The
voyage of the Argonauts was the very beginning of maritime exploration. Jason
built a 50-oared galley, the Argo (meaning Swift in Greek) and cruised in
it from Colchis, in Greece, past Mount Pelion, through the Dardanellcs and
into the Black Sea in search of the Golden Fleece, which he successfully acquired
The homeward voyage was accomplished despite extraordinary dangers and hardships,
including a passage between dashing rocks and the back- breaking porterage
of the ship dragged over land an rollers. The Argo was long preserved on the
beach at Colchis as the famous prototype of the Greek sea-going galley.
