Argonauts Argonauts The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: Ἀργοναῦται "Argonautai") were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War, around 1300 BC, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, "Argo", named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts" literally means ""Argo" sailors". They were sometimes called Minyans, after a prehistoric tribe in the area. After the death of King Cretheus, the Aeolian Pelias usurped the Iolcan throne from his half-brother Aeson and became king of Iolcus in Thessaly (near the modern city of Volos). Because of
Colchis Colchis In pre-Hellenistic Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; Ancient Greek: "Kolkhís") was an exonym (foreign name) for the Georgian kingdom and region of Egrisi () located on the coast of the Black Sea, centred in present-day western Georgia. It has been described in modern scholarship as "the earliest Georgian formation" which, along with the Kingdom of Iberia, would later contribute significantly to the development of the medieval Georgian statehood and the Georgian nation. Internationally, Colchis is perhaps best known for its role in Greek mythology, most notably as the destination of the Argonauts, as well as the home to Medea and