Constellation Argo Navis
The great southern constellation representing the ship Argo, in which Jason and the Argonauts sailed to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece.
The Meaning of Constellation Argo Navis
The constellation Argo Navis commemorated the ship Argo, built by Argus with the guidance of Athena for Jason's quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece from Colchis. The ship was constructed from timber cut on Mount Pelion, and Athena fitted a sacred beam from the oak of Dodona into the prow, giving the vessel the power of prophecy. Jason gathered the greatest heroes of the age — Heracles, Orpheus, the Dioscuri Castor and Polydeuces, Atalanta, and dozens more. After securing the Fleece with Medea's help, the Argo was dedicated to Poseidon at the Isthmus of Corinth. Athena later placed the ship among the stars. The constellation was so vast that 18th-century astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille divided it into three smaller constellations: Carina (keel), Puppis (stern), and Vela (sails).
Symbols
Fun Fact
Argo Navis was the largest constellation in Ptolemy's original 48 until it was broken into three pieces in 1763. The name lives on in the word "argonaut," which NASA used for its Argo program and which gives us the argonaut octopus — a creature named because its papery shell reminded naturalists of a tiny sailing ship navigating the open ocean.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Catasterism
💭 conceptTransformation into a constellation
Catasterism was the process by which a mortal or creature was placed among the stars.
Argonauts
💭 conceptCrew of the ship Argo
The Argonauts were the band of heroes who sailed with Jason on the Argo to retrieve the Golden Fleece — the greatest ensemble adventure in Greek mythology.
Voyage of the Argo
💭 conceptNarrative
The legendary sea journey of the Argonauts through uncharted waters to reach the kingdom of Colchis
Constellation Orion
💭 conceptastronomy, hunting
The giant hunter of Greek mythology, placed among the stars by Zeus or Artemis, forming one of the most recognisable constellations in the night sky.
Antikythera Mechanism
💭 conceptastronomy, technology
An ancient Greek geared computing device from around 100 BC, used to predict eclipses and track the cycles of the Olympic Games and other Panhellenic festivals.
Ganymede
💭 conceptAstronomy and mythology
The largest moon in the solar system, named after Ganymede, the beautiful Trojan prince abducted by Zeus to serve as cupbearer of the gods on Olympus
Ophiuchus
💭 conceptastronomy, healing
The serpent-bearer constellation identified with Asclepius, who learned to resurrect the dead and was placed in the sky by Zeus after being struck down for overstepping mortal limits.
Uranus
💭 conceptAstronomy and mythology
The seventh planet from the Sun, named after Ouranos, the primordial Greek god of the sky and the earliest supreme deity in the mythological genealogy
Venus
💭 conceptAstronomy and mythology
The second planet from the Sun and the brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon, named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love identified with the Greek Aphrodite
Argo
🏛 placeThe first great ship of Greek mythology
The Argo was the ship built by Argus for Jason's quest — the first long-voyage ship in Greek myth, with a beam from Dodona's speaking oak built into its prow.
Callisto
💭 conceptAstronomy and mythology
A moon of Jupiter named after Callisto, the nymph companion of Artemis who was transformed into a bear and placed among the stars as the constellation Ursa Major
Eratosthenes
💭 conceptAstronomy, geography, mathematics
Alexandrian polymath who calculated Earth's circumference and linked constellations to myths in his Catasterisms