# 2 Questions regarding the story of Jason and the Argonauts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [December 3, 2022, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-questions-regarding-the-story-of-jason-and-the-argonauts/975972 "2022-12-03T11:06:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2022, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-questions-regarding-the-story-of-jason-and-the-argonauts/975972/1 "2022-12-03T11:06:29Z")
I’m looking for any verification of there being an acient bridge over the river Anauros that Jason crossed with Hera on his back.1. Was there any bridge over the river Anauros prior to Jason carrying Hera over the river in any of the original versions ? 2. What was Jasons 's exact ancestral link to Phrixus. I haven’t been able to find a family tree online. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2022, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-questions-regarding-the-story-of-jason-and-the-argonauts/975972/2 "2022-12-03T13:00:14Z")
1. The River Anauros was described as a small stream. So I’m not sure why you’re looking for a bridge. Jason was implied to have forded the River with his divine passenger. In fact: > The hero Iason was said to have lost a sandal in its waters as he ferried the diguised goddess Hera across its stream. * * * * * * 1. Family Tree: > **[Jason - Family tree 12 - Greek mythology](https://www.greekmyths-interpretation.com/en/jason-family-tree/)** > > Jason - Family tree 12 - Greek mythology It appears Phrixus or Phrixos was Jason’s 1st cousin once removed. I never realized that. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2022, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-questions-regarding-the-story-of-jason-and-the-argonauts/975972/3 "2022-12-03T13:39:10Z")
Thanks What\_Exit. I can’t tell you how many versions I’ve read that referred to Phrixus as an ancestor and the stream as a surging river. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-questions-regarding-the-story-of-jason-and-the-argonauts/975972/4 "2022-12-03T13:42:00Z")
I’m straining my memory, but I think there is some truth to the surging for small values of surging. My impression is the Anauros is a stream that occasionally after large storms could be described as surging but that would not stop a strong person from fording it. I’ve seen that in even creeks after Nor’Easters. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2-questions-regarding-the-story-of-jason-and-the-argonauts/975972/5 "2022-12-03T18:06:06Z")
My first thought was that you should always be wary of family trees in Greek myth, but this relationship appears to be well-attested. My copy of Vanessa Jones’ **Genealogy of Greek Mythology** agrees with the one cited above. Regarding any bridge across the Anauros, I’d never heard of their being one, so I went back to my best reference on the oldest Greek mythology, Timothy Grant’s **Early Greek Myth**. He doesn’t mention any bridge, either. In fact, in the earliest sources, Jason wasn’t even said to have lost his sandal in any river. > [@](#): > > Both times [in Pindar and in Pherekydes] the sandal is simply lost or forgotten by Jason under no special circumstances, and so too Apollonios in Book 1 [of the _Argonautica_] says that it came loose as he was crossing the Anauros River (lines 8-14); only much laterin Book 3 does Hera reveal how she tested men, disguised as an old woman on the banks of the Anauros, and how Jason carried her through the river in flood…In point of fact Hera does not say here that Jason lost his sandal on this particular occasion; it is left to our manuscript introduction to the poem to make that connection. Grant, p. 342