Introduction
Jason was the son of Aeson, rightful king of Iolcos, raised in secret by the centaur Chiron after his uncle Pelias seized the throne. Sent to retrieve the Golden Fleece as a near-impossible task, he assembled a crew of the greatest heroes of the age.
Family
The Voyage of the Argo
Sailing the ship Argo, Jason and his crew faced trials including the clashing rocks of the Symplegades and the harpies tormenting the seer Phineus before reaching Colchis. There, King Aeetes set Jason further impossible tasks to win the Fleece, which he accomplished only with the secret help of the king's daughter, the sorceress Medea, who fell in love with him.
Betrayal of Medea
Jason married Medea and they had children together, but years later he abandoned her for a politically advantageous marriage to a Corinthian princess. Medea's revenge — killing the new bride and, in the most famous version, their own children — destroyed Jason's later life; he is said to have died ignobly, crushed by a rotting timber of his own beached ship, the Argo.
As with all figures of Greek heroic legend, sources diverge on many particulars; the account above follows the most widely transmitted classical tradition.