16 W.E.D. Allen, "Ex Ponto V. Heniochi-Aea-Hayasa", Bedi Karthlisa 34-35(1960), pp. 79-92, and the same author's "Ex Ponto III and IV", Bedi Karthlisa 32-33(1959) pp. 39-40 where he further associates the Aians with the Aenianes mentioned by Strabo, Geography(XI, 7,1) and the Hions/Hyaonians mentioned in Avestan texts; C. Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History (Georgetown, 1963) pp. 57-58, 61-62.

17 Apollonius of Rhodes, The Voyage of Argo the Argonautica, E.V. Rieu, trans. (Baltimore, Maryland, 1971, repr. of 1959 ed.) Book IV.727-29, p. 167, hereafter Argo; Hesiod, Theogony, M. L. West, trans. (Oxford, 1989) p.31. E. Tripp, The Meridian Handbook of Classical Mythology (Baltimore, Maryland, 1974), pp.15-16, hereafter Handbook. We use the term Aiakid to designate Aeetes, his siblings and their descendants.

18 Argo, Book II.1118-1188, pp. 104-5; The Odes of Pindar, R. Lattimore, trans. (Chicago, 1976), Pythia 4.159-63, p. 67, 4.241-42, p. 71; M. Grant, Folktale and Hero-Tale Motifs in the Odes of Pindar (Lawrence, Kansas, 1967), pp. 12, 27, 79, 94; Handbook, p. 479.

19 Homer, Odyssey, W. Rouse, trans. (New York, 19XX, repr. of 1937 ed.), Book XII.65-72, p. 139; The Argonauts are the theme in Pindar's Pythia 4; M. Grant, Folktale, pp. 19, 30, 32, 35, 67-68, 93-94; Handbook, pp. 73-95. It is not known how much of the story was known to Homer or in what detail, and how much of Apollonius' story reflected the image of "Colchis" in his own time. Rosters of the crew tended to grow over time, but early lists include: Heracles, Orpheus, the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux), Zetes and Calais, Telamon and Peleus, Idas and Lynceus, Admetus, Periclymenu, Augeias, Argus and Tiphys.

20 Argo, Books III-IV.223, pp. 109-52.

21 See note 36 below. Toumanoff, Studies, p. 58 n. 57 observes a possible connection between the name Circe and the Circassians, a north Caucasian people once living on the south shore of the Black Sea. N. Robertson, "Myth, Ritual, and Livelihood in Early Greece", in Ancient Economy in Mythology, p. 12 writes: "The Circe episode is not integral to the story of Odysseus, but still goes back a long way; it is generally agreed that at an earlier stage the episode belonged to the story of the Argonauts". It is possible that the Armenian story of Hayk is part of the Aia cycle, though whether it relates to the birth of Aia or its destruction is not clear to us. Unfortunately, aside from one rather "historical" narration in the Primary History [English trans. in Moses Khorenats'i History of the Armenians, R. W. Thomson, trans. (London, 1978) pp. 357-68], very little of the myths about Hayk and his offspring has survived. The Primary History describes the migration of Hayk and his family from some southern area ("Babylon") northward into central and eastern Asia Minor. Everywhere the Haykids encountered settled populations which they conquered. The Pontic area was taken by Hayk's descendant, Aram, after the defeat of a local Titan named Paiapis Chalia. Ananikian, p. 87 believed that this may be a reference to the Urartian Khaldi, though the name(s) may instead be a garbled reference to Aia and Colchis. Ananikian, pp. 64-65 associated Hayk with the Phyrgian Hyas, god of vegetation and wine and the Vedic Vayu; Armenak, with the Armenius, father of Er in Plato's Republic, and the Vedic Aryaman; and Ara, with Er, who visited the underworld and returned to describe his journey, ibid. pp. 68-70. Hayk's son, Cadmus (and his son, Harma), may be reflected in the Greek Cadmus, a figure whose gestes have thematic ties to the area of our interest. In the Greek tradition, Cadmus, son of "Agenor", settles various parts of Phoenicia, Cilicia, Thrace, and Boetia. He is credited with bringing the Phoenician alphabet to Greece. He slays a dragon sacred to Ares, for which he must atone. But the goddess Athena told Cadmus to sow the dragon's teeth and kill the men who sprang up from them. Athena gave the other portion of the dragon's teeth to Aeetes. Cadmus is described as subduing the Hyantes and the Aones, two tribes later placed in Boetia, but perhaps originally associated with the Hayassa or the Hyaonians (see notes 16 and 104). Cadmus married Ares' daughter, Harmonia, and in some accounts, the first Amazons were their offspring. Cadmus and Harmonia, in their old age, were transported to the Elysian Fields and transformed into snakes, Handbook, pp. 140-42. It is a frequent phenomenon in mythology that tales of a hero's sons actually relate to the hero himself. If this is the case with the story of Hayk, then Hayk's personality embraces that of Ara, god of the underworld, a circumstance which strengthens the connection between Hayk and Aeetes.

22 Odyssey, Book X.133-574, pp. 115-23.

23 K. Rubinson, "Mid-Second Millennium Pontic-Aegean Connections: A Note to Chapter 12", pp. 283-86 in Ancient Economy in Mythology.

24 Argo, Book II.1118-1188, pp. 104-105.

25 Argo, Book IV.239-42, 302ff., 730ff., 1004ff. pp. 153, 155, 167, 174.

26 Argo, Book IV.1211ff., p. 180.

27 Argo, Book III.1226ff., pp. 141-42. The Golden Fleece, which has been interpreted variously as a symbol of metals and commerce in cloth, may also be an early reflection of the Iranian xvarenah or farr.

28 Argo, Book III.210ff., p. 115.

29 See our forthcoming study, "Ethnobotany in Eastern Asia Minor".

30 Argo, Book III.805-1060, 1243-63, pp. 131-37, 142; M. Grant, Folktale, p. 66.

31 Argo, Book IV.142-82, pp. 150-51.

32 Handbook, pp. 359-63.

33 Handbook, p. 449.

34 M. I. Rostovtsev, in Iranians and Greeks in South Russia (Oxford, 1922) p. 62 suggested that Books X, XI, and XII of the Odyssey concerned the southeastern corner of the Black Sea and further that "the land of the rising sun, the Aia of Odyssey, which seems, at the same time, to be part of the world beyond the grave, is to be placed on the Caucasian bank of the Black Sea".

35 K. Kerenyi, Goddesses of Sun and Moon (Irving, Texas, 1979) p. 12. An association with the underworld is also reflected in the story of Er (Ara), son of Armenius in Plato's Republic, see A. V. Matikian, Aray geghets'ik (Vienna, 1930) pp. 245-304; Ananikian, pp. 68-70.

36 Odyssey, Book XI.69-72, p. 125: "...remember me, my prince, when you reach Aia, for I know you will touch there on your way back from Hades"; also Book XII.1-7, p. 138: "Our ship left the stream of Ocean and passed into the open sea. Soon it came to the island of Aia, where Dawn has her dwelling and her dancing lawns and Helios his place of rising".

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