Travel Descriptions In The Argonautica Of Apollonius Rhodius

Bibliographic Data

ID20067358
AuthorsMarvin A Harder (corresponding author)
Year1994
Pages16-29
Publication date1994-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueTravel Fact and Travel Fiction (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/9789004247093_003
OpenAlexW2424976567
ISBN9789004247093
LanguageEN
Citations received12

In the third century BC, the Alexandrian poet Apollonius Rhodius wrote his Argonautica , an epic in four books, in which he told of Jason's journey to Colchis to bring back the Golden Fleece. On the outward journey the Argonauts followed the traditional route across the Aegean Sea and into the Black Sea. On the homeward journey, after securing the Golden Fleece with the assistance of the Colchian princess Medea, they took a different route to escape from the Colchians who chased them. This chapter investigates some aspects of the nature and importance of the travel descriptions in the Argonautica and the way in which they are presented to the reader. Apollonius' travel descriptions are a bookish mixture of scientific Alexandrian geography and the fabulous geography of Homer. In accordance with the difference in landscapes, Apollonius chooses different means to present his story of the outward and homeward journeys. Keywords: Alexandrian geography; Apollonius Rhodius; Argonautica ; Colchians; Homer; Jason's journey; travel description

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