The saga of Jason and the Argonauts is one of the most enduring epics of ancient Greece, a tale that bridges the gap between the world of men and the realm of the divine. The journey began in the city of Iolcus, where the young Jason, heir to the throne, returned to reclaim his birthright from his usurping uncle, King Pelias. Pelias, wary of a prophecy warning him of a man wearing only one sandal, saw Jason arrive in exactly that state—having lost a sandal while helping an elderly woman (who was actually the goddess Hera in disguise) cross a river. To rid himself of the threat, Pelias challenged Jason to an impossible task: to travel to the distant land of Colchis and retrieve the legendary Golden Fleece, the hide of a winged ram sent by the gods.
Jason accepted the challenge and ordered the construction of a ship that would be the greatest vessel ever known. He enlisted the master shipwright Argus, who, with the guidance of the goddess Athena, built the Argo. The ship was unique, constructed of seasoned oak from Mount Pelion, and it featured a miraculous beam in its prow carved from a sacred oak of Dodona. This beam possessed the power of speech and prophecy, serving as a direct link to the will of Zeus. Jason then sent heralds across all of Greece to recruit the finest heroes of the age. The crew, known as the Argonauts, included legends such as the mighty Hercules, the master musician Orpheus, the twin sons of Zeus Castor and Pollux, the swift-footed Boreads Zetes and Calais, and the skilled pilot Tiphys.
After many trials across the Aegean Sea, including a long stay on the island of Lemnos and a harrowing battle with the Earth-born giants at the mountain of the Doliones, the Argo reached the shores of Thrace. There, the heroes encountered King Phineus, a man cursed by the gods for abusing his gift of prophecy. Phineus was blind and lived in a constant state of starvation; every time he sat down to eat, the Harpies—monstrous winged hags with the faces of women and the claws of vultures—would descend from the sky to snatch away his food or defile what remained. Jason and the Argonauts took pity on the old king. The Boreads, who possessed wings of their own, pursued the Harpies to the ends of the earth until the goddess Iris intervened, promising that the monsters would never bother Phineus again.
In gratitude, Phineus provided Jason with the secret to navigating the most dangerous portion of their journey: the passage through the Bosphorus Strait into the Euxine Sea, or Black Sea. This passage was guarded by the Symplegades, also known as the Cyanean Rocks or the Clashing Rocks. These were two massive, mountainous cliffs that were not fixed to the seabed but instead floated upon the churning waters. Whenever a ship attempted to pass between them, the rocks would rush together with terrifying speed, crushing the vessel into splinters and drowning everyone aboard. The air around the rocks was perpetually thick with mist and the deafening roar of the crashing stone and the boiling sea.
Phineus instructed Jason to take a dove with him. 'When you reach the mouth of the strait,' Phineus warned, 'release the bird. If the dove flies through the rocks and survives, you may take it as a sign that you too can pass. Row with all your might while the rocks are recoiling from their strike. But if the dove is crushed, turn back, for it is not your destiny to enter the Black Sea.' Armed with this wisdom, the Argonauts set sail for the narrowest point of the Bosphorus.
As the Argo approached the entrance to the strait, the heroes felt the very earth tremble. The sound of the Symplegades was like a continuous roll of thunder, and the spray from the colliding waves rose high enough to obscure the sun. The crew was gripped by a cold, paralyzing fear; even the bravest among them looked upon the moving mountains with dread. Tiphys, the pilot, gripped the steering oar with white-knuckled intensity, watching the rhythm of the tides and the shifting shadows of the stone.