Differences From Classical Mythology
The film differs from the traditional telling in Greek mythology in several ways. In mythology, the Argonauts encountered Talos on their return journey after they had obtained the Golden Fleece. He was defeated not by Jason, but by Medea casting a spell on Talos, causing him to remove the bronze nail from his ankle which kept the ichor inside. The mythological Talos guarded Crete, not the Isle of Bronze, and was protecting not a treasure, but Queen Europa.
The harpies were not caught in a net or caged, but were chased away by the Boreads: Calaïs and Zetes (also Zethes) Upon doing so, the goddess Iris promised the Harpies would not bother Phineas anymore. Phineas told the Argonauts how to safely pass the clashing rocks by releasing a dove. If the bird makes it through, he tells them to row with all their might and Athena gave the Argo the extra push needed to clear them, "the Argo darted from the rocks like a flying arrow", whereas in the film he gives Jason an amulet. Yet in Homer's Odyssey, Circe tells Odysseus, "One ship alone, one deep-sea craft sailed clear, the Argo, sung by the world, when heading home from Aeetes' shores. And she would have crashed against those giant rocks and sunk at once if Hera, for her love of Jason, had not sped her through."
Jason was not betrayed by Acastus in the classical tale. Jason openly told King Aeëtes that he had come for the Fleece. The king promised Jason could have it if he performed three tasks, knowing full well they were impossible. However Jason was able to complete the tasks with the help of Medea. It was Jason himself who sowed the dragon's teeth in the ground, not Aeëtes. Jason defeated the skeleton army by making them fight amongst themselves, and destroy each other, rather than the Argonauts battling them.
Medea killing her own brother, Absyrtus, to help Jason and the Argonauts escape is omitted from the film, as are the episodes with Cyzicus and the Gegeines and the Argonauts' stay on the isle of Lemnos. Also not mentioned, ancient mythology suggests King Aristo and Pelias were half brothers; each sharing a common mother Tyro, where the former is a son of Cretheus and the latter, a son of the god Poseidon.
Read more about this topic: Jason And The Argonauts (1963 film)
Famous quotes containing the words differences, classical and/or mythology:
“The country is fed up with children and their problems. For the first time in history, the differences in outlook between people raising children and those who are not are beginning to assume some political significance. This difference is already a part of the conflicts in local school politics. It may spread to other levels of government. Society has less time for the concerns of those who raise the young or try to teach them.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)
“Et in Arcadia ego.
[I too am in Arcadia.]”
—Anonymous, Anonymous.
Tomb inscription, appearing in classical paintings by Guercino and Poussin, among others. The words probably mean that even the most ideal earthly lives are mortal. Arcadia, a mountainous region in the central Peloponnese, Greece, was the rustic abode of Pan, depicted in literature and art as a land of innocence and ease, and was the title of Sir Philip Sidney’s pastoral romance (1590)
“One memorable addition to the old mythology is due to this era,—the Christian fable. With what pains, and tears, and blood these centuries have woven this and added it to the mythology of mankind! The new Prometheus. With what miraculous consent, and patience, and persistency has this mythus been stamped on the memory of the race! It would seem as if it were in the progress of our mythology to dethrone Jehovah, and crown Christ in his stead.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)