Aiaie: a mythical island, cf. Od. 10. 135 ff. Although Homer placed her island in the remote east (in Od. 12. 3–4, it is described as the home of Dawn and associated with the rising Sun), the fabulous realms familiar from the Odysseyare now located firmly in the west.

to counter their own: as the finest of singers himself, p. 30, Orpheus could reasonably expect to outcharm the Sirens (cf. Hyg. 14); in AR 4. 905 ff. it is largely a matter of volume.

the island of the Phaeacians: see Od. 6–8; here identified with Corcyra, now Corfu.

a violent storm: the Argonauts encounter a storm in AR also when they leave Phaeacia, but it drives them to the coast of Africa (4. 1232 ff.). It is surprising that Ap. should omit all mention of the traditions connecting the Argonauts with Libya, for the theme is of early origin. The occasion for their visit varies. In one version, they return from Colchis by an eastward route along the River Phasis to the Ocean and thence the Red Sea, and then carry the Argofrom there to Libya (sc. AR 4. 259 and 282, cf. Pind. Pyth. 4. 25 ff); in Hdt. 4. 179 ff. they are driven there by a storm on the voyage out, but in DS 4. 56. 6 on their return as in AR.

Anaphe: its name is traced to the way in which it ‘appeared’ (from anaphainein)before the Argonauts. One of the southernmost Aegean islands, next to Thera (Santorini); but it is north of Crete, and in AR (4. 1717) they came to Anaphe after their encounter with Talos in Crete, on their voyage north from Africa.

make jokes: see AR 4. 1720 ff.; the story explains why the local women directed obscene jokes at the men when sacrifices were made to Apollo on Anaphe.

a man of bronze: to be understood literally, cf. AR 4. 1638 ff.; and it is thus natural that Hephaistos, famed as a creator of automata (see Il. 18. 373 ff. and 417 ff.), should have constructed him. That some (e.g. AR 4. 1641 f.) should have associated him with Hesiod’s race of bronze (see Hes. WD143 ff.) is understandable, but Hesiod was speaking metaphorically when he named his sequence of races after different metals.

a bull: otherwise unattested, but not unduly surprising in the Cretan context (cf. pp. 97 f).

a single vein: AR speaks of a vein at his ankle covered by a thin layer of skin (4. 1646 ff.), but there is no mention of the bronze nail which acts as a stopper, an appealingly archaic element preserved here. Talos would be invulnerable if it were not for this vein.

the ichor flowed away: the fluid of life (originally a term for the fluid that takes the place of blood in the gods, Il. 5. 339 ff., but later used in a more general sense for animal serum). In AR 4. 1665 ff., Medea invokes the Keres, spirits of death, with songs and prayers, and when Talos tries to hurl boulders to repel them, he grazes his ankle on a rock, causing the ichor to pour out like molten lead. The alternative in which Poias (the father of Philoctetes who lit Heracles’ pyre, p. 91) shoots him in the ankle implies the same cause of death.

a competition developed: again explaining a local custom, see AR 4. 1765 ff. (cf. Callimachus fr. 198; Hellenistic scholars, and scholar-poets, were much interested in local material of this kind).

put Aison to death: if Jason is dead, Pelias can safely consolidate his rule by eliminating Jason’s father Aison, who has a legitimate claim to the throne as the son of Cretheus.

bull’s blood: the Greeks believed that bull’s blood was dangerous to drink because its rapid coagulation would cause the drinker to choke; there was a famous tale that Themistocles committed suicide by drinking it (see Plut. Them. 31).

So she went to the palace. . . boiled him: cf. P. 8. 11. 2 f. and Ov. Met. 7. 297 ff.; Medea had power enough as a magician to rejuvenate Pelias if she wished, but in his case she failed to put the necessary potions into the cauldron. She is said to have made Jason young again by boiling him (Arg. Eur. Med., reporting Simonides and Pherecydes).

Creon: the son of Lycaithos, and his successor as king of Corinth; not to be confused with Creon, son of Menoiceus, the king or regent of Thebes, p. 111. His father ruled Corinth at the time of Bellerophon’s departure (sc. Eur. Med. 19). According to an earlier tradition, ascribed to the Corinthian epic poet Eumelos, who was probably the inventor of the genealogical scheme underlying it, Medea was invited to Corinth to become queen in her own right (sc. Eur. Med. 19, quoting Simonides to the same effect).

a raging fire: see Eur. Medea1167 ff. She is said to have thrown herself into a fountain named after her in Corinth (P. 2. 3. 6).

received from the Sun a chariot: following Eur. Medea(1317 ff., with Arg.; and for the murder of her two children, 1236 ff.). It should be remembered that her father Aietes was a son of the Sun, p. 43.

the Corinthians forced them away: the local Corinthian tradition, see P. 2. 3. 6; they stoned the children because they had carried the fatal gifts to Glauce, but as a result of this murder the young children of Corinth began to die. The Corinthians were ordered by the oracle to offer sacrifices in their honour each year (which were continued until the city was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC) and to raise an altar to Fear.

she married Aigeus: Aigeus had difficulty fathering children, p. 136, and he is said to have married Medea when she promised to cure the problem by her spells (Plut. Thes. 12). For her expulsion see p. 139.

a son, Medos: either directly (P. 2. 3. 7) or through her son, she becomes the eponym of the Medes, whose empire south-west of the Caspian Sea was later absorbed into the Persian Empire. According to another tradition, Medea bore Medos to an Asian king after her expulsion from Athens, DS 4. 55. 7, and he then succeeded to his father’s kingdom.

she killed Perses: or Medos killed him and conquered Media thereafter (DS 4. 56. 1, cf. Hyg. 27).

Inachos: as one of the most prominent features in the landscape, rivers often appear at an early stage in local genealogies. The statement that the river was named after him presents the matter in a rationalized form; Inachos would originally have been the river itself, which, in myth, can function as a person at the same time, cf. Acheloos on p. 113.