Golden Fleece

The Golden Fleece is the fleece of the gold-haired winged ram Chrysomallos, a divine creature that rescued the children Phrixus and Helle from their murderous stepmother and carried them through the sky to the land of Colchis. Upon arrival, Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Poseidon and placed its golden fleece in the sacred grove of the war god Ares, where it was guarded by a sleepless dragon that never closed its eyes. The fleece became the object of Jason's legendary quest, undertaken by the hero and his crew of Argonauts aboard the ship Argo. Retrieving the fleece required Jason to yoke fire-breathing bulls, sow dragon's teeth that sprouted into armed warriors, and overcome the guardian serpent, all with the magical assistance of the sorceress Medea, daughter of the king of Colchis. The Golden Fleece has been interpreted by scholars as a metaphor for the wealth of the Black Sea grain trade, the technique of using sheep fleeces to trap gold particles in mountain streams, or the alchemical transformation of base materials into gold.