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Argo Navis is a
symbolic archetype of a great ship, which crosses the waters of the Deluge
as in the Biblical tale of Noah's Arc. It lies entirely in the southern
hemisphere, east of Sirius (Canis Major), south of the Constellations of
Monoceros and Hydra and is largely in the Milky Way. It covers a great
extent of the sky; nearly 75 degrees in length, teeming with masses of
stars. Consequently, modern astronomers have divided
Argo Navis into three
smaller constellations; - Puppis, the Stern; Carina, the Keel; and Vela,
Sail. Malus, the Mast, was a fourth constellation created of Argo Navis,
but this has fallen into disuse. This constellation is still recognized by
many astronomers as Argo Navis. [SLM p.64].
In ancient Egypt
it was seen as the boat which carried Isis and Osiris over the deluge. And
the Hindus said that it performed the same function for Isi and Iswara,
they called it the ship Argha, which is similar to the Greek
title. Others say that the word Argo comes from the Semitic word arek
meaning 'long'. The Babylonian Epic of Creation relates how the
gods decided to destroy the earth with a flood. The god Ea took pity on
humanity and secretly warned a mortal named Uto-Napishtim of the
forthcoming disaster. The man set about building a boat 120 cubits high to
carry his family, possessions and sundry animals and birds. After the
flood subsided, Uto-Napishtim and his passengers were the only
survivors. Another Greek tradition according to Eratosthenes, asserted
that Argo Navis represented the first ship to sail the ocean which carried
Danoes and his fifty daughters from Egypt to Rhodes. [SLM p.65].
The Ship appears
to have no bow, this loss of its bow is said to have occurred when Argo
passed "Through Bosphorus betwixt the jostling rocks" - the Symplegades,
yet it has often been, as in The Alfonsine Tables, illustrated
and described by artists and authors, as a complete double-masted vessel
with oars, and Lubienitzki, in the Theatrurn Comelicum of 1667,
as a three-masted argosy with a tier of ports and all sails set full to
the wind. [SLM].
It has been known
since classical times, the great ship of the Argonauts, built by Glaucus
for Jason, leader of the fifty Argonauts, whose number equaled that of the
oars of ship. Aided by Pallas/Athene/Minerva, who herself set in the prow
a piece from The Speaking Oak of Dodona; the Argo being "thus endowed with
the power of warning and guiding the chieftains who form its crew", she
carried the famous expedition from Colchis in Thessaly to Aea in Colchis
(Colchia was the district along the eastern shore of the Euxine Sea, now
Mingrelia) in search of the Golden Fleece, and when the voyage was over,
Athene placed the boat in the sky. The story of how Jason, with the help
of the fifty Argonauts and the sorceress, Medea, who sailed in Argo Navis
to win the Golden Fleece, is one of the most famous of the old Greek myths
(see below). [SLM].
To the
Romans it always was Argo and Navis, Argolica Navia and
Argolica Puppis; Ovid called it Pagasaea Puppis, from, the
Thessalian seaport where it was built; Manilius called it the Heroes'
Raft, 'which now midst Stars doth sail' and also referred to it as
Nobilis Argo. The Romans also called it Navigium Praedatorium,
the Pirate Ship. While somewhat similar are Glirrus Naris, the
Sea Chariot.
The Arabians called it Al sariuah, a
Ship, and Markab, something to ride upon. The biblical school
naturally called it, Noah's Ark, the Arca Noachi, or Archa
Noae as Bayer wrote it; Jacob Bryant, the English mythologist of the
last century, making its story another form of that of Noah. Indeed in the
17th century the Ark seems to have been its popular title. The
constellation is noticeable in lower latitudes for its great extent and
the splendour of Canopus. [SLM].
As bearers of the
Sun and Moon ships represent fecundity and the fertility of the waters;
they also represent adventure, exploration, setting out on the sea of life
and thus the symbol of life "the journey of life", but also crossing the
waters of death; in this connection ships share the bridge symbolism in
crossing from this world to the next. The architectural form of the Church
was compared with a ship; the nave from Latin navis is the
central part of a church. [IEC p.152, HSD p.172]. Ships conjure up ideas
of strength and safety in dangers of a voyage and the symbolism is as
applicable to space-flights as to sea-travel. The ship is like a star
which orbits about its pole, the earth, but under human control. It is a
picture of life in which the individual must choose a goal and steer a
safe course through the waves of worldly dangers. There is another aspect
which shows the exaggerated, or perverted qualities of the ship symbolism;
it is told in the old Scandinavian legend of a ghost-ship, on which Wagner
based his Flying Dutchman, symbolizing the quest for fidelity in
love and the shipwreck of that ideal, exposed as nothing more than a
phantom. The ghost-ship symbolizes those dreams inspired by the highest
ideals, but which are impossibly idealistic and cannot be realized. [PDS
p.876].
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