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.