Jason and the Argonauts
One of my favorite trivia questions to ask students used to be 'Tell me the name of the ship on which the Argonauts sailed.' I rarely received the correct answer, "The Argo."
Now, Jason and his companions, if they were alive, might get a chance to sail once again on the Argo.
A project is underway by the Naudomos Institute in the Greek port of Volos to reconstruct the famed Argo using hand tools. Volos is the site of ancient Iolcos, the starting point from where the Argonauts journeyed to retrieve the Golden Fleece.
We do not actually know what the ship looked like, but we can begin to get some understanding by examining ancient shipping accounts, vase paintings and the like to come to some reasonable conclusion.
Of course, once the ship is constructed, the next step is to actually sail and row it. The big question is whether there are rowers capable of rowing for 10-15 hours per day. You can volunteer if you like (yes, really).
Tom
Sign up for my newsletter.
Now, Jason and his companions, if they were alive, might get a chance to sail once again on the Argo.
A project is underway by the Naudomos Institute in the Greek port of Volos to reconstruct the famed Argo using hand tools. Volos is the site of ancient Iolcos, the starting point from where the Argonauts journeyed to retrieve the Golden Fleece.
We do not actually know what the ship looked like, but we can begin to get some understanding by examining ancient shipping accounts, vase paintings and the like to come to some reasonable conclusion.
Of course, once the ship is constructed, the next step is to actually sail and row it. The big question is whether there are rowers capable of rowing for 10-15 hours per day. You can volunteer if you like (yes, really).
Tom
Sign up for my newsletter.
Labels: Greek Mythology, History
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home