King Athamus of northern Greece had two children, Phrixus and Helle. After he left his first wife and mar ried Ino, a wicked woman, the two children received all the cruel treatment that a stepmother could devise. At one time the kingdom was ruined by a famine. Ino persuaded her credulous husband into believing that his son, Phrixus, was the actual cause of the disaster, and should be sacrificed to Zeus to endit. The poor boy was then placed on the altar and was about tobe knifed when a ram with golden fleece was sent down by thegods and carried off the two children on its back. As they flew over the strait that divides Asia from Europe, Helle, faint at the vast expanse of water below , fell into the sea and was drowned. Thus the sea of Helle, Hellespont, became the ancient name of the strip of water. Her brother kept on and arrived in Colchis on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. There he sacrificed the ram to Zeus and gave its golden fleece to King Aeetes, who nailed it on a sacred tree and put a sleepless dragon in charge .

希腊北部国王阿塔玛斯有两个孩子, 法瑞克斯和赫勒。当国王离开第一个妻子和一个名叫伊诺的坏女人结婚后, 两个孩子受到后母残忍虐待, 整个王国也受到毁灭性瘟疫的侵袭。伊诺在爱轻信的丈夫耳边进谗言, 终于使国王相信: 他的儿子法瑞克斯是这次灾害的罪魁祸首, 并要将他献给宙斯以结束瘟疫。可怜的孩子被推上了祭坛, 将要被处死。正在此时, 上帝派了一只浑身上下长着金色羊毛的公羊来将两个孩子驮在背上带走了。当他们飞过隔开欧洲和亚洲的海峡时, 赫勒由于看到浩瀚的海洋而头晕目眩, 最终掉进大海淹死了。这片海洋古时候的名称叫赫勒之海, 赫勒拉旁海峡便由此而来。金色公羊驮着法瑞克斯继续向前飞去, 来到了黑海东岸的科尔契斯。在那里, 法瑞克斯将公羊献给了宙斯; 而将金羊毛送给了埃厄忒斯国王。国王将羊毛钉在一棵圣树上, 并派了一条不睡觉的龙负责看护。