This makes a good book for English assignments as the story makes a short novel in four 'books' or sections, full of the dangers of a sea voyage from Greece to the far east of the Black Sea, which was the ends of the earth to the Greeks in ages past. (Anyone in a serious hurry to just get the good bits can speed through the first and fourth sections, with my apologies to Apollonius.) The intrepid Jason and his crew are sailors who are part buccaneers, part questing heroes in search of fame, fortune, and adventure. They are set the task of obtaining the famed Golden Fleece by a Greek king who wants to permanently rid himself of the dangerously ambitious Jason and his powerful allies, who include the superhuman Hercules, and the twin sons of Boreas the North Wind, who have the power of flight. With natural cunning, the powerful aid of prophets, the magical music of Orpheus, and the good favour gained by skilful diplomacy they seemingly must succeed. But of course the seers never tell the whole story, there are as many enemies as friends, and the kings of the lands they must travel through are descended from the gods too. Jason himself has no magic, but he is bold and resolute, and gains the favour of many of the gods who know how to tip things in his favour. Some of the scenes are genuinely frightening, so all considered, the story does not make good bedtime reading.

The dangers of the Clashing Rocks, the horror of the flying Harpies, the lure of the Sirens, dragons and deadly snakes, and the sometimes brutal and unpredictable inhabitants of distant lands and islands, and the hand of Fate all take their toll on the Argonauts. But Jason's charm and charmed life always seem equal to the tasks he is set, and the description of princess Medea falling in love with him (with a small help from the winged arrows of the boy Eros), is the archetype for love stories of next two thousand years. Although he could never have succeeded without the beautiful Medea, who is destined to become his wife, neither Jason or Medea can forsee their own future or escape without paying the price of guilt and shame for their deeds which often succeed by deception and foul means.

Although not such a genius as Homer, Apollonius is clearly a product of that developmental line, and he tells a good story well. He is often quite modern in his knowing asides to the Muses, who inspire all poetry and art and music, then as now.