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Legend or fact? Myth or reality?

In the thirteenth century BC, the Greek mythological hero Jason set sail in a galley with a band of Heroes in search of the Golden Fleece. The boat was named Argo, after its builder, and the sailors are known as the Argonauts. But did they exist? And what was the Golden Fleece? Their journey took them from present-day Greece, across the Aegean Sea, through the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmara, through the much feared Bosphorus into the Black Sea, and then along the entire north coast of Turkey, ending up in the state of Georgia. It was there, in ancient Colchis, that Jason found not only the Golden Fleece but also his bride, Medea, after taming the wild bulls, killing the serpent, and planting its teeth in the soil.

Or so the legend has it.

Tim Severin, having sailed in a leather boat from Ireland to America to test the legend of St Brendan, and having linked the seven journeys of Sindbad the Sailor into a single mammoth trip from Arabia to China, set out to investigate the story of Jason. He had a twenty-oar galley built in the Aegean to the exact specifications of a Bronze Age boat and, with his crew of new Argonauts, made the same perilous 1500-mile journey. The oarsmen were aided by Greek, Turkish and Soviet volunteers as they passed through each country's territorial waters. And they underwent extraordinary hardships on the way. But they did prove that, in spite of the dangers and discomfort, Jason could have made the journey in an oared galley, which many experts had considered impossible.

The Jason Voyage is the thrilling story of that journey. It will have an irresistible appeal to scholars as well as lovers of adventure, travel and mystery.

Praise for Tim Severin:

'Enthralling!' - The Guardian

'An extraordinary explorer' - The Independent

Tim Severin is an explorer, film-maker and lecturer, who has made many expeditions, from crossing the Atlantic in a medieval leather boat to going out in search of Moby Dick and Robinson Crusoe. He has written books about all of them. He has won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, the Book of the Sea Award, a Christopher Prize, and the literary medal of the Academie de la Marine. He also writes historical fiction.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00D6PO232
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lume Books (December 3, 2013)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 3, 2013
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 7957 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 300 pages
Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Typical awesome Severin book.
Review: Clear and concise and informative. Fun and educational at the same time. It would be nice to have a map in the book.

Reviewer: Terry Williams
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Argo
Review: Very nice read but not very deep. If you have read Tim's other voyage logs and enjoyed them this is on par with the others.

Reviewer: Ralph E. Vaughan
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Back to the Past
Review: I have always admired Tim Severin's personal hands-on approach to exploring humanity's nautical history. Here, he journeys deep into a past that was already ancient when Homer sang of the heroes of Illium. In our world, yesterday vanishes almost as soon as the sun sets; you'd expect that a realm of darkness four thousand years lost would remain lost. What Severin (and the reader) discovers, however, is that the farther he journeys into the past, the more real it becomes, the more intangible the present seems. Eventually, we are all sailors upon the Argo, listening to the moans of the deep and the splashings of the oars, making our way among modern phantoms, enroute to dark-mitered Colchis and a magical Golden Fleece. How sad the book has to come to an end.

Reviewer: Hammock
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Story is great - Kindle version is not good.
Review: 5 stars for the tale; 3 stars for the Kindle version. I am a fan of Severin's voyaging and did not want another book around so I bought the Kindle version which had many flaws, but not enough to spoil the story. Early on, there were several sentences that were either missing or chopped up and which appeared out of order. Then everything went well until the straits, where there were references to "cargo" that whatever OCR was used to create the Kindle version turned into "Argo". These flaws were irritating in themselves, but the main problem with me is that they reduced my confidence in the accuracy of the version and made me wonder if I missed something important. The photos were at the end and appeared fine.

Reviewer: Nomadic
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Fantastic tale of maritime explorational archeology
Review: Tim Severin is the man every man would love to meet. Affable in writing, detailed in observation and description, and a consumate sailor, Severin weaves a spectacular tale of adventure and exploration. Recounting the historic voyage of Jason and the Argonauts, history is brought alive and vivid in Severin's book. I have read his other travelogues and he is doubtless among the best I have ever read. Regardless of whether you are an afficionado of sailing adventure or not, you'll love this. Buy it. Keep it.

Reviewer: SharkShape
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good book, funny edition
Review: Tim Severin is a well-known history-replay explorer and a prominent scholar.His expedition on the recreated "Argo" is both a thorough Bronze Age ship-building investigation and an exciting adventure.The funny edition part of my headline is dedicated to the Australian publisher - several pages of the book are printed puzzle style - a few lines suddenly appear two pages down the book, after which you have to swing back to read on.Fortunately only on 2 occasions.Otherwise - good edition, great pictures, enjoy the book

Reviewer: marina richards
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: I love Tim Severin's books
Review: I love Tim Severin's books. What an amazing life he has led. Some of the adventures, such as this one, are mind blowing. Building a replica of the ancient boat firstly and then assembling a team to row the same boat from Greece through the bosphurus to Georgia was awe inspiring. He is never boring, supplying enough detail to keep one interested, while making one wish you had had the idea first. A reminder to everyone to always live life to the fullest as he obviously does

Reviewer: Superior.Shores
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Another Wonderful Severin Adventure
Review: How does he decide which challenge to take on? This my next to last Severin adventure. I'm not what to do for exciting reading after all have been read. It's another of his books that takes you onboard his boats for an adventure of a lifetime.One hint: Follow the path as best you can on Google Earth. It makes the adventure far more personal. I've done that with everyone of his adventures.

Reviewer: Djinn
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Even though this was written quite a few years ago, it is an excellent read, informative but full of humour. What a fantastic adventure!

Reviewer: Bookworm
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I think this book will appeal to anyone who enjoys travel, adventure, archaeology, history, detective work, discovery, the ancient classics, National Geographic type readers, sailors and anyone interested in boats, inventors and every type of thinker. Yes, all of those. And more.While not quite as gripping as his 'Brendan Voyage'. the Jason Voyage is still a page turner, and a very engaging read. It has the right mix of all the above. Firstly there's just the account of how the voyage was dreamed up and undertaken in the first place, all the obstacles that Tim Severin had to overcome in order to turn his dream into a reality (and a timely reminder that such things ARE possible to those with the dream and persistent enough). You can hardly walk up to someone and ask them to build you a replica bronze age galley. Except it turns out, if you are Tim Severin, actually you can! Once you have managed to track down such a person of course! That was only one of many challenges Severin faced, others included paperwork and permits required to sail a Greek-built vessel into Turkish waters, and enter Soviet territory as well (this was still Cold War days, before the Berlin wall came down). Yet he managed to do it all, and reading the account sometimes it feels like he had a little help from 'on high' from the way things just fell into place for him at times.Then anyone into sailing will immediately appreciate the details of the ship and the navigation. Severin brings something vital and unique to the investigation of these old classic legends - he actually sails the route under similar conditions. It's easy for learned but armchair academics, no matter how much ancient literature they've trawled to write their thesis, to overlook the blindingly obvious that can only be spotted when one is at the scene in a boat! Tides, currents, headlands, winds and storms, not to mention local traditions and folklore all fall seamlessly into place when seen from the prow of a bronze age galley. Apparent mysteries of the old texts become plain and obvious when the actual conditions are encountered, such as the current running out of the Bosphorus that Severin and his crew had to row painfully up against to prove a bronze age galley could have done the same.Along the way there are stops at ancient ruins or sites connected to the story, often throwing up surprising and hidden connections. Anyone who likes holidaying in the Mediterranean will enjoy these parts especially.By the time you finish the book one is inclined to believe not only that Jason and the Argonauts was far from being a mere legend, but that even the rough timeframe of the events can be fairly accurately dated. I think this in turn has enormous implications for how we might view other historical supposed-legends. Following Tim Severin's many voyages, like this one here, I think we might be obliged to see there is a great deal more historical truth in many old legends than we'd care to admit in our 21st century 'snobbishness'. Severin has shown we can't afford to be so dismissive of the old tales.

Reviewer: Margaret Cockerill
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Tim Severing has a great talent for educating and entertaining his reader at the same time. I will read this book again,probably after I have reread Brendan. High adventure and a window into the history of our species. What more could one ask?

Reviewer: Thomas P.
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Enjoyed this book too, Mr. Severin has followed some interesting sagas in search of adventure.

Reviewer: Kirsty Graham
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I was intrigued by this book as I had grown up watching classic adventures on tv like Jason and the Argonauts and the Sinbad films. I really enjoyed reading about how much the author learned about the ways of ancient mariners whilst following the adventures of the original argonauts. The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars was because of the obvious lack of any real proof reading on the text. Changing of people's names because of misspelling, multiple sentences made nonsensical because of inattention or spell checking corrections that weren't appropriate. Would also have liked to see more pictures and actually have them placed within the relevant chapters to really enable the reader to envisage what was happening.