According
to Greek mythology, the ancient Greek hero Jason assembled a group of champions
to aid him in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. The shipbuilder Argus followed
the goddess Athena’s instructions and built a ship named Argo in his honor. Naming themselves after their ship, the Argonauts sailed to many countries and finally reached Colchis on the Black Sea. King Aeëtes
tried to stop Jason from taking the fleece, but his daughter Medea fell
in love with Jason. She helped him with a magic potion which put the dragon
that guarded the fleece to sleep. With the Golden Fleece stolen, the Argonauts
and Medea left Colchis and sailed for home.
They sailed across the Black Sea to the Danube,
then up the Sava River and finally up the Ljubljanica to Močilnik Springs. Jason
was furious as they couldn’t go any further and he hit the rock with his
fist. You can
still see the imprint today in the rocks called the Devil’s Cliffs (‘Hudičeve skale') by local people. The Argonauts
disassembled their ship and carried it on their shoulders to the Adriatic Sea.
As a memorial to these Ancient Greeks and their
journey, Vrhnika’s emblem is an image of the ship Argo, and locals and visitors
from other places remember them every year during the festival Argonaut days.