Editing Colchis (section)

==In mythology==
[[File:Château de Versailles, salon de Diane, Jason et les Argonautes débarquant en Colchide, Charles de La Fosse.jpg|thumb|400px|[[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]] arriving at Colchis. The [[Argonautica]] tells the myth of their voyage to retrieve the [[Golden Fleece]]. This painting is located in the [[Palace of Versailles]].]]

From the fifth century B.C.E. onwards, Colchis was identified as Aea, the [[Greek mythology|mythical]] home of [[Aeëtes]], [[Medea]], the [[Golden Fleece]], and the fire-breathing [[Khalkotauroi|Colchis bulls]]<ref>[[Pindar]] ''Pythian Odes'' 4.11, 4.212; [[Simonides]] PMG545 (Schol. Eur. Med. 19); ''The Origin of Pagan Idolatry'', George Stanley Faber p.&nbsp;409</ref><ref>''The Facts on File Companion to Classical Drama'', John E. Thorburn "Colchian Bulls" p.&nbsp;145</ref> and was the destination of the [[Argonauts]].<ref>''The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire'', Trevor Bryce p.&nbsp;171</ref><ref>''World Mythology: An Anthology of Great Myths and Epics'', Donna Rosenberg p.&nbsp;218</ref>

Colchis also is thought to be a possible homeland of the [[Amazons]].<ref>''Celebrate the Divine Feminine: Reclaim Your Power with Ancient Goddess Wisdom'', Joy Reichard p.&nbsp;169</ref><ref>John Canzanella, ''Innocence and Anarchy'' p.&nbsp;58</ref><ref>Margaret Meserve, ''Empires of Islam in Renaissance Historical Thought'', p.&nbsp;250</ref><ref>Diane P. Thompson, ''The Trojan War: Literature and Legends from the Bronze Age to the Present'' p.&nbsp;193</ref><ref>Andrew Brown, ''A New Companion to Greek Tragedy'' p.&nbsp;66</ref><ref>Mark Amaru Pinkham, ''The Return of the Serpents of Wisdom'' "The Amazons, The Female Serpents"</ref> [[Amazons]] also were said to be of [[Scythia]]n origin from Colchis.<ref>William G. Thalmann, ''Apollonius of Rhodes and the Spaces of Hellenism'' "Apollonius of Rhodes", p.&nbsp;130</ref>

According to the Greek mythology, Colchis was a fabulously wealthy land situated on the mysterious periphery of the heroic world. Here in the sacred grove of the war god [[Ares]], King [[Aeëtes]] hung the [[Golden Fleece]] until it was seized by [[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]]. Colchis was also the land where the mythological [[Prometheus]] was punished by being chained to a mountain while an eagle ate at his liver for revealing to humanity the secret of fire.

Apollonius of Rhodes named Aea as the main city (''Argonautica'', passim). The main mythical characters from Colchis are:

* [[Absyrtus]], son of Aeëtes
* [[Aeëtes]], King of Colchis, son of the sun-god [[Helios]] and the [[Oceanid]] [[Perse (mythology)|Perseis]] (a daughter of [[Oceanus]]), brother of [[Circe]] and [[Pasiphae]], and father of [[Medea]], [[Chalciope]], and [[Absyrtus]]
* [[Chalciope]], daughter of King Aeëtes
* [[Circe]], sister of King Aeëtes
* [[Idyia]], Queen of Colchis, mother of Medea, Chalciope, and Absyrtus
* [[Medea]], daughter of King Aeëtes
* [[Pasiphaë]], sister of Aeëtes