1-157-300 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

The Argonauts finding the Golden Fleece, a fleece placed in a spring by the Colchians to collect alluvial gold dust, 1556. Apollonius Rhodius, a Greek scholar of the 3rd century BC, wrote an epic poem, the 'Argonautica', which told the story of Jason and the crew of his ship, the Argo, and their quest to find the fabled Golden Fleece. From De re metallica, by Agricola (Georg Bauer). (Basel, 1556).