Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

In Apollonius’s *Argonautica*, Apsyrtus (Absyrtus), son of Aeetes and brother of Medea, is a grown warrior who leads the Colchian pursuit after the fleece is stolen. The Argo flees not by a simple Black Sea return but by a long, fantastic circuit; part of the Colchian fleet under Apsyrtus corners the heroes near the mouth of the Ister (Danube) and the Brygian/Adriatic islands. Medea devises a treacherous parley. She sends gifts and a message offering to surrender the fleece and herself if Apsyrtus will meet her alone at a temple of Artemis on a sacred island, so that bloodshed between kin and strangers may be avoided. Apsyrtus comes by night to the shrine. Jason, hidden nearby by agreement with Medea, ambushes and kills him—cutting him down like a sacrificial victim beside the goddess’s precinct. Medea turns away or covers her eyes; the blood stains her veil. The Argonauts then attack the leaderless Colchians; some of the pursuing ships scatter and later settle along the coasts rather than face Aeetes empty-handed. The murder of a kinsman in a holy place brings pollution. The speaking beam of the Argo later declares that Zeus is angered and that Jason and Medea must seek purification from Circe. This version makes Apsyrtus an active enemy abroad and locates the crime far from Colchis, on a temple threshold—sharply different from the Apollodorean tale of a child butchered to delay the father’s chase.