Jason and the Argonauts
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50 free Jason and the Argonauts trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Jason's voyage is one of the oldest adventure stories the Greeks told. A prince cheated of his throne gathers a shipload of heroes, sails the Argo to the far end of the known world, and comes home with the Golden Fleece and a sorceress bride. It has monsters, impossible tasks, betrayals and a bitter ending. This quiz follows the whole story: Jason's childhood and the usurper Pelias, the crew of the Argo, the dangers on the way to Colchis, the trials set by its king, and what became of Jason and Medea afterwards. A handful of questions cover the 1963 film with its famous stop-motion creatures, and the places where the legend still turns up today. It suits students reading the myth in class, including younger readers who met it as a play or a retelling, as well as mythology fans and film buffs. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you pick up the story as you play.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What did Jason lose carrying an old woman across a river, just as an oracle had warned King Pelias?
A sandal
A sandal was all it took: an oracle had told Pelias to beware a man wearing only one. Jason lost his in the river Anauros and walked into town half shod.
Q 02Colchis, the kingdom where Jason sought the Golden Fleece, lies mostly in which modern country?
Georgia
Georgia's western half was the Colchis of Greek myth. People there really did sink sheepskins in streams to catch flecks of gold, one likely root of the legend.
Q 03Which hero left the Argonauts to search for Hylas, a companion pulled into a spring by nymphs?
Heracles
Heracles searched so long for Hylas that the Argo sailed on without him. In one Roman telling the boy appears to him in a dream and says the nymph's spring is now his home.
Q 04Which musician among the Argonauts saved the crew by out-playing the Sirens on his lyre?
Orpheus
Orpheus drew his lyre and drowned out the Sirens with music louder and lovelier than theirs. Jason's old tutor had warned that the Argonauts would never get past without him.
Q 05What did Jason sow in a ploughed field at Colchis, only to see armed warriors spring from the soil?
Dragon's teeth
Dragon's teeth were the seed, and each one sprouted a fully armed fighter. The Greeks called such earth-born men Spartoi, meaning the sown ones.
Q 06The sea animals called argonauts, or paper nautiluses, after Jason's crew are a kind of what?
Octopus
Octopus is the right group: the female argonaut secretes a paper-thin eggcase and drifts near the surface. Ancient Greeks believed it used two of its arms as sails.
Q 07Which Canadian city's football team, founded by a rowing club in 1873, is called the Argonauts?
Toronto
Toronto's Argonauts are the oldest professional sports team in North America still using its original name. Fans call them the Boatmen, a nod to their rowing roots.
Q 08Which twin brothers of Helen of Troy sailed with Jason on the Argo?
Castor and Pollux
Castor and Pollux both joined the crew of the Argo. On the voyage Pollux beat King Amycus of the Bebryces in a boxing contest.
Q 09In the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts, what kind of army does Jason fight in the stop-motion climax?
Skeletons
Skeletons, seven of them, rise from the ground and duel three live actors. The scene outdid the single skeleton the same animator had brought to life in an earlier Sinbad film.
Q 10In which Rick Riordan series is the Golden Fleece once won by Jason used to heal a dying tree?
Percy Jackson
Percy Jackson and his friends sail the Sea of Monsters to take the Fleece from the Cyclops Polyphemus. It cures the pine tree that guards Camp Half-Blood.
Q 11Which goddess, disguised as an old woman, did Jason carry across a river, winning her lasting favour?
Hera
Hera had her own reason to back Jason: Pelias had killed a woman who was sheltering in her temple, earning the goddess's undying hatred.
Q 12Which wise centaur, teacher of Achilles and Asclepius, raised Jason in hiding from King Pelias?
Chiron
Chiron ran something like a school for heroes on Mount Pelion. Jason's mother sent her baby there because she feared Pelias would have him killed.
Q 13Which winged monsters did two flying Argonauts chase from the table of a starving blind prophet?
The Harpies
The Harpies stole or fouled every meal the old man tried to eat. In thanks for his rescue he told the Argonauts how to survive the dangers ahead.
Q 21How did Jason defeat the earth-born warriors of Colchis without having to fight every one himself?
Threw a stone among them
He threw a stone among them, on Medea's advice. Unable to tell who had thrown it, the warriors turned on one another.
Q 22What bird did the Argonauts release to fly ahead of them between the deadly Clashing Rocks?
A dove
A dove made it through with only its tail feathers clipped, which told the crew how fast they would have to row. The ship lost just the tip of its stern.
Q 23On which Aegean island did the Argonauts find only women, who had killed all of their husbands?
Lemnos
Lemnos was ruled by Queen Hypsipyle when the crew landed. She and Jason had two sons, twins in some tellings.
Q 14Which Athenian playwright wrote the tragedy Medea, about her revenge after Jason abandoned her?
Euripides
Euripides took only third prize when Medea was first staged in 431 BC. It went on to become the most frequently performed Greek tragedy of the 20th century.
Q 15Which sea did the Argonauts enter once past the Clashing Rocks, on their way east to Colchis?
The Black Sea
The Black Sea was first known to Greek voyagers as the Inhospitable Sea. They later renamed it the Hospitable Sea, because the old name seemed an ill omen.
Q 16The word Argonaut joins the ship's name Argo to the Greek word nautes, which has what meaning?
Sailor
Sailor is all that nautes means, so an Argonaut is a sailor of the Argo. The same Greek word gives us astronaut, literally a star sailor.
Q 17Which goddess helped the shipwright Argus build the Argo, the vessel that carried Jason to Colchis?
Athena
Athena, patron of crafts, lent her skill to the shipwright. The prow held a beam of sacred oak that was said to speak with a human voice.
Q 18Which actor told an Oscars audience that Jason and the Argonauts is the greatest film ever made?
Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks made the claim in 1992, moments after the film's stop-motion animator was handed a lifetime achievement award.
Q 19Which beasts did the king of Colchis order Jason to yoke and plough a field with as a first trial?
Fire-breathing bulls
Fire-breathing bulls with hooves of bronze had been made for the king by the smith god Hephaestus. Jason had to harness the pair himself.
Q 20In most ancient versions, how was the giant serpent guarding the Golden Fleece overcome for Jason?
Lulled to sleep by a potion
Lulled to sleep by a potion of herbs from Medea, the guardian let Jason lift the Fleece from its tree. The 1963 film swaps the creature for a many-headed Hydra.
Q 24Which bronze giant, guardian of Crete, did Medea bring down as the Argonauts sailed for home?
Talos
Talos kept strange ships away by pelting them with boulders. Empire magazine once ranked his 1963 film version the second-best movie monster of all time, behind King Kong.
Q 25Which enchantress, aunt of Medea and later host to Odysseus, cleansed Jason of the guilt of a murder?
Circe
Circe performed the rite on her island of Aeaea. The crew went there because the Argo itself spoke up and told them to seek her out.
Q 26Medea, the sorceress who helped Jason, was the granddaughter of which Greek god of the sun?
Helios
Helios sends a flying chariot to carry her to safety at the end of the best-known play about her, a sign that the gods are still on her side.
Q 27Fortune seekers in which 19th-century American event were nicknamed argonauts, after Jason's crew?
The California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush sent thousands chasing a golden fleece of their own. The nickname was coined by the people who stayed at home.
Q 28Which stop-motion pioneer animated Jason and the Argonauts, the 1963 film he considered his best?
Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen was hooked on movie monsters from the day he saw King Kong as a boy. He later trained under that film's own animator.
Q 29In which Greek city did Jason and Medea settle in exile, only for him to leave her for a princess?
Corinth
Corinth was where Jason agreed to marry the king's daughter to strengthen his political ties. Medea's answer to that betrayal is the subject of a famous Athenian tragedy.
Q 30In the best-known account, how did Jason die, many years after the voyage of the Argonauts?
Crushed by the rotting Argo
Crushed by the rotting Argo as he slept beneath it, Jason died alone and out of favour with the gods. He had broken his vow to love Medea forever.