Aeetes

Aeetes is a figure in Greek mythology best known as the king of Colchis and the guardian of the Golden Fleece. He is typically described as the son of Helios, the sun god, and Perseis, ruling Colchis on the eastern edge of the Black Sea. In some versions he is named as the son of Helios with Perse and a brother to Circe and Pasiphae, and genealogies vary across ancient sources. Aeetes is the father of Medea and Chalciope.

Aeetes plays a central role in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. When Jason arrives in Colchis to claim the Golden Fleece, Aeetes refuses to yield it and instead imposes a sequence of arduous tasks for the would-be claimant. The tasks traditionally include yok­ing fire-breathing bulls, plowing a field with a dragon’s-teeth-bearing plow, and sowing the teeth to raise an army of warriors to combat. Jason accomplishes these feats with the crucial help of Medea, his ally and later wife, who uses her sorcery to aid him.

Medea, a sorceress and daughter of Aeetes, provides Jason with magical aid and strategic counsel, ultimately enabling the theft of the fleece from the dragon guarding it. After Jason secures the fleece, Aeetes pursues the Argonauts; in some versions Medea kills her brother Apsyrtus to delay her father, facilitating the escape with the fleece. The episode underscores themes of kinship and treachery within quest narratives and marks a pivotal moment in the broader saga of the Argonauts.