The sea-voyage of the Argonauts belongs to an old pattern of Hellenic
narratives, even earlier than the Homeric Poems. Apollonius, in the Argonautics,
rewrites the myth as an epos. His epos however, in spite of being heavily inspired on
the Odyssey, shows a distancing from the genologic epic pattern in a number of ways:
its structure, its portrayal of the characters, its narrative strategies. This points towards
the novel. Apollonius already belongs to a period of book culture and of reading. As a
matter of fact, the action begins ab ovo and it is characterised by the dissymetry of the
four books. The theme of the voyage looses its preponderance in relation to love and
magic. Jason reveals elements of an anti-hero when confronted with Medea, who is
inluenced by the tragic patterns. The narrative is sometimes characterised by a heavy
lyrical presence with an increasing intervention of a narrator who is emotionally
envolved with the action and aware of his task.