The Argonautica

The Argonautica is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. The only surviving Hellenistic epic the Argonautica tells the myth of the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden Fleece from remote Colchis. Their heroic adventures and Jasons relationship with the dangerous Colchian princess/sorceress Medea were already well known to Hellenistic audiences which enabled Apollonius to go beyond a simple narrative giving it a scholarly emphasis suitable to the times. It was the age of the great Library of Alexandria and his epic incorporates his research in geography ethnography comparative religion and Homeric literature. However his main contribution to the epic tradition lies in his development of the love between hero and heroine - he seems to have been the first narrative poet to study the pathology of love. The Argonautica had a profound impact on later Latin poets like Virgil Catullus and Ovid.