantastic voyage. Jason was less the virtuous demi-God we see in Odysseus. At first glance, he appeared an unlikely hero. Not so Odysseus, who embarked on what, should have been a short journey home following the fall of Troy, but became an epic journey with many obstacles and delays along the way.†¦show more content†¦Aeetes was used to getting visitors who had come for the fleece, and had devised a test for quickly getting rid of them. He had a standing challenge to give up the fleece to anyone who could tame two fire-breathing bulls and then use them to plow a field with dragons teeth. Jason was stumped by how to pass this quest and was saved at the last moment by Aeetes own daughter Medea, who gave him a potion of wild herbs that would protect him from the fiery breath of the bulls. With the help, Jason easily tamed the bulls, and began to sow the field, but noticed that where he had put the teeth, soldiers were springing up from the ground. Jason hid from them, most cowardly, but then came up with a plan for getting rid of them. He picked up a huge stone and threw it into the middle of the mass of soldiers, killing one. A quarrel immediately started amongst the soldiers over who had thrown the rock, and a fight broke out, killing all but a few, whom Jason was able to easily overcome. With the help of Medea, Jason was able to steal the fleece from its guardian, a dragon, by putting it to sleep, and escape from Colchis. Jasons trip home, however, took much longer than the way from home, as he was blown off course and had to ove rcome many obstacles to reach his home. Does this sound familiar? That sentence could be used to describe the first half of the Odyssey, only it was Odysseus voyaging and not Jason. These journeys are parallel, as they are seafaring tripsShow MoreRelatedThe Blood Of Olympus By Rick Riordan1125 Words   |  5 Pages The book I have read for my Outside Reading Book is The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan. This is the fifth and final book in The Heroes of Olympus series. This is the book where the final battle between the demigods and gods vs. the giants and Gaea the earth mother. Gaea was out take over he world and kill the mortals, banish the gods to Tartarus and extinct the demigod race. In the book the seven of the prophecy travel to the ancient lands of the gods: Greece. They must fufill the line of theRead MoreThe Gods vs. Man Essay1966 Words   |  8 PagesThe Gods vs. Man God. That one word has a lot of weight to it, doesnt it? It had even more significance to the Greeks. It was something they feared and respected. Throughout history men have always wanted to be like the gods. It is something that is seen over and over, mans universal struggle to be like the gods. Is it mans fault that he wants to be like the gods? Or is it the gods fault? The story Oedipus Rex by Sophocles shows that mans arrogance and fallibleRead MoreNores vs. Greek Essay5576 Words   |  23 PagesNores vs. Greek Greek mythology and Roman mythology are almost identical. This is an accepted fact, as it is widely known that the Romans stole the Greek myths. However, it is very interesting to note that the mythology of the Vikings (Norse) has many similarities with the Greek myths. These myths are, by no means, identical to the Greek ones (like the Roman ones are), but there are very distinct commonalities between the two. I see two possible reasons for this besides pure coincidence.