The Argonauts on Lemnos
Jason and the Argonauts arrive on Lemnos, an island whose women have killed their husbands, and are received by Queen Hypsipyle.
The Story
Soon after beginning their voyage toward Colchis, the Argonauts reached the island of Lemnos.
The island was inhabited almost entirely by women.
According to the most famous tradition, the women of Lemnos had neglected the worship of Aphrodite.
The goddess punished them by causing their husbands to reject them.
The men formed relationships with women captured from Thrace.
In revenge, the Lemnian women killed the island's male population.
One woman refused to kill her father.
Hypsipyle secretly saved King Thoas and helped him escape.
When the Argo arrived, the women initially feared that the strangers might attack them.
Eventually the Argonauts were welcomed.
Jason formed a relationship with Queen Hypsipyle, while other Argonauts formed relationships with women of the island.
For a time the expedition almost ceased altogether.
The heroes remained on Lemnos instead of continuing toward the Golden Fleece.
Eventually they were reminded of their purpose.
The Argonauts returned to the Argo and resumed their voyage eastward.
The Lemnian episode is therefore one of the first serious delays in the quest.
The danger was not a monster or a storm, but the temptation to abandon the expedition itself.
Key Figures
Why It Matters
The Lemnos episode is one of the major early adventures of the Argonaut expedition and introduces Hypsipyle, who later develops an important mythological tradition of her own.
Traditions & Variations
Ancient sources differ over the cause and extent of the Lemnian massacre and over how long the Argonauts remained on the island.