The Accidental Killing of Cyzicus — Greek Mythology

The Shore of the Young King

After the Argo left Lemnos, she continued northeastward over the sea. The wind filled her sail, her prow split the gray-blue waves, and the heroes rowed while watching the strange coast ahead.

Before long they saw a stretch of land jutting into the water. There were hills, harbors, low walls, and houses. The people who lived there were called the Doliones, and their king was Cyzicus.

Cyzicus was still a young man and had only recently married. His wife, Cleite, remained in the palace. When the king heard that a great ship had come ashore, carrying famous heroes from many parts of Greece, he did not order spears to be raised. Instead, he went out himself to welcome them.

Jason stepped down from the ship with the damp of the sea still on him. Cyzicus came forward and asked where they had come from and where they were bound. Jason hid nothing. He told him that they had been sent on a far journey, across one unknown sea after another, to Colchis, where they were to take the Golden Fleece.

Cyzicus honored them greatly when he heard this. He invited the heroes into the city, slaughtered cattle for a feast, and let the wine cups pass from hand to hand. The Doliones brought bread, meat, and fresh water down to the ship, filled the water jars of the Argo, and showed the strangers where they could anchor safely.

During the feast, Cyzicus also warned Jason about the dangers nearby. This land, he said, had good harbors, but it was not wholly peaceful. Beyond the mountain lived a race of fierce earthborn giants, who watched the coast from the heights. They hated strangers and sometimes rolled great stones down the slopes to crush passing ships.

The heroes heard his words and kept them in mind.

The Six-Armed Giants on the Mountain

The next day, some of the heroes followed Jason up the nearby slopes, hoping to see the sea route clearly and decide from where they should set out on the next stage of the voyage. The Argo remained in the harbor, while Heracles and several companions stayed beside the ship to guard her.

For a little while the shore was quiet, and only the sound of waves striking the hull could be heard. But the earthborn giants on the mountain had already seen the ship.

They were huge in body and terrible in strength, and from each monster’s shoulders sprang many arms. Some clutched rocks; others gripped tree trunks. They rushed out from behind the mountain like a dark squall and ran toward the narrow passage leading to the harbor. If they seized that way, the Argo would be trapped against the shore and unable to put to sea.

Heracles, who had remained on guard, was the first to notice the movement. He looked up and saw dust rolling down the slope; then he saw the giants lifting stones. At once he took up his bow. He did not wait for the monsters to come near, but drew the string to its full stretch and loosed an arrow. The feathered shaft cut through the sea wind and struck one giant in the chest. The creature fell backward, throwing the companions behind him into confusion.

The other heroes seized their weapons. Some held the prow; others leapt ashore. The giants roared and hurled stone after stone. Rocks crashed into the water and flung up tall white spray; others struck the shore, scattering fragments across the planks of the ship.

Heracles stood firm and sent arrow after arrow among them. By the time Jason and the heroes who had climbed the mountain heard the shouting and came hurrying back, the battle was already raging beside the harbor. They attacked the giants from the rear, thrusting spears into their sides and bellies, and cutting with swords at the arms that reached for them.

The earthborn giants were savage, but they could not withstand heroes striking from both sides. One after another they fell among dust and broken stones. By the time the sun leaned westward, the road to the sea was open again, and the Argo was unharmed.

When the Doliones heard that the heroes had removed so great a danger from their land, they were even more grateful. Cyzicus held another feast and treated Jason as an honored guest. He drank and spoke with the voyagers in friendship, and no one imagined that disaster was already hiding in the night wind, waiting for them.

The Ship Driven Back by Night Wind

The next day, the Argonauts prepared to depart. Cyzicus escorted them to the shore and watched as they carried the water jars aboard and loosened the mooring ropes. Jason thanked the young king, and Cyzicus wished them a fair voyage and a swift return to Greece with the Golden Fleece.

The rowers took their places, and the sail was raised. The Argo left the harbor and moved out toward the open water. The figures on the shore grew smaller and smaller, until at last the coast was only a blurred line behind them.

By day the wind served them well enough, but at night the sea suddenly changed. Dark clouds covered the stars, and a contrary wind rushed down upon them, making the rigging clatter. Waves struck the side of the ship, and cold seawater washed around the heroes’ feet.

The helmsman strained in the darkness to find the course, but there were no lights around them, and no familiar outline of hills could be seen. Wind and tide drove the ship first one way, then another. The heroes knew only that they were still at sea; they did not know that the storm was slowly forcing them back toward the very place they had just left.

Deep in the night, the Argo entered a harbor with a jolt. Ropes were thrown ashore. Believing they had reached an unknown coast, the men took up shields and spears, ready to defend themselves from the people of the land.

On shore, others had been awakened.

The Doliones heard a ship coming in through the darkness and the sound of weapons striking together. At once they thought enemies had landed. They were often troubled by neighboring peoples, and what they feared most at night was the sudden arrival of strange ships by the sea. Cyzicus sprang from sleep. Without time to ask questions, he put on his armor, seized his spear, and led his men toward the harbor.

No one imagined that the ship was the Argo, the very vessel they had sent away that morning.

Battle in the Dark

The night was very black, and sea mist lay heavy over the shore. Across the wet ground by the water, each side could see only shifting shapes and spearpoints flashing coldly.

The soldiers of Cyzicus came rushing forward with shouts. The Argonauts could not make out their words; they heard only war cries pressing toward them from the land, and believed they had met enemies. Jason lifted his shield in front, and the heroes beside him formed their ranks.

The first spear flew and stuck in the mud beside the ship. A moment later, the Argonauts hurled their own spears back. In the darkness, no one paused to recognize a face. Shield struck shield, bronze spearheads scraped against armor, and sword blades rang briefly in the night.

Cyzicus charged bravely at the front. He was young, strong, and eager to defend his land; he would not give way. He struck down several men who came near him, then rushed against a tall warrior.

That warrior was Jason.

The two fought in the gloom, and neither knew the other. Jason saw only an enemy captain advancing with spear raised. He turned aside from the thrust and then drove his own spear forward. The point passed through the armor and entered the body of Cyzicus.

When the young king fell, his weapon dropped onto the stony beach. Perhaps he still tried to speak, but the wind and shouting drowned everything. When the Doliones saw their king on the ground, they attacked with greater fury; the Argonauts, thinking the enemy had only grown fiercer, fought back in still deeper confusion.

That night, men died on both sides. Blood ran into the mud and sand beside the harbor, and the sea slowly washed it away. Only when the east began to pale and a faint morning light appeared behind the clouds did the shouting at last fade.

The Weeping at Dawn

When day came, everyone saw who stood before them.

The Argonauts looked at the bodies before them and suddenly recognized the armor and the faces. The Doliones, too, saw that those facing them were not unknown enemies, but the guests who had drunk in the king’s hall the day before.

Jason went to the fallen young man and looked closely at his face. He stood as if struck by a blow. The man dead beneath his spear was Cyzicus, the king who had given them food, fresh water, and friendship.

No one raised a weapon again. The Doliones gathered around the king’s body, weeping, and the Argonauts lowered their heads, unable to speak. Through the night both sides had believed they were fighting for their lives; only in the morning did they learn that the battle had been a mistake from the beginning.

Jason was pierced with grief. He had not meant to betray his host, nor had he struck from malice, but Cyzicus had died by his hand all the same. The heroes laid aside their weapons and helped the Doliones bury the dead. They washed the king’s body, set out what was needed for the funeral, and built a high pyre for him.

When Cleite, the wife of Cyzicus, heard the news, her grief was more than she could bear. She had only just become queen. When she watched her husband leave, perhaps she thought he had merely gone to the shore to drive off enemies and would return by morning. Instead, what came back to her was a cold body. The story says that afterward, in her sorrow, she ended her own life. The nymphs of the woods and waters wept for her, and their tears became a spring, which people called by the name of Cleite.

The heroes held funeral rites for Cyzicus and mourned for several days. On that shore there were no longer songs of feasting, only the sound of flames consuming wood, the crying of women, and the waves beating against the stones.

The Tomb Left on the Shore

After the funeral, the Argonauts still could not leave at once. The wind would not let them go. The sea remained dark, and the sail hung slack, as if held down by an unseen hand. The men understood in their hearts that innocent blood had just been spilled on this land, and they could not hurry away as though nothing had happened.

They raised a tomb for Cyzicus and offered sacrifices according to the customs of the place. Later, following signs and divine will, they paid honor on the mountain to the Great Mother, hoping to quiet the ill omen brought by this mistaken killing. The heroes washed their hands, laid out the offerings, and prayed to the gods to open the way.

At last the wind turned.

When the Argo was launched again, the tomb of Cyzicus remained on the shore. Jason stood aboard and looked back. That coast was no longer only a place where he had received hospitality; it had become a wound he would never forget.

The oars sounded again, and the Argo left the land of the Doliones. But the name of the young king remained there, and with it the tale of the battle fought by mistake in the darkness, told again and again by later singers.