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Absyrtus: Son of Aeetes (though according to most sources he is only Medea's half-brother because he does not have the same mother, Eidyia, as her). Valerius follows Apollonius in presenting Absyrtus as a grown man, who has the command of Colchian forces. In Apollonius, he is murdered by Jason and Medea when he pursues them as they flee from Colchis. Valerius' narrative breaks off before reaching this point, and it is unclear if he would have followed this version. Acastus: A son of Pelias, but also an Argonaut: in Valerius he is deviously lured into joining the mission by Jason (1.149-83). This causes Pelias to have Jason's family executed (described at the end of Book 1). In later events (well outside the narratives of Valerius or Apollonius) it was Acastus' sisters whom Medea, after the return of the expedition, persuaded to cut up and boil their father in the hope of rejuvenating him, and Acastus exiled both Medea and Jason from Iolcus to punish them for this trickery. Achilles: Son of the mortal Peleus and and the sea goddess Thetis. Since it was foretold that Thetis' son would be mightier than his father, Jupiter, who had designs on Thetis himself, ensured that she was married to a mortal (at 1.133 Thetis is described lamenting that Achilles was not fathered by a god). When he was still an infant, Thetis purified Achilles by exposing him to fire (or, according to the version of Statius' Achilleid, dipping him in the waters of the river Styx), and by this process he was almost immortalized (thus Ap. Rhod. 4.868-76; Valerius does not mention this process). He was then raised by the centaur Chiron (see 1.255). Achilles is the pivotal character in Homer's Iliad, an account of the Trojan War which took place a generation after the sailing of Argo. In Valerius he appears at 1.255-70) as an infant already marvelling at the departing heroes; as in Catullus 64, he represents the subsequent generation of Greek heroes who would conquer the Trojans, as well as - on the metaliterary level - serving as an icon for earlier epic. Admetus: A minor Argonaut (mentioned only at 1.445). In mythology he was famous as the mortal king whom Apollo was forced to serve for a year after slaying Jupiter's Cyclops. He was also notorious for convicing his wife Alcestis to die in his place. Aea: the name of a region of Colchis, but used by Valerius as a synonym for Colchis. Aea is also the name of an eponymous nymph, whose rape by the Phasis river is recorded at 5.425-8, as part of the ecphrasis of the doors of Aeetes' palace. Aeetes: King of Colchis, a son of Sol (the sun god); father of Absyrtus, and of Chalciope and Medea. Aeetes is an eastern tyrant, as well as the nominal owner of the Golden Fleece. In Valerius' narrative Aeetes is in the midst of civil war with his brother Perses when the Argonauts arrive in Colchis and ask for the Fleece. Subsequent to the events of the Argonautica, Aeetes was, as Jupiter foretells at 5.678-87, deposed by his brother Perses, but later restored by Medea's son Medus. These details are also found in Apollodorus (1.9.28). Aeson: Son of Cretheus and father of Jason. In Valerius' account, when Pelias discovers that Jason has tricked his son Acastus into joining the expedition, he forces Aeson and his wife to commit suicide (1.693-850). This version of events precludes that of Ovid, Metamorphoses 7 in which Medea after arriving in Greece used her magic to rejuvenate her father-in-law and thereby extend his life. Aethalides: A minor Argonaut (mentioned only at 1.437). In earlier versions of the myth he was noted for his powers of metempsychosis (e.g. Pherecydes 3 F 110); but Valerius only remarks upon his accuracy with the bow. Alcimede: Daughter of Phylacos and Minyas' daughter Clymene; married to Aeson, and by him the mother of Jason. When Pelias orders the execution of Jason's family, she commits suicide with Aeson at the end of the first book (1.762-826) Amphidamas: A minor Argonaut (mentioned only at 1.376); the son of the Arcadian Aleus. He joins the expedition with his brother Cepheus and his nephew Ancaeus. Amphion: A minor Argonaut (mentioned only at 1.367, 3.479): the son (with Asterios) of Hyperasios, of Pellene, the town founded by their grandfather, the eponymous Pellen. Amycus: A savage son of Neptune, and king of the Bebrycians. His custom is to challenge all travelers of noble stature who arrive in his territory to a boxing match. In Valerius' version (4.99-343, which closely follows Apollonius) this is no ordinary combat, but a fight to the death. When confronted by the Bebrycian king, the Argonauts designate Pollux as their champion. Initially the fight hangs in the balance but at length Pollux's superior boxing skills overcome the brute force of Amycus, and the giant collapses to the ground under a deadly flurry of blows. In some traditions (including that of Theocritus and much visual art) Pollux does not kill the king but binds him to a tree. Ancaeus (1): An Argonaut, son of the Arcadian Lycurgus, and designated sacrificer for the heroes (1.189-92). He joins the expedition along with his uncles Cepheus and Amphidamas (1.374-7). Following the death of Tiphys, Ancaeus (along with Nauplius) seeks to replace him as helmsman, but loses to Erginus (5.63-6). Ancaeus is well-known in other poets for his participation, after the Argonauts' expedition, in the Calydonian boar-hunt, in which he was killed by the boar. Ancaeus (2): An Argonaut, son of the sea god Neptune, mentioned certainly only in the catalog at 1.413-4. (It is unclear which Ancaeus is described at 3.138 slaying Echelus in Cyzicus). Argo: The fifty-oared vessel built by Argus with the aid of Minerva, who implanted a "speaking beam" into its forekeel, for the expedition undertaken by the Argonauts. After the expedition Argo was dedicated at the Isthmus of Corinth (Apollod. 1.9.27). The tradition followed by Valerius made the Argo the first ship. Argus: Son of Arestor; an Argonaut, and co-builder with Minerva of the expedition's vessel, the Argo. Asterion: A minor Argonaut (mentioned only at 1.355); he was from Thessaly, son of Kometes and Antigone, daughter of Pheres. Athamas: Son of Aeolus by Enarete, daughter of Deimachos: his brothers included Cretheus and Sisyphos. By the nymph Nephele he had Phrixus and Helle. He subsequently married Ino and by her had two sons, Learchus and Melicertes. Ino meanwhile, playing the role of the saeva noverca (wicked stepmother), schemed to destroy Athamas' children by Nephele, Phrixus and Helle. To accomplish her goal, Ino sent messengers to the Delphic oracle and had them report, falsely, that Phrixus must be sacrificed. It was to preserve her children that Nephele arranged for their miraculous removal to Colchis on the golden ram, the tale told by Orpheus at 1.277-320. For the subsequent history of Athamas see Apollod. 1.9.2. Butes: A minor Argonaut from Athens (mentioned only at 1.394); he was the son of Teleon. Calais: One of the sons of Boreas, the other being Zetes. Both were Argonauts. They were also winged, and their main role in the Argonautica myth is to drive off the Harpies, monstrous flying creatures sent by Jupiter to torment the prophet Phineus as punishment for his excessive revelations to mankind. Their aerial pursuit of the Harpies is narrated at 4.485-528. Canthus: An Argonaut, and the only member of the expedition to die in the Colchian civil war in Book 6. His death and the struggle for his body is described at length at 6.317-72 (in Apollonius, by contrast, he is killed in Libya by Kaphauros). Castor: An Argonaut: one of the two Dioscuri. As Pollux was the skilled boxer, so Castor won renown as a famous horseman. Apart from the Quest for the Fleece, they also took part in the Caledonian boar-hunt, and attacked Athenai (Athens) in order to rescue their sister Helene, who had been carried off by Theseus. Castor was to die during a cattle-raiding dispute between the Dioscuri and the sons of Aphareus. Centaurs: The centaurs were mythical creatures combining the upper torso of a man with the four legs and body of a horse. Much addicted to wine and violent sex, they were notorious for their great fight with the Lapiths (described in the ecphrasis at 1.140-48). See also Chiron. Cepheus: A minor Argonaut, mentioned only in the catalog at 1.374-7. He was king of Tegea in Arcadia, son of Aleus, and joined the expedition along with his brother Amphidamas and his nephew Ancaeus. In the catalog it is mentioned that, prior to the mission, Cepheus had assisted Hercules in an expedition against the Spartans. Chalciope: Daughter of Aeetes and Eidyia, and elder sister of Medea. When Phrixus arrived in Colchis after his escape on the magical Golden Ram, Aeetes gave him Chalciope as a bride, and she bore him four sons (Apollonius identifies them as: Argus, Melas, Phrontis, and Kytissoros; Valerius largely excludes them from his version of the myth). Chiron: A civilized centaur, son of Saturn and Philyra, who was famous for his wisdom and sagacity. He played an important role in mythology as tutor to various heroes, and was in particular responsible for rearing Achilles and Jason. At 1.255-70 Chiron is shown as guardian to the infant Achilles, bringing the child down to the shore to see his father Peleus off. Clashing Rocks: A set of floating rocks at the Black Sea entrance to the Euxine, which opened and shut of their own volition, making it impossible for ships to pass through safely: hence their Greek name 'Symplegades' ("Clashers"), which Valerius renders as iuga concita at 1.4. They are subsequently referred to Cyaneae (1.60) and Cyaneae cautes (1.630) -- based on an alternate Greek term, 'Kyaneai petrai'. The difficult passage of the Argo through these hazardous rocks is described at 4.667-98. Colaxes: Chief of the region of Bisalta, and son of Jupiter by an eastern nymph (cf. Herodotus 4.5 where he is the grandson of Jupiter/Zeus by a nymph). Colaxes fights on the side of Perses in the Colchian civil war, in which he is destined to die. Jupiter briefly considers saving him from his allotted fate,but decides against it (6.621-9; a scene modelled on Homer's account of the death of Sarpedon in Iliad 16). Colaxes then goes on to perform an impressive feats in an aristeia, before he is finally slain by Jason (6.630-55). Colchis: Originally known as Aia, the later name for the region's capital, Colchis was a region on the east coast of the Black Sea, lying to the south of the Caucasus mountains, and separated from Anatolia by the Phasis river. It was ruled by the tyrant Aeetes, father of Medea. It was also the home of the Golden Fleece, which the Argonauts were ordered to retrieve. Colchis contained numerous different ethnic and linguistic groups. Herodotus' theory that the dark- skinned Colchians were descended from the remnants of an Egyptian army is treated by Valerius at 5.418-24. Cretheus: Son of Aiolus, brother of Athamas, by Tyro father of Aeson, and thus Jason's grandfather. Cyaneae: See Clashing Rocks. Dioscuri: These "sons of Jupiter" were Castor and Pollux. Dodona: Site of an ancient oracle of Jupiter in Epirus. The oracle supposedly spoke through the rustling of leaves in the sacred oaks, and it was from one of these that the talking beam came that Minerva had fitted into the keel of Argo. Echion: An Argonaut from Arcadia, son of Mercury and Antianeira, brother of Eurytus, and half-brother of Aithalides. Following in his father's footsteps, he serves as the herald of the Argonauts (1.439-40) -- presumably chosen over his two brothers because of his great speed (cf. the description cursu invictus, Ov. Met. 8.331 ). It is Echion who comes upon the castaway Dymas in Bebrycia (4.134), and who announces to Aeetes Jason's readiness for the trials at Colchis (7.543-5). Eidyia: A daughter of Ocean, and second wife of Aeetes, by whom she had both Chalciope and Medea. Erginus: In the tradition followed by Valerius and Apollonius, an Argonaut and son of Neptune, a native of Miletos. Earlier accounts (e.g. Pind. Ol. 4.19-28) made him son of Clymenos and lord of Orchomenos. Pindar also associates him with an event not mentioned by Apollonius, the funeral games held by Hypsipyle in honor of her father Thoas, where Erginus, mocked by the Lemnian women for his prematurely grey hair, nevertheless contrived to defeat that wind-swift pair Zetes and Calais in the foot- race. In Book 5 he succeeds Tiphys as Argo's steersman, favored over Ancaeus and Nauplius (see 5.63-6). Eribotes: A minor Argonaut, sometimes known as Eurybates, son of Teleon: a Lokrian, and a skilled physician. According to Hyginus (Fab. 14), he died in Libya on the return voyage. Euphemus: A minor Argonaut (mentioned only at 1.365), originally from Phocis or Boeotia. He is the son of Neptune and Europa, and the ancestor (4.1731-64) of Battus of Cyrene. Eurystheus: The king of Mycenae who, at Juno's command, imposed the Twelve Labors on Hercules. Eurytion: A minor Argonaut (mentioned only at 1.378), son of Irus and Demonassa, a Locrian; he subsequently took part in the great Calydonian boar-hunt, during which he was accidentally killed by his son-in-law Peleus. Eurytus: An Argonaut from Arcadia, son of Mercury and Antianeira, brother of Echion, and half-brother of Aithalides. In the catalog, Valerius describes him as a skilled swordsman (1.438-9). Gesander: A mighty Scythian warrior figthing for Perses in the Colchian civil war. He kills the Argonaut Canthus before dying himself under a hail of missiles (6.317-85). Glaucus: A minor sea divinity, whom Apollonius makes the spokesman of Nereus. In Valerius, Glaucus is credited (along with the Nereid Cymothoe) with saving Helle when she falls off the Ram en route to Colchis. Golden Fleece: It was to preserve her children Phrixus and Helle that Nephele arranged for their miraculous removal to Colchis. She descended in a cloud, carried off her children and then provided them with a ram with a golden fleece to carry them off to safety. Although Helle fell off en route, Phrixus arrived safely in Colchis, the kingdom of Aeetes. The ram which had carried Phrixus to safety was sacrificed to Jupiter, and its fleece was dedicated on a tree in a grove sacred to Mars, where it was guarded by a sleepless dragon. In the next generation, the tyrant Pelias ordered Jason to retrieve the Golden Fleece, hoping that the mission would prove fatal. Hagnias: Father of Tiphys. Haemonia: The ancient name of Thessaly. It was supposedly derived from the eponymous Haemon, son of Pelasgos and father of Thessalos. Helle: Daughter of Athamas and Nephele, and sister of Phrixus. She falls into the Hellespont (named after her) while fleeing with her brother on the golden-fleeced ram provided by their mother to get them away from the machinations of their stepmother Ino. She does not die there, but is transformed into a sea deity. As the Argonauts pass the Hellespont, Helle (now a sea deity) appears to them and asks them to convey a message to her brother Phrixus in Colchis (2.584-612). Hercules: Though both Apollonius and Valerius include Hercules among the Argonauts, there was broad disagreement in ancient literature as to whether Hercules took part in the expedition. Apollonius perhaps alludes to this at 1.122-3: "Nor do we learn that great-hearted Hercules ignored the eager summons of Aeson's son." Hercules is a hero rather than god but through his deeds on behalf of humankind he is eventually made immortal and admitted to the company of the Olympians). Hercules is hated by his stepmother Juno, who eventually manages to separate Hercules from the expedition by having his companion Hylas abducted (3.484-730). The great hero then proceeds, at Jupiter's order, to free the Titan Prometheus (5.154-76). Hylas: An Argonaut, son of the Dryopian chieftain Theodamas, and taken on by Hercules as his page after he killed the boy's father (Valerius avoids mentioning this background). Hylas was the great hero's weapon-bearer (see 1.107-11), as well as his eromenos (i.e. passive homosexual partner). His abduction by a water-nymph at Juno's instigation results in the separation of Hercules from the Argonauts (3.484-730). Hypsipyle: Daughter of Thoas, king of Lemnos, and granddaughter of the god Bacchus. During the massacre of the Lemnian men that preceded the appearance of the Argonauts on the island, Hypsipyle secretly arranged the escape of her father (2.34-310) for which Valerius praises her in lavish terms. She subsequently becomes queen, and when the Argonauts reach Lemnos she invites them as guests into the city. During this lengthy visit, Jason and Hypsipyle have a love affair, and the queen gives birth after the Argonauts have departed. In Book 7 of the Iliad, Hypsipyle is mentioned as the mother of Euneus by Jason; in other versions she bears Jason twins. Idas: An Argonaut, son of Aphareus and Arene, and brother of Lynceus, with whom he not only took part in the quest for the Fleece, but also in the famous Calydonian boar-hunt. Idas is often mentioned as one of the bravest Argonauts (see 3.471, 4.224, 7.574), but also one of the most abrasive. In Apollonius he is violently opposed to seeking Medea's aid in Colchis. In an intertextual nod to his predecessor, Valerius has Idas rethink his (not previously mentioned) unwillingness to rely on Medea's aid (7.573-5). Idmon: An Argonaut from Argos, putative son of Abas; a prophet and seer who was taught his mantic skills by Apollo (according to some sources his father. He volunteered for the expedition even though he foresaw his own death during it (1.436-49). His death from illness is described by Valerius at the opening of Book 5. Ino: The second wife of the Boeotian king Athamas, to whom she bore two sons, Learchus and Melicertes. Soon after, Ino, playing the role of the saeva noverca (wicked stepmother), schemed to destroy Athamas' children by his first wife Nephele, Phrixus and Helle. To accomplish her goal, Ino sent messengers to the Delphic oracle and had them report, falsely, that Phrixus must be sacrificed. It was to preserve her children that Nephele arranged for their miraculous removal to Colchis on the golden ram, the tale told by Orpheus at 1.277-320. Iphiclus (1): A minor Argonaut from Thespis (mentioned only at 1.370) and a champion runner, who carried off the prize at the funeral games of Pelias. Iphiclus (2): A minor Argonaut from Phylace (mentioned only at 1.473) son of Phylacus and Minyas' daughter Clymene, and brother of Alcimede the wife of Aeson. Iphiclus was thus also Jason's maternal uncle. By either Diomedea or Astyoche he was the father of Protesilaos (the first warrior ashore at Troy) and Podarkes (the leader there of the Thessalian contingent). A wealthy cattle-baron, he gave his herds to the seer Melampus, the brother of Bias, in return for a magic recipe enabling him to become a father. Iphitus: An Argonaut from Phocis, son of Naubolus, and Jason's host during his consultation of the oracle at Delphi. Jason: The captain of the Argonauts, Jason is the son of Aeson and Alcimede. In some versions of the myth, after the usurpation of the throne by Pelias, the young Jason was smuggled away to be brought up by the centaur Chiron. Valerius starts the story with Pelias, warned by oracles that Jason will cause his death (there is no mention of the one-sandalled man oracle as reported in Apollonius and other sources), sending Jason off in quest of the Fleece, the getting of which provides the narrative of the Argonautica. Jason is a much more heroic figure than his counterpart in Apollonius, and Valerius frequently equates his Labors to those of Hercules. However, the mythological tradition offers a more negative characterization for events subsequent to the winning of the Fleece. On his return to Thessaly Jason delivered the Fleece, dedicated Argo at the Isthmus, and then called on Medea to rejuvenate Aeson and exact vengeance upon Pelias. (This latter task she accomplished by convincing Pelias's daughters that they could rejuvenate their father by killing him, cutting him up, and boiling him in a cauldron. Guilelessly, they did so, thereby committing inadvertent patricide). Acastus then expelled Jason and Medea: they went to Corinth, where they spent ten uneventful years. At the end of this time, however, Jason engaged himself to King Creon's daughter Glauce (or Creousa). Medea, thus provoked, poisoned both Glauce and Creon, and killed her two children by Jason, and made her escape in a chariot drawn by winged dragons. The details of the terrible events subsequent to the close of the Argonautica story would have been familiar to Valerius readers, and he constantly plays off their knowledge of events subsequent to his own narrative to create grimly ironic effects. Juno: The daughter of Saturn and Rhea, and sister as well as wife to Jupiter, she was the goddess of marriage. Ironically, her quarrels with her husband Jupiter - usually caused by his sexual escapades with mortal and immortal women - were proverbial. In the Argonautica she is the most prominent goddess and functions throughout as Jason's divine supporter, having never forgotten his gallant gesture to her when she was disguised as an old woman and he carried her across a river in spate (mentioned by Jason in his prayer in Book 1). At the same time, however, she hates her stepson Hercules, and schemes from the beginning to detach him from the mission, accomplishing this goal at Mysia in Book 3. Jupiter: The chief Olympian god, the ultimate arbiter of events in the universe'father of gods and men.' He was the son of Saturn and Rhea, and the brother of Neptune and Juno (to whom he was married). Though his powers are made clear in the Argonautica and he directs the broader patterns of events, he remains very much off-stage and out of the action. One of his rare interventions is to put an end to the terrible slaughter at Cyzicus in Book 3, after the king's death. Lapiths: A mountain-dwelling Thessalian clan, putatively descended from Lapithes, a son of Apollo and Stilbe and brother of Centaurus, the ancestor of the Centaurs. When Perithous was leader of the Lapiths, being son of Ixion and thus half-brother to the Centaurs, the latter fought the Lapiths for a share in the inheritance. Though they were beaten, the quarrel burst out again at the feast celebrating Perithous's marriage to Hippodamea (described in the ecphrasis at 1.140-48) when the Centaurs once again suffered a defeat. Leodocus: An Argonaut from Argos (mentioned only at 1.358), son of Bias and Pero, daughter of Neleus, and brother of Talaus. Not apparently mentioned before Apollonius, he plays no role in Valerius' narrative. Lerna: A marshy coastal district at the SW end of the Argive plain, with many springs and a grove with shrines sacred to Ceres and Bacchus. It is mainly remembered as the site of one of Hercules' Labors, the subjugation of the Hydra. Lynceus: A minor Argonaut (mentioned only at 1.460-67), son of Aphareus and Arene, brother to Idas, and famed for the sharpness and penetration of his sight (he could even see things underground). In Valerius' poem he is not mentioned as taking part in any action. He was one of the participants in the Calydonian boar-hunt, and would eventually die at Pollux' hands during a quarrel over cattle-raiding. Medea: In Valerius' account, daughter of Aeetes and his second wife Eidyia (by whom he also had had Chalciope). She is usually made the half-sister of Absyrtus. After the Argonauts arrive in Colchis, it is Medea who helps Jason to perform the tasks set by Aeetes, having fallen in love with him by the machinations of Juno (Books 6 and 7). In most versions of the myth, though this falls outside the compass of Valerius' narrative, Medea helped Jason to get revenge on Pelias after she and Jason returned to Thessaly. This she did by convincing Pelias' daughters that they could rejuvenate their father by killing him, cutting him up, and boiling him in a cauldron. They followed her instructions, believing themselves to be performing a magical ritual, but of course Pelias remained dead. Pelias' son Acastus then expelled Jason and Medea: they went to Corinth, where they passed ten years in relative tranquility. At the end of this time Jason, with an eye to improving his status, agreed to marry King Creon's daughter Glauce. In her outrage, Medea sent Glauce a poisoned bridal dress which killed the prospective bride, burned Creon alive in his own palace, killed her children by Jason, and made her escape in a chariot drawn by winged dragons. The details of the terrible events subsequent to the close of the Argonautica story would have been familiar to Valerius readers, and he constantly plays off their knowledge of events subsequent to his own narrative to create grimly ironic effects. This is particularly in evidence in Mopsus' prophecy at 1.224-6, and the ecphrasis at 5.446-54). Meleager: An Argonaut, from Aetolia: son of Oineus and Althaea. He is not a prominent figure in Valerius, being mentioned only in two places (1.435, 6.719). His main claim to fame came from another myth, the Calydonian boar-hunt, in which he killed the infamous boar. During a quarrel over the spoils of the hunt, Meleager killed his mother Althea's brothers. In anger at this, Althea burned the log upon which the Fates had decreed at Meleager's birth that his life depended, thereby inducing his immediate death. Menoetius: A minor Argonaut from Lokris, son of Actor and Aigina, and father of Patroclus (Achilles' companion) by Polymele. He is identified by the patronymic Actorides in the catalogue of Argonauts (1.407), where he is described leaving Patroclus to be raised (alongside Achilles) by Chiron. Subsequently, Menoetius is mentioned only briefly in the battle narrative at 6.343. Minerva: A virgin goddess of crafts and of war, divine patron of the city of Athens, and daughter of Zeus. In concert with Juno she acts as the Argonauts' divine patron in the Argonautica. She is the builder of Argo along with the craftsman Argus; and along with Juno she saves the Argonauts from being crushed by the Clashing Rocks. Among her other helpful deeds, Minerva helps the Argonauts during the Colchian civil war by repulsing a chariot attack launched against them (see 6.386-426). Mopsus: One of two prophets among the Argonauts (the other was Idmon), he was son of the Apollo, the god of prophecy. He was famous for understanding the language of birds, but his first prophecy in Valerius involves the reading of a bull's entrails (1.205). Mopsus foresees bad omens at the wedding of Jason and Medea (8.247-51) and later predicts that the Trojan war will result from the abduction of Medea (8.397-9). In Apollonius he dies from snake-bite in Libya on the return voyage (Ap. Rhod. 4.1502 ff.). Myraces: A Parthian ambassador who comes to Colchis seeking to fashion a treaty between Colchians and Parthians. When the Colchian civil war breaks out, he stays behind and fights for Aeetes. He fights from a chariot driven by a eunuch, and his extravagant attire draws the attention of the warrior Syenes, who slays him with a spear (6.690-718). Nauplius: A minor Argonaut, who volunteers to become helmsman of the Argo after the death of Tiphys, but is rejected in favor of Erginus (see 5.63-5). Nauplius was king of Euboea and father of Palamedes, who was to fight for the Greeks in the Trojan War. During that war, Palamedes would die at the hands of the Greeks, thanks to the scheming of Odysseus. In the catalog entry for Nauplius (1.370-2), Valerius mentions the subsequent revenge that Nauplius inflicted upon the Greeks for the death of his son. He waited for the Greeks to return following the capture of Troy, and then set up false beacons on the south-eastern rocky promontory of the island of Caphareus. The Greek ships were utterly deceived, and met with disaster when they tried to land. [Note that this Nauplius is different from the Argonaut of the same name mentioned by Apollonius Rhodius (1.133-8), who was the son of Clytoneus (and thus descended from Naubolus).] Nephele: A goddess and the first wife of Athamas, a Boeotian king, to whom she bore the children Phrixus and Helle. Athamas subsequently married Ino and by her had two sons, Learchus and Melicertes. Ino meanwhile, playing the role of the saeva noverca (wicked stepmother), schemed to destroy Athamas' children by Nephele, Phrixus and Helle. To accomplish her goal, Ino sent messengers to the Delphic oracle and had them report, falsely, that Phrixus must be sacrificed. It was to preserve her children that Nephele arranged for their miraculous removal to Colchis. She descended in a cloud, carried off her children and then provided them with a ram with a golden fleece to carry them off to safety. The tale is told in detail by Orpheus at 1.277-320. Nereus: A gentle god of the sea, father (by Doris) of the Nereids (sea nymphs), including Thetis, the wife of Peleus. In his only appearance, he and Thetis help to speed the Argo along at 1.657-8. Nestor: King of Pylos and an Argonaut. He is depicted fighting the Centaurs in the ecphrasis in the first book (1.145-6); he is mentioned in the fighting at Cyzicus; he kills Helix in battle at Colchis (6.569-70). Nestor will play a prominent role as advisor to Agamemnon in the Trojan War, as described in Homer's Iliad. Orpheus: An Argonaut, son of Oeagrus and the Muse Calliope. A magically talented musician, he was best known for his failed attempt to bring his dead wife Eurydice back up from Hades (a story told in Virgil's Georgics). In the Argonautica, Orpheus sings many songs to the Argonauts, including the story of Phrixus and Helle, and the tale of Io. Pagasae: a sea-port of Iolcus in the Thessalian district of Magnesia, and the traditional site of the construction of Argo, as well as the point of departure (and return) for the Argonauts (cf. Ap. Rhod. 1.238). The port is explicitly mentioned by Valerius only at 5.191 and 8.541; at 1.422 the Argo is referred to as Pagaseia puppis. Peleus: An Argonaut from Aigina, the son of Aeacus and brother of Telamon. He was married to the sea-nymph Thetis, who bore him a son, the future Greek hero Achilles. Peleus plays far less of a role in Valerius than he does in Apollonius Rhodius. Pelias: Son of Neptune by Tyro, and brother of Jason's father Aeson. As the tale begins, he is king of Thessaly. Whether Pelias usurped the throne from Aeson, or (as Valerius reports at 1.22) ruled from his earliest years, there was evidently a good deal of tension between the two brothers. In order to solidify his hold on the throne, Pelias sends Jason to Colchis to retreive the Golden Fleece, hoping that the expedition will prove fatal. When he discovers that Jason has taken Acastus (Pelias' son) with him, he vindictively forces the suicide of Aeson and other members of Jason's family (1.693-826). His own death at the hands of his daughters, persuaded by Medea that by cutting him up and boiling him they could achieve his rejuvenation, is alluded to by Valerius at 1.807-12 (it falls well beyond the scope of Valerius' and Apollonius' narratives; see Ov. Met. 7.297-349). After Pelias' butchery his son Acastus held famous funeral games for him, attended by heroes from all over Greece, and then exiled both Medea and Jason for their part in the his father's death. Periclymenus: An Argonaut (but mentioned only at 1.388), and the son of Neleus and Chloris, and thus brother to Nestor. In Apollonius he enjoyed the special favor of Neptune, who granted him superhuman strength and the ability to shape-shift. After the expedition, he was killed by Hercules at the capture of Pylos. Perses: the son of Sol and Perse and thus brother to Aeetes and Circe. He starts a civil war against his brother in Colchis, which the Argonauts participate in in Book 6. He is destined to win the war in the long term, but in Book 6 his forces suffer a major setback at the hands of the Argonauts. Phalerus: An Athenian Argonaut, son of Alcon and reputed grandson of Erechtheus: he is supposed to have given his name to the Athenian roadstead of Phaleron. Phasis: The main river of Colchis (the modern Rioni), discharging into the east end of the Black Sea to the south of the mountains of the Caucasus. The Argonauts sail up the Phasis to reach Colchis at 5.177-216. The Phasis was sometimes regarded in antiquity as the boundary between Europe and Asia. Philoctetes: A minor Argonaut (mentioned only at 1.391-3, 3.722), who is not included among the crew by Apollonius Rhodius. Philoctetes was more famous for mythological events occuring after the voyage of Argo. His father Poeas would later participate in the killing of Hercules, for which he was rewarded with the latter's bow and arrows. These in time were inherited by Philoctetes, and he took them with him on the Greek expedition to Troy. On the outward voyage, because of a festering wound, he was initially left behind in Lemnos, and only later retrieved by Odysseus and Neoptolemus at the advice of the prophet Helenus - who knew him to be indispensible to Greek victory. Phineus: Son of Agenor, and formerly king of Salmydessos in Thrace. His first marriage was to Cleopatra, his second to Idaia. There are various accounts of why Phineus himself was blinded, exiled to Thynia, and persecuted by the Harpies. One is that this was divine punishment for his cruelty to his sons by Cleopatra. Valerius, however, follows the version of Apollonius, which stresses Phineus's role as seer and prophet, and attributes his misfortunes to angering Jupiter by revealing to mankind the god's plans for the future. Phineus' suffering is brought to an in Book 4, when the visiting Argonauts drive off the Harpies. Phlias: An Argonaut, the son of Bacchus and Chthonophyle, from Araithyrea. Phrixus: Son of Athamas and Nephele, and brother of Helle. As a result of machinations by Ino, Athamas' second wife, Phrixus was to be sacrificed to Jupiter; but with Nephele's help, and that of Mercury, brother and sister escaped by air on the magical golden ram. Helle fell into the eponymous Hellespont en route, but Phrixus reached Colchis, where he sacrificed the ram (its fleece was hung up in a sacred grove and guarded by an unsleeping serpent), and eventually married King Aeetes' daughter Chalciope, by whom he had four sons: Argus, Melas, Phrontis, and Kytissoros. Various accounts are given of his later life and death are given, among them that Phrixus eventually returned to Greece. Valerius follows the version according to which he died peacefully of old age in Colchis (see 5.224-5), though at 1.41-6 Pelias claims that Phrixus was killed by Aeetes. Pollux: An Argonaut: one of the two Dioscuri. His brother Castor was a famous horseman; Pollux was a renowned boxer. He fights and kills the monstrous Bebrycian king Amycus in a boxing match at 4.99-343, one of the central episodes in Valerius' poem. He later participates prominently in the wedding ceremony of Jason and Medea (8.243-6). Polyphemus: A minor Argonaut (mentioned only at 1.457-60), from Larisa in Thessaly, son of Elatos, and one of the Lapiths, with whom in youth he fought against the Centaurs. A friend of Hercules, he married that hero's sister Laonome. In Apollonius' version he was left behind in Mysia, like Hercules, and went on to found the city of Chios. Also according to Apollonius, Polyphemus died fighting against the Chalybes while trying to rejoin the Argonauts. Sibyl: A prophetess dwelling in Cumae who, according to legend, appeared during the reign of Tarquinius Superbus. Her predictions were recorded and deposited in the Capitol where they were maintained by a college of priests (at first duumviri, then decemviri then quindecimviri), who consulted them in times of crisis. The Sibyl is mentioned by Valerius in the proem at 1.5. Sthenelus: A companion of Hercules in the war against the Amazons, and buried by Hercules when he met his death on their return. His shade appears as an omen to the Argonauts at 5.82-100. Styrus: The Albanian prince to whom Aeetes, hoping to avoid the theft of the Fleece, betrothes Medea. After the Argonauts flee with both Medea and the Fleece in Book 8, Styrus pursues them and is killed in a storm. Talaus: A minor Argonaut, the son of Bias and Pero, great-grandson of Cretheus, and king of Argos. Telamon: An Argonaut, son of Aiakos and Endeis, and brother of Peleus. Telamon went to Salamis, the rule of which was bequeathed to him by Cychreus. Like so many Argonauts, he also took part in the Calydonian boar-hunt. A friend of Hercules, he accompanied that hero against the Amazons, killing Melanippe. He was the father (by different women) of both Ajax and Teucer. Thessaly: The largest independent territory of northern Greece, and the home of Jason and his family. Its great central plain is surrounded on all sides by mountains: to the west the great backbone of the Pindos, to the south the Othrys chain, down the east coast the ramparts of Pelion, Ossa, and Olympos, and to the north, acting as a frontier between Thessaly and Macedonia, the Kambounian range. As the story opens, Thessaly is firmly in the grip of the tyrant Pelias. Thetis: A sea-nymph, daughter of Nereus and Doris, and one of the Nereïds. She was brought up by Juno. When she came of age both Jupiter and Neptune (despite the fact that he was her grandfather) made a play for her. Jupiter was put off by the prophecy of Themis that Thetis would bear a son greater than his father, and combined with Juno to marry her off to Peleus, a match she resisted, but in vain. The union produced Achilles, thus fulfilling the prophecy. Thoas: Son of Bacchus and Ariadne, and king of Lemnos. When the Lemnian women killed their husbands in one night, Thoas was saved by his daughter Hypsipyle, and sent to safety in a boat (2.242-310). Tiphys: An Argonaut, and the original helmsman of the Argo. He was the son of Hagnias, from Thespiae. An expert navigator, he died en route to Colchis, in the land of the Mariandynians (5.13-31), causing the Argonauts, and Jason in particular, great consternation. He was replaced as helmsman by Erginus. Zetes: An Argonaut, brother of Calais and son of Boreas and Oreithyia. The two brothers were winged, and their main role in the Argonautica myth is to drive off the Harpies, monstrous flying creatures sent by Jupiter to torment the prophet Phineus as punishment for his excessive revelations to mankind. Their aerial pursuit of the Harpies is narrated at 4.485-528. Related Articles: Poem Summary | Poetic Style | Versification | Bibliography |