The myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece

Jason and the Golden Fleece

When a hero journeys on a quest in Ancient Greece, they often fit a cycle called “ Cycle of the hero.” Joseph Campbell developed the cycle of the hero; to give an idea of the journey the hero took, from the beginning to the end of the quest. The tale Jason And The Golden Fleece fits particularly well with the cycle.

Birth/Home: To begin with, Jason was the son of the genuine king, Iolcus, but Jason’s uncle, who was Pelias, took over the throne, and claimed the kingdom to be his. Therefore his mother hid him up in the wilderness cave of Chiron the Centaur, because Pelias would kill Jason in second if he knew of his existence.

Call to adventure: When Jason becomes older, he travels to Pelias, to seek the throne. Pelias made a deal with Jason. For if he brings Pelias the Golden Fleece, he will be rewarded the kingdom. And so Jason embarks on his journey.

Elixir: In the myths, Jason’s elixir was the Golden Fleece. It was something that people remembered him by. It symbolized Jason. As well, it showed Jason’s great achievement for getting the throne back.

Helpers: Jason’s significant crew was the Argonauts. The Argonauts were a strong group. Among them were the hero Hercules, and the heroine Atalanta. Without the help of this bold crew, Jason would have never been able to complete his quest.

Helper/Amulet: A ‘helper’ or ‘amulet’ that really helped Jason become who he is, is Chiron. When his mother hid him up in the caves, Chiron tutored Jason. When he was old enough he set out like a hero, and went to claim back his rightful throne.

Crossing the threshold: To reach the Golden Fleece, Jason and the Argonauts had to travel through the treacherous ocean and undergo many difficult obstacles. For example, Jason and his crew had to overcome the forceful currents, and the clashing rocks. To my opinion facing the obstacles, proved how strong the crew was as a team.

Tests: On the quest Jason and the Argonauts faced many tests. All of which were to see how worthy Jason really was to be king. Some examples would be the fire breathing bulls, and the dragon that guarded the fleece.

Climax/Final Battle: Jason uses Chirons sword to fight and defeat Meda, and Jason stops the Argonauts from going into the underworld. He retrieves the Golden Fleece, and is ready to head back to the kingdom.

Return/Flight: Jason and the Argonauts return back to the kingdom by sea, with the Golden Fleece, ready to take back the throne from his uncle, Pelias.

There are many interpretations of Jason and the Golden Fleece. Like in the cartoon video, Meda is evil and casts a spell on the Argonauts, to stop them from retrieving the Golden Fleece. But in other stories Meda is nice, and helps Jason get the fleece by giving a sleeping potion to the dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece. Another interpretation of the myth would be the different endings. In one myth that I have read, Jason leaves Meda for another princess, for although he promised to love and honor her, and thank her for all the service she had done for him. But in the cartoon video, Jason fights and defeats Meda, for she casts a spell on the Argonauts, and forces them to walk into the underworld.

Although there are many interpretations of the myth, they all revolve around the same quest of retrieving the Golden Fleece.

People may say that Jason and the Gold Fleece was just a myth, but there are factual elements that could prove that the myth really did occur. I wouldn’t say that everything about the myth is 100% true. Like gods? And spells? But here are some evidence that I’ve collected in humanities from a video.

• · Mount Pelion, where Jason traveled on his quest was real.
• · The cave where all the rituals were held was real.
• · Artifacts were found in the kingdom claiming to be from the bronze age. Stating that it must have been real.
• · It happened in the Trozen war. Which was a true event.
• · Jason and the Argonauts journeyed to Istanbul.
• · The land of the Golden Fleece was in Georgia.
• · The cliff was where the Lemnian women murdered their men.
• · Since the rocks were close together, there were strong waves.
• · The wood needed to make the boat for the Argonauts, grew on the mountains.
• · 1400 B.C, it was when the quest happened as well as the story.

This myth I Believe, is enjoyed by many Greeks. It has an outstanding story line. Telling the tale of a young hero, on a quest. The story line was so great, that Greeks had to add or change a little something to spice it up.

Source: http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Jason_Pelias_Louvre_K127.jpg/225px-Jason_Pelias_Louvre_K127.jpg

Why I picked the picture: To my opinion, the picture shows Jason handing over the Golden Fleece to his uncle, pelias to redeem this throne, and kingdom. And I think the picture shows a kind of ancient look, stating what kind of time period it was set in. And it kind of shows a Greek feeling to it, which might connect it better with the whole theme of my blog paragraph. 

Curiosity

Pandora and Orphan Boy Summary. Curiosity.

Curiosity is the main theme in Pandora, a Greek myth and in Orphan Boy, an African myth, demonstrating that curiosity can occasionally change the world in a negative way. For example in Pandora, she was eager to open the box, but she didn’t know that her curiosity would bring such distress to mankind, or did she know the box carried evil curiosity along with it. As well in Orphan Boy, curiosity changed things from good, to bad, for example all his healthy cows, died in the end, because the boy took the happiness away from him. Curiosity the old man had, changed his relationship with the orphan boy, because the boy lost trust in the old man. As you can see, curiosity can sometimes equal negative. Curiosity killed the cat.

Why I chose the Picture: I chose that picture because; it links to both Orphan boy, and Pandora. It links to Orphan Boy, because he’s sitting there sad, and alone, with no companion because, his companion left him because he was too curious. And it perfectly links to Pandora, because in that story curiosity of opening the box, caused all these strange creatures to crawl out, and distress the humans, and the creatures that crawled out where all the horrible emotions, that would make humans sad, and unhappy. And in the picture the man is, and it shows that the box might of caused this emotion to appear.

Link: http://img2.allposters.com/images/NGSPOD/131854-FB.jpg

By: Doesn't say Artisit

My Name..The Human Puzzle Piece

The Human Puzzle Piece

My names a strange, unique name. No real meaning behind it. Emptiness. There wasn’t a spicy flavor to it. I’ve always hated my mom, for calling me a tongue twisting name. People could never pronounce it; it was like a baby trying to say its first words. I have always wondered why they never could. Its only 2 syllables, with 8 letters. How hard is that? But I guess, I don’t really blame them. Everyone’s different. And I guess, that’s what makes me an individual. My name. My life has always been about making my name a personality, since it didn’t have one of its own. I knew that it wasn’t going to come like magic. I was responsible for doing it myself.

For instance, every time my mom hears my name, in a car, it always reminds her of my signature quote of “ SELT BELTS.” This leads to how paranoid I am about the safety of my friends and family. Also showing that my name is like a lion, protecting her cubs. And like a baby cub, I love to fiddle with objects non-stop. My mom calls my hands, “the itchy ones.” Always tickling.

From time to time, I never know who I am. I’m always two different kinds of personalities around certain people. Which makes me unsure of who I am. Am I a shy girl? Or am I a hyper girl? This shows that my name is like a flickering light. Sometimes I’m dim and that’s the shy part of me. And sometimes I’m the bright and that’s the hyper part of me. And these personality’s, really leaps out from my name.

Besides, my name isn’t all too imperfect. Sometimes I really love my name. And there are some positive qualities. Its fun to know that I might be the only person in the whole world that might, have my 2 syllable, 8 letter name. It’s just like a thumb print. No one will ever have the same one. Also having a name like mine, means that sometimes, people make up fun silly nick names. Like….. Shazam, Shazzeh, Shazzy, Shazinator, Sharaws, the list could go on forever. This makes my name entertaining. As well, it’s nice to hear my name seems appealing to some people. It allure’s a smile to my face.

So although my name is hard to pronounce and I may be the only person who has it, and I may be two personalities, I know that, that makes up me. It puts all the pieces together. like one big puzzle. Which all shows my name, and how I fit it. And I know that can never change. So that’s me. Shazreen.

Picture: http://www.frugal-cafe.com/public_html/frugal-blog/frugal-cafe-blogzone/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/yellow-smiley-blue-smileys.jpg

By: Vicki McClure Davidson

Why I selected the picture: I chose the picture, because it reminds me a lot of myself. It shows how I don’t mind to be different, and that’s the yellow smiley smiling brightly. It also displays that my name is a bit out there, and the blue smiley reminds me of space, and the yellow smiley is out there, floating wondering where to go. The picture shows my personality. In my story, I said that I was sometimes HYPER and sometimes shy. And the blue smiley shows the shyness, and the yellow smiley shows me HYPER and smiling widely.

Common Elements in Creation Myths

Common Elements In Creation Myths

“Myths are made for the imagination to breathe life into them.” Albert Camus

Themes like a cosmic egg, nothingness and natural phenomena, can be found in many different creation myths from all around the world. This is very unusual because, these countries are very far apart, and yet they ended up with the same common themes. Also these myths might have been told in different time periods and maybe these people have never ever met each other, because they could not have travelled. A common element found in many creation myths, is that something from some creature was born from a cosmic egg. For example in the Chinese myth, there was a creature named Phan Ku. He hatched from an egg, and created everything on earth. Also in the Tahitian myth, everything started from just that creature that was born from an egg. Nothing could have happened if that creature was never born. So as you can see these myths are very much in common with each other, although they are from different places in the world. In the beginning, some cultures believed that everything started from nothingness or chaos. In the Maori myth, it all started with nothing, then gods started developing over time, like it started with one god than another one would appear from that. Another example would be the Japanese myth, explaining how in the beginning all the elements were mixed together with a germ of life. Although possibly these myths were told in very different times, they all share the same idea with one another. Many of the creation myths explain how natural phenomena were formed. For example, in the African myth, a god vomited all the landscapes on earth, like the moon and the animals. Another example would be a Hebrew creation myth called “In the beginning.”, explaining how a god announced a command and that order would appeared. The phenomena he requested were usually landscapes that would create the world. This is strange because, these two myths were not on the same continents, and yet, their stories shared the same idea of the physical landscapes, making the world we live in today. These people back then probably could not have travelled the world, and so they might not have seen what other countries might have look like.

“What if myths were true” Lui Kang.

Picture URL: http://www.vladimirkush.com/___images___/large/161.jpg

No artist found.

Why I chose the picture: I chose the picture because it shows the beginning of life. And myths were all about creating an image for people, so they can at least, think about how the world came to be. The picture shows the common elements, and also the picture combines all of the elements together into one. It shows the cosmic egg, hatching out, creating the landscapes, from nothingness.

Why did I chose this quote? And why did I chose this Picture?

Life’s full of different journeys. There are many, that we may face during our time. At the same time, we are always thinking about the end. Always making predictions of what it may be like as we get closer to our accomplishments. And I thought that this quote showed how, people who take on journeys always think about the end, as they embark on their different adventures. I assume that if you have something to strive for, and you know that there’s something special waiting at the end, you know that you must keep on going to really find out what is actually there. Once you definitely reach the end, it brings such joy, because you know that you’ve either changed from the person you used to be, or it might been something simple like finishing a task someone has asked you to do. I picked that picture to represent my quote because, imagine your hiking in the rainforest for, tons of hours, and you know that you might collapse anytime soon, but you also know that at the top their might be something special, either its feeling proud, or just relived to finally be able to rest your sore legs, and so during that time your hiking, your thinking about the end. Constantly. So in that picture it shows a path clearing out, finally ending its road of wonder.

The Giver Trailer. :)

ENJOY WATCHING!!! :D

7th grade. Here I come.

Hey, 7th grade teachers.

I had tons of fun, during 6th grade, but I know I will have even more fun in 7th grade. CANT WAIT! Through out the year, there are many pieces of work that I enjoyed doing. But one of my favorite pieces of work, is my science test. This was my favorite piece of work, because I'm not very good at science, and when I took the test, and got it back, it really showed my improved, and my understanding. My greastest challenge during 6th grade was math. Math was my greatest challenge because, I'm not very good at math. I find that subject very difficult. But, as the year went on, I always tried my hardest to understand what was going on. And if I didn't understand something, I would ask one of my classmates, or if they didn't understand then I would ask the teacher. As the year goes on, I am constantly realizing what kind of learner, I am. And during this year, I learn't that I like the being showed what to do. Like for my homework. It really showes what I have to do. For my behavior, I think that I am a good role model towards other people. I think this, is because I get my work done, and I always try to do my best. I would even stay up, to finish all my work, and to make sure its finished. I sometimes participate in class. So I'm sorry 7th grade teachers if I am a bit quite in class. But I promise I will try to talk more. :) I find myself organize, because I like to make sure everything is set in place. I like to make sure(sometimes) that my work looks neat and pretty. I like to do everything above and beyond. I like to make sure, that my work is at its best. In 7th grade I plan, get better grades. This will be a hard goal to achive but, with great affort, I might be able to accomplish, this goal. Another goal I plan to achive in 7th grade is, to be more attive in class. For me this goal might be pretty hard, since some of my personality has to do with shyness, but maybe over the summer I will get over that. I think I have mentioned everything you need to know about me. 

Anyways.. I can't wait to start 7th grade next year.

BYEE....

making a difference to our Earth..

One day, while driving to school, I looked out the window. There was a river. And in the river, was trash. Lots of it. And it made me think, why people would do this. Do they like seeing this everyday? Do they like seeing our world, polluted with trash? Our world is being destroyed, every minute. And we are the ones causing it. If we don't do anything to solve it, we won't have a earth every much longer. We have to start picking up our acts, and do something. 

I think I could make a difference, by making sure I have turned off the lights if, I am not in a room. Because leaving lights on when your not in a room, is just wasting electricity. Also if I have papers, I don't want or need anymore, I could just bring it to school, and put it in that green box. Actually I already, kinda do that. Because if you just throw away, paper, then it can't be recycled, and if it doesn't get recycled then, they have to cut down more trees, to make even MORE paper. Another reason is, recycling MORE PLASTIC. It takes forever for plastic to disintegrate. And it should be recycled so it doesn't have to end up in the land fills. At school their are many plastic bottles bins. Its there for a reason. Use IT. Or instead of buying a new water bottle every time, just reuse the same one. There are many more reasons why, but these are just my thoughts. 

Marvelous Malaysia Week!

Malaysia Week was the BEST!!
The memories I had from it will always stay in my head.
During Malaysia Week I made friends with people I never imagened to be friends with.
And I think the Malaysia Week really showed me determination, because while I was climbing the mountain I almost gave up on myself. So with that boost of determination, I was able to take that extra step.

Good/funny memories.

Good/funny:
During Malaysia week there were many good and funny memories. Frist of all, when we were in this chinese temple, there were MANY secadas. So I tapped my friend, who was walking next to me, and I said " Oh my god helena, there are so many escadas!" She starting laughing. It was pretty funny. Oh and if you don't know what secadas are, they are a type of bug that makes a lot of nosie. and if you don't know what escadas are, it a type of makeup brand (i think). I was pretty off wasn't I? Another good memory was the second last day. We had a BBQ, and we shared a presentation, about what we have learned over the past few days, and we played a fun game. But I must admit that is was a pretty sad time as well, because we were going to leave the very next day, so it was kinda sad to think that our trip was all coming to an end. Another good memory is, crossing this river. We were hiking back down, and it had rained all night. So as we came across a river, the water was pretty high. So we had to use a rope to get to the other side. But the most funniest part about crossing that river was, getting splashed with water while walking across, it was funny because I asked them not to splash me, but they did anyways. My last memory I will share is, reaching the bottom of the mountain, because nice dorms awaited us, as well as nice (-ish) toilets, and showers.
But maybe one down side was getting a really ichy leech bite. And a few mosique bites. But other then that, the trip was great, as well as the food.
One last thing is that, although on the first day I became kind of homesick, my friends changed that around, because they made me laugh, and I just forget about home for awhile. And I think the guides were a great help, because when we hiked up the mountain half way, there was a land slide that happened over night because of the rain, and the Gunug Tahan group couldn't continue all the way up, because it would be too dangerous. So they had to hike back down with us. And really they weren't expecting us all to be done there, and I think the guides did a GREAT job at finding activities to do for the remainder of the trip.
And I can't wait for more Malaysia Week memories to come. =)

Leave nothing but footsteps.. Take Nothing but Memories.....

MERAPOH!!!

Shaz =)

A look at my life....

Hi, I'm Shazreen, but people call me Shaz. I'm 12 years old, and I've been at I.S.K.L for 8 years. And I have been living in Malaysia for my whole life. There are many things I enjoy doing, but my favorite is running, as well as going on the computer, and as well as shopping. I also enjoy my classes I have at school, but I must say that I don't quite like math. I find it a difficult subject. Ok now I will tell you about where I live. I live in Kuala Lumpur. To me its a great place to live, although its hot and sweaty. Malaysia is a place where you can find a lot, and I repeat ALOT of jams. Especially in the morning. But once you get out of the city side, and get into a ore quiet side of Malaysia it' really beautiful. It's all nice and green. But one thing I you can find in the city , is all the tall buildings. You can find a lot of cool things. From little souvenirs, to really good food. 

Well thats just a little about me, and were I live. 

Hope to talk to you soon. 

BYE!

=)

     

New Years Resolution........

Its 2009!!

YAY!

A new year, and a new list of resolutions........

Well my new years resolutions starts of with "making the earth greener". I picked this resolution, because if you look around, the earth isn't doing so well, and if we don't start trying to make it better then.....u know what happens....

My second new years resolution is GETTING FIT! I chose to do this resolution because, I need to stay healthy. And during the winter break I don't think I have been doing very much of "getting fit". Anyways, my third new years resolution is helping out the people in need. I realized that, there are a lot of homeless people sitting/sleeping out on the streets, and it is just a sad sight to see them out there. So I want to donate more things to charities, and give money to the homeless people begging on the streets. My fourth new years resolution is take more risk's. I would like to do this because, if I never take risk's I will never get very far in life. And life is about taking risk's. My fifth new years resolution is making more friends. I know sometimes its good just to have a couple of friends, but sometimes its a good thing to make (or get to know) friends. My sixth new years resolution is, be more out going. I really would like to do this because, sometimes being shy isn't always too good. So this year (if I can) I would like to step out of my comfort zone. My seventh new years resolution is, get better grades. Ok well my grades aren't so bad, but I would like to improve on them farther. MY LAST AND FINALLY NEW YEARS RESOLUTION IS........JUST TO HAVE FUN DURING 2009!!!!

Well that was all my resolutions for this year. I hope I can at least accomplish some of my resolutions. But the resolution I want to accomplish the most is " Making the earth greener".

bye,

shazzeh =)