In economic terms Golden Fleece joins wealth in metals gold with wealth in flocks fleece, and these two commodities together constitute the basis of the pre-monetary economy. Euripides made this point in the Electra when Pan brought forth from the flocks of Atreus "a lamb bright-fleeced with the splendor of gold". Varro, a first century BCE Roman writer, stated that flocks with valuable fleeces "like [those] of Atreus in Argos" were said to have "golden fleeces".

Golden Fleece also signifies wool or cloth or woolen garments that are dyed with murex-purple and then exchanged for gold. Purple dyed cloth was an excellent store of wealth. Plutarch's Life of Alexander the Great records that 5,000 talents by weight of purple-dyed cloth, in the Persian treasury of Darius at Susa had lost none of its freshness of color during almost two centuries of storage. Purple dye was obtained from marine snails. Simonides (sixth to fifth century BCE) said in his Hymn to Poseidon that the "golden fleece" of the Argonaut myth "was dyed with sea-purple"

The quest for the golden fleece is set in the time before the Trojan War. Jason and his fellow Argonauts receive a commission from Pelias, the ruler of Iolkos (current Volos), in Thessaly (northern Greece) and sail off in the Argo to Kolchis in quest of the "Golden Fleece". The destination, Kolchis (capital city Aia) is a land located at the extreme eastern shore of the Black Sea in the Georgia region. After various adventures, Jason returns to Iolkos, with the Golden Fleece and Medea, the daughter of Aietes, the Kolchian ruler.

Jason is a trader on a trading mission.

1. Pelias speaks openly of Jason's athlon or (aethlon) whose basic meaning is "activity carried out for a prize" or, in the language of commerce, a "commission."
2. Jason's "son" is a trader. In the Iliad, Euneos "Ship-man," the son of Jason and ruler of Lemnos, sells wine to the Greek army before Troy. Business relationships in the ancient world were often expressed by means of metaphorical extensions of kinship terms. Thus, the word "son" might mean "son" or "servant" or "employee" or "agent".

The meaning of the Argonaut myth is that the Argo arrived in Kolchis with a cargo of purple-dyed cloth and returned to Iolkos with their price in gold. In this sense, the ship carried the "Golden Fleece" to the Black Sea and returned to Greece with the "Golden Fleece". The Thessalians produced wool and cloth which they had purple-dyed at Lemnos in the northeastern Aegean and then carried to the Black Sea and exchanged for Kolchian gold. At Kolchis war is a metaphor for trade. At Lemnos love is a metaphor for trade.

The Argonauts began their voyage at a port in Magnesia called Aphetai. Aphetai was the ritual name given to animals set free for consecration to a god, or to men liberated by the gods for certain earthly servitudes or as a result of carrying out their wills. The name Aphetai also means "place of quittance." This would refer to the drawing up of contracts and the settlement of accounts at the completion of a long distance trading mission, probably at a temple gate where oaths were sworn and documents deposited

Jason arrived at Pelias' sacrifice to Poseidon wearing only one sandal. In the Bible's book of Ruth (4.7-8) the passing of one's shoe appears to be a conventional ritual which serves to bind an individual (the passer) to make delivery, repay a debt. The meaning is that Jason had pledged his services to the expedition.