JASON, MEDEA, AND THE ARGONAUTS 577
of Hypsipyle. Hypsipyle first hid him in the temple of Dionysus and then put
him in a chest in which he floated to the land of the Tauri (i.e., southern Rus-
sia) and there became a priest of Artemis. Meanwhile the Lemnian women re-
ceived the Argonauts, who stayed on the island for a year. Among the many
children born as a result of their stay were the twin sons of Jason and Hypsipyle,
Euneos and Thoas (or Nebrophonus). After the departure of Jason, Hypsipyle's
deception in saving her father Thoas was discovered and she was driven from
the island. Eventually she was captured by pirates and sold into slavery, be-
coming the servant of Lycurgus, king of Nemea.
In Greece, Hypsipyle became the nurse of the child of Lycurgus, Opheltes
(see p. 396). She was eventually brought back to Lemnos by her sons. As a mytho-
logical figure Hypsipyle is significant as the queen of a society from which males
have been driven out and because of her connection with the founding of the
Nemean Games in honor of Opheltes. The Roman epic poet Statius devoted a
long episode of his Thebaid to her story, as did his contemporary Valerius Flac-
cus, in his epic Argonautica. Ovid made her a romantically deserted heroine in
his Heroides.CYZICUS AND CIOS
After touching at Samothrace, where they were initiated into the mysteries, the
Argonauts sailed on to the Propontis and put in at Cyzicus, where the Doliones
lived under King Cyzicus, who received them well. In return for this hospital-
ity, Heracles killed the earthborn giants who lived nearby. The Argonauts were
driven back to Cyzicus by contrary winds, and in a night battle (for the Doliones
took them for night raiders) they killed the king. Next day they helped bury
Cyzicus before sailing off again.
Their next port of call was Cios, farther eastward along the Asiatic shore of
the Propontis, where they landed so that Heracles could replace his broken oar.
Here Hylas was lost and Heracles left the expedition (see pp. 523-533).AMYCUS
Next the Argonauts passed into the Euxine (the Black Sea) and came to the land
of the Bebryces, a Bithynian tribe whose custom was to compel strangers to box
with their king, Amycus, a son of Poseidon, who had never lost a boxing match.
Polydeuces fought Amycus and killed him.PHINEUS AND THE HARPIES AND THE SYMPLEGADES
Next they came to Salmy dessus on the Euxine shore of Thrace, where they were
received by King Phineus, a blind prophet.^3 He was tormented by the Harpies,
two winged monsters (their name means "the snatchers") who, every time a
meal was set before him, swooped down upon it, snatched away most of the