King Phineus wanted to show his appreciation towards the Argonauts and he informed them of a danger just ahead on the route to the Golden Fleece. There were two rocks known as the Symplegades, which crashed together upon any ship passing between them. They were also known as the Clashing Rocks. The king even suggested a mechanism by which one might be able to avoid the effects of such Clashing Rocks.

It was foretold that if a bird could be induced to pass between the grags first, it would cause the Rocks to clash together.

The Argo could either follow quickly behind, by passing through safely before they were to snap shut again. By means of such a device, Jason caused the rocks to spring together prematurely. This resulted to the nipping only of the tail feathers of the bird. The Argo was able to pass between them relatively unscathed and only her very stern was splintered.

Once our heroes arrived in Colchis, Jason had to face a series of challenges that were given to him by King Aeetes, the ruler of this barbarian kingdom, who was not only Jasons evil uncle, on the far edge of the heroic world.

The mighty King was not kindly disposed toward strangers. However, on an earlier occasion, he had extended his hospitality to a visitor from Jason’s home town. This may have been due to the newcomer’s unorthodox mode of transportation. For he had arrived on the back of a golden-fleeced flying ram. The stranger’s name was revealed to be Phrixus, and he had been on the point of being sacrificed when the ram carried him off. Having arrived safely in Colchis, he ended up sacrificing the ram to the gods and hung its fleece in a grove. Aeetes gave him the hand of one of his daughters in marriage.