Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Argonautica
Ancient Greek with an independent metrical English translation
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English Page · Branch 5 of 245
Book I · Lines 97–120
Ancient Greek
p. 14The Argonautica: Book I
p. 15His father Alcon sent him forth; he had no other
sons who might guard his old age and sustain his livelihood.
Though born in Alcon's old age, his only son,
his father sent him forth to shine among bold heroes.
But Theseus, foremost by far among all Erechtheus' children,
an unseen bond held fast beneath Taenarian ground,
as he followed Pirithous along their common road; those two
surely for all would have made an easier end to labor.
Tiphys, Hagnias' son, left Siphae's people behind him,
the Thespians; well skilled to discern beforehand the rising
wave of the broad sea, and to judge the squalls of the wind,
and reckon a ship's course by sunlight and star of the heavens.
Tritonian Athena herself urged Tiphys onward;
Tiphys then joined the band, a longed-for comrade.
For she herself had labored to build the swift ship, and Argus
Arestor's son, constructed it with her, heeding her counsels.
Thus the ship proved foremost of every vessel
that ever ventured to make trial of the sea with oars.
Next after these came Phlias from Araethyrea,
where rich by his father Dionysus' grace he made his dwelling,
at his own hearth beside the fountain-springs of Asopus.
From Argos in turn came Talaus and Areius, sons of Bias,
and powerful Leodocus, all three borne by Pero,
Neleus' daughter; for her sake, harsh distress and labor
Socrates
Reading The Argonautica · Book I · Lines 97–120
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Apollonius’s Argonautica follows Jason and the Argonauts from their gathering at Pagasae through the voyage to Colchis and the difficult return home. This exact line-for-line edition pairs the Ancient Greek poem with an independent metrical English translation prepared by Diotimos Editions, preserving one English verse for every Greek reading line across all four books.
Historical Text and Translation
The Greek reading text follows the Perseus transcription derived from George W. Mooney’s 1912 edition, pinned to a stable canonical-greekLit commit. Mooney and LSJ provide the principal controls for Books I–III; Peter Hulse’s Dickinson commentary directly supports Book IV. Deleted records and canonical numbering gaps remain documented rather than being silently repaired. The supplied release identifies itself as a complete source-audited working edition and recommends independent classicist review before print publication.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this independent translation directly from the Greek. Its six-beat English house form preserves the poem’s source order, imagery, learned names, narrative delays, shifts of register, and line-by-line correspondence while allowing syntax to move across adjacent verses where the Greek requires it.
Rights
Apollonius’s ancient Greek source work is in the public domain. The 2026 English translation and Diotimos editorial matter are original to this edition and remain © 2026 Diotimos. The pinned Perseus Greek transcription is reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- public-domain-base-witnessPinned Perseus Greek transcription — canonical-greekLit
- print-control-and-commentaryGeorge W. Mooney’s 1912 Argonautica — Internet Archive
- book-four-commentaryApollonius Argonautica, Book IV — Dickinson College Commentaries
- lexical-controlLiddell–Scott–Jones Greek-English Lexicon — Scaife ATLAS
- greek-transcription-licenseCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0