GREECE: Greeks set sail on replica of the 'Argo' to relive the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts

Record ID: 712337

  • Title: GREECE: Greeks set sail on replica of the 'Argo' to relive the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts
  • Date: 15th June 2008
  • Summary: ARGO ON THE COAST OF VOLOS WITH TOWN IN BACKGROUND ARGO HEADING OUT TO SEA
  • Embargoed: 30th June 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: History,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVA95XNI9066UED56TY40WXJSHU1
  • Story Text: Modern Greeks set sail to relive the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts in an exact replica of the ship from the ancient Greek legend.
    Volunteers have been training for a year and a half to embark on Saturday (June 14) from the Greek town of Volos on an ancient Greek adventure that will test their will.
    A Greek priest blessed the ship and hundreds of townspeople waved off the amateur sailors, including their families.
    For the next months Greek citizens, mainly from Volos, and two foreigners, will row for 1,200 nautical miles, as the Argonauts did in the ancient Greek legend of a group of warriors led by Jason who left Iolcos, now Volos, to retrieve a golden fleece from what is now modern day Georgia and bring it back home.
    Originally the crew was to sail the Argo to Georgia, in Eastern Europe, as the original story of Jason and the Argonauts, but they did not receive permission by Turkish authorities to pass their shores.
    The crew will instead sail through the Adriatic sea, part of Jason's return voyage after he captured the fleece and returned to Volos.
    The journey does however cover the same nautical miles it took to reach Georgia, and the rowers hope to do it in two months. It took the Argonauts four to cover the same distance.
    They will sit behind the oars of an exact replica of the Argonauts' ship, the Argo, Built with only handmade tools and using the same primitive materials of wood, glue and rope just like the ancient warrior's ship.
    There is no motor, no metal frame such is used in modern shipbuilding, no electrical guidance systems, and no modern comforts.
    None of the volunteers are professional rowers, they are of every age and profession, from teachers to businessmen to students, as well as pensioners. They have taken a leave of absence from work, and some of them have never touched an oar before they began training more than a year ago.
    Most are from Volos, where the legend was born, while three are women.

    "They wanted to relive the myth which originated from this town," said 52 year-old Volos teacher Stelios Limios. "For us today is the big day, this is the big moment, we have to prove that we can physically endure enough to complete this journey."
    Volos student Yiota Parlakidi, 24, is one of the three women volunteer rowers and she hopes to be strong enough for the journey.

    "Its needs soul, it doesn't need muscles, its needs soul, if you have that, you can accomplish this."
    Two of the volunteers are from Georgia and the Netherlands respectively. Dutch computer technician Peter Buchenstein wants to check how much he can resist at 67.

    "This is something I would like to do, I would like to see what I can (do) at my age, so, and perhaps it's the last time I can make such a thing."
    On his return journey, Jason encountered the ancient God Zuess who sent a storm to blow the Argo off course. The vessel passed the island of the Sirens - seductresses who hypnotised sailors with their songs to make them crash, and it was only thanks to the musician Orpheus on board that they were saved after he sang louder than the Sirens.
    For this trip rowers are more worried about rough seas and exhaustion as they will be rowing for 10-15 hours a day, stopping only at night. They will make several calls to port during the journey, and sleep on a ship that will be accompanying them with a medical team on board and 25 backup rowers.
    Their last port of call will be Venice before returning.
    In the legend, Jason and the Argonauts set off to capture the Golden Fleece in the 14th century B.C. from the ancient city of Colchis in modern Georgia with the help of heroes such as Hercules and Orpheus, where a dragon lay guarding it.
    The return journey from Georgia included the Danube and Rhone rivers, the Tyrrhenian sea, the Adriatic sea, and the Mediterranean sea back to Volos.
    The Naudomos Institute, a group of shipbuilders and historians headed the project to rebuild the ship, which took about two years without the use of electric tools.
    The story was first written by Apollonius Rhodius about 11 centuries after the voyage is thought to have taken place.
    To design the ship, the modern shipbuilders pieced together images from ancient vase paintings, wall frescoes and references to ships from around the same period, gathered from museums and libraries around the world.
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