Contemporary with the reign of Minos occurred the expedition of the
Argonauts. Jason, the son of the king of Iolchos in Thessaly, was at
the head of this expedition. Its object was to fetch the golden
fleece, which was hung up in a grove sacred to Mars, in the kingdom
of Colchis, at the eastern extremity of the Euxine sea. He enlisted in
this enterprise all the most gallant spirits existing in the country,
and among the rest Hercules, Theseus, Orpheus and Amphion. After having
passed through a multitude of perils, one of which was occasioned by
the Cyanean rocks at the entrance of the Euxine, that had the quality
of closing upon every vessel which attempted to make its way between
them and crushing it to pieces, a danger that could only be avoided by
sending a dove before as their harbinger, they at length arrived.