Editing Aeëtes (section)

== Mythology ==
=== Foundation of Colchis ===
[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] states that, according to the poet [[Eumelus of Corinth|Eumelos]], Aeëtes was the son of Helios (from northern [[Peloponnesus]]) and brother of [[Aloeus]]. Helios divided the land he ruled, and he gave Aloeus the part in Asopia (see [[Asopus]]) and Aeëtes the part of Ephyra ([[Ancient Corinth#Prehistory and founding myths|Corinth]]). Later, Aeëtes gave his kingdom to [[Bounos]], a son of [[Hermes]] and Alkidameia, and went to Colchis, a country in western [[Caucasus]]. When Bounos died, [[Epopeus]], a son of Aloeus who ruled in Asopia, became king of Ephyra too. Aeëtes built a new colony in Colchis, near the mouth of the large river [[Phasis (river)|Phasis]], and called it [[Kutaisi|Aea]].

=== Flight of two siblings ===
[[Phrixus]], son of [[Athamas]] and [[Nephele]], along with his twin, [[Helle (mythology)|Helle]], were hated by their stepmother, [[Ino (Greek mythology)|Ino]]. Ino hatched a devious plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the town's crop seeds so they would not grow. The local farmers, frightened of famine, asked a nearby [[oracle]] for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the oracle to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus but before they were able to kill him, Phrixus and Helle were rescued by a golden ram sent by Nephele, their natural mother. Helle fell off the ram into the [[Hellespont]] (which was named after her) and died, but Phrixus survived all the way to Colchis, where Aeëtes took him in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter Chalciope in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the [[Golden Fleece|golden fleece]] of the ram, which Aeëtes hung on a tree in his kingdom. Aeëtes dedicated the golden fleece to [[Ares]].<ref>Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). {{Google books|tOgWfjNIxoMC|Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology.|page=12}}</ref> Phrixus thus lived at the court of Aeëtes for a long time but one day Aeëtes learned from an oracle that he would die at the hands of a descendant of Aeolus and so he killed Phryxus.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html|title=Hyginus, Fabulae 1-49 - Theoi Classical Texts Library|access-date=2022-03-28}}</ref> His sons, on the other hand, managed to return to Orchomenus.

===The Argonauts===
Some time later, [[Jason]] arrived to claim the fleece as his own. Aeëtes promised to give it to him only if he could perform certain tasks. First, Jason had to plow a field with fire-breathing oxen that he had to yoke himself. Then, Jason sowed into a field the [[dragon's teeth (mythology)|teeth of a dragon]] which the Colchian king received from [[Athena]], half of it was sowed before by [[Cadmus]] in [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]].<ref>Apollodorus, 1.9.23</ref> These teeth sprouted into an army of warriors. Jason was quick-thinking, however, and before they attacked him, he threw a rock into the crowd. Unable to determine whence the rock had come, the soldiers killed each other. Jason then ran away. Medea fled, too. Aeëtes pursued them in his own ship as they fled, but Medea distracted her father by killing and dismembering her brother, Absyrtus, and throwing pieces of his cadaver overboard. Aeëtes paused to gather the pieces of his son, and thus Jason and Medea escaped.