The following are the chief among the various interpretations of the fleece, with notes on sources and major critical discussions:
It represents royal power.
Marcus Porcius Cato and Marcus Terentius Varro, Roman Farm Management, The Treatises of Cato and Varro, in English, with Notes of Modern Instances[18]
Braund, David (1994), Georgia In Antiquity, Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 21–23
Popko, M. (1974) “Kult Swietego runa w hetyckiej Anatolii” [“The Cult of the Golden Fleece in Hittite Anatolia”], Preglad Orientalistyczuy 91, pp. 225–30 [In Russian]
Newman, John Kevin (2001) “The Golden Fleece. Imperial Dream” (Theodore Papanghelis and Antonios Rengakos (eds.). A Companion to Apollonius Rhodius. Leiden: Brill (Mnemosyne Supplement 217), 309-40)
Otar Lordkipanidze (2001), “The Golden Fleece: Myth, Euhemeristic Explanation and Archaeology”, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 20, pp. 1–38[19]
It represents the flayed skin of Krios (‘Ram’), companion of Phrixus.
Diodorus Siculus 4. 47; cf. scholia on Apollonius Rhodius 2. 1144; 4. 119, citing Dionysus’ Argonautica
It represents a book on alchemy.
Palaephatus (fourth century BC) ‘On the Incredible’ (Festa, N. (ed.) (1902) Mythographi Graeca III, 2, Lipsiae, p. 89
John of Antioch fr.15.3 FHG (5.548)
It represents a technique of writing in gold on parchment.
Haraxes of Pergamum (c. first to sixth century) (Jacoby, F. (1923) Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker I (Berlin), IIA, 490, fr. 37)
It represents a form of placer mining practiced in Georgia, for example.
Strabo (first century BC) Geography I, 2, 39 (Jones, H.L. (ed.) (1969) The Geography of Strabo (in eight volumes) London[20]
Tran, T (1992) "The Hydrometallurgy of Gold Processing", Interdisciplinary Science Reviews (UK), 17, pp. 356–365
"Gold During the Classical Period"[21]
Shuker, Karl P. N. (1997), From Flying Toads To Snakes With Wings, LLewellyn
Renault, Mary (2004), The Bull from the Sea, Arrow (Rand)
refuted in: Braund, David (1994), op. cit., p. 24 and Otar Lordkipanidze (2001), op. cit.
It represents the forgiveness of God
Müller, Karl Otfried (1844), Orchomenos und die Minyer, Breslau
refuted in: Bacon, Janet Ruth (1925), The Voyage of the Argonauts, London: Methuen, p. 64 ff, 163 ff
It represents a rain cloud.
Forchhammer, P. W. (1857) Hellenica Berlin p. 205 ff, 330 ff
refuted in: Janet Ruth Bacon|Bacon, Janet Ruth (1925), op. cit.
It represents a land of golden grain.
Faust, Adolf (1898), Einige deutsche und griechische Sagen im Lichte ihrer ursprünglichen Bedeutung. Mulhausen
refuted in: Bacon, Janet Ruth (1925), op. cit.
It represents the spring-hero.
Schroder, R. (1899), Argonautensage und Verwandtes, Poznań
refuted in: Bacon, Janet Ruth (1925), op. cit.
It represents the sea reflecting the sun.
Vurthiem, V (1902), “De Argonautarum Vellere aureo”, Mnemosyne, New Series, XXX, pp. 54–67; XXXI, p. 116
Mannhardt, in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, VII, p. 241 ff, 281 ff
refuted in: Bacon, Janet Ruth (1925), op. cit.
It represents the gilded prow of Phrixus’ ship.
Svoronos, M. (1914), in Journal International d’Archéologie Numismatique, XVI, pp. 81–152
refuted in: Bacon, Janet Ruth (1925), op. cit.
It represents a breed of sheep in ancient Georgia.
Ninck, M. (1921), “Die Bedeutung des Wassers im Kult und Leben der Alten,” Philologus Suppl 14.2, Leipzig
Ryder, M.L. (1991) "The last word on the Golden Fleece legend?" Oxford Journal of Archaeology 10, pp. 57–60
Smith, G.J. and Smith, A.J. (1992) “Jason's Golden Fleece,” Oxford Journal of Archaeology 11, pp. 119–20
It represents the riches imported from the East.
Bacon, Janet Ruth (1925), op. cit.
It represents the wealth or technology of Colchis.
Akaki Urushadze (1984), The Country of the Enchantress Medea, Tbilisi
Colchis[22]
Colchis, Land of the Golden Fleece[23]
It was a covering for a cult image of Zeus in the form of a ram.
Robert Graves (1944/1945), The Golden Fleece/Hercules, My Shipmate, New York: Grosset & Dunlap
It represents a fabric woven from sea silk.
Verrill, A. Hyatt (1950), Shell Collector’s Handbook, New York: Putnam, p. 77
Abbott, R. Tucker (1972), Kingdom of the Seashell, New York: Crown Publishers, p. 184
History of Sea Byssus Cloth[24]
Mussel Byssus Facts
refuted in:
Barber, Elizabeth J. W. (1991), Prehistoric textiles : the development of cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with special reference to the Aegean, Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press
McKinley, Daniel (1999), “Pinna And Her Silken Beard: A Foray Into Historical Misappropriations,” Ars Textrina 29, pp. 9–29
It is about a voyage from Greece, through the Mediterranean, across the Atlantic to the Americas.
Bailey, James R. (1973), The God Kings and the Titans; The New World Ascendancy in Ancient Times, St. Martin's Press
It represents trading fleece dyed murex-purple for Georgian gold.
Silver, Morris (1992), Taking Ancient Mythology Economically, Leiden: Brill[25]