Greek Mythology
Colchis — Greek Mythology
Colchis is the far-eastern region of Greek myth best known as the place where the Golden Fleece was kept. It is also the kingdom associated with Aeëtes, Medea, and Phrixus, and it forms the destination of the Argonautic expedition.
Overview
In the story of the Argonauts, Colchis lies on the distant shore at the far end of the Black Sea, near the Caucasus and the mouth of the Phasis River. When the Argo arrives, it first enters the Phasis and then travels upriver toward the local royal city. In historical geography, Colchis is usually associated with the western part of present-day Georgia.
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Place in Greek Mythology
Colchis is the region where the Golden Fleece is kept during the Argonautic expedition. After Phrixus escapes there, King Aeëtes receives him, and Phrixus sacrifices the divine ram to Zeus; the Golden Fleece is then placed in the sacred grove of Ares and guarded by an unsleeping dragon. Jason, acting on Pelias's command, sails to Colchis to recover the Fleece, making the region the endpoint of the expedition and the central setting for the conflict among Jason, Medea, and Aeëtes.
Geography and Natural Setting
Colchis is described as a damp region near the Caucasus and the mouth of the Phasis River. The Argo enters from the sea into the river mouth and moves along a broad, muddy channel bordered by dense trees, reeds, and shallows. Outside the city are roads, fields, cattle, and horses; the Golden Fleece is kept in the sacred grove of Ares, and Aeëtes also has a field where he tests Jason.
In stable geographical tradition, Colchis is not a single city but a historical region on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, south of the Caucasus, usually linked with western Georgia. In the mythic narrative, the Phasis River, its mouth, the royal city, the sacred grove, and the coastline together form the main spaces in which the Argonauts act.
Name and Literary Tradition
In Greek tradition, Kolchis or Colchis can mean both a distant kingdom and the destination where the Argonauts seek the Golden Fleece. Related stories often connect it with ideas of the far east, the end of the Black Sea, the Caucasus, and the mouth of the Phasis River, but those mythic associations should be kept distinct from its historical geographical identification.
Related Stories
"Jason and Pelias" mentions this place: Pelias orders Jason to go to Colchis and recover the Golden Fleece as the condition for restoring the throne.
"Argo and the Heroes Set Sail" mentions this place: Colchis is the expedition's destination when the Argo departs, and the Golden Fleece is said to hang in the sacred grove there.
"Argonauts Arrive at Colchis" mentions this place: the Argo sails into the Phasis River, Jason enters Aeëtes's palace to ask for the Golden Fleece, and he is forced to accept the trials of yoking fire-breathing bulls and sowing dragon's teeth.
"Flight from Colchis" mentions this place: with Medea's help, Jason takes the Golden Fleece and then boards ship from the bank of the Phasis to escape, while Aeëtes sends the Colchian fleet in pursuit.