Iolcus of Ano Volos. According to ancient Greek mythology, Aeson was the rightful king of Iolcus, but his half-brother Pelias usurped the throne. It was Pelias who sent Aeson's son Jason and his Argonauts to look for the Golden Fleece. The ship Argo set sail from Iolcus with a crew of fifty demigods and princes under Jason's leadership. Their mission was to reach Colchis in Aea at the eastern seaboard of the Black Sea and reclaim and bring back the Golden Fleece. Along with the Golden Fleece, Jason brought a wife, the sorceress Medea—king Aeetes' daughter, granddaughter of the Sun, niece
Golden Fleece the Golden Fleece signified the bringing of sheep husbandry to Greece from the east; in other readings, scholars theorized it referred to golden grain, or to the sun. A more widespread interpretation relates the myth of the fleece to a method of washing gold from streams, which was well attested (but only from c. 5th century BC) in the region of Georgia to the east of the Black Sea. Sheep fleeces, sometimes stretched over a wood frame, would be submerged in the stream, and gold flecks borne down from upstream placer deposits would collect in them. The fleeces would be