Argo

Most accounts name the ship after her builder, Argus. The adjectival forme.g. Robert Cooper Seaton (1912), Rhodius Apollonius: The Argonautica, p. 339 is Argoan {{IPAc-en|ɑr|'|g|oʊ|ə|n}},Noah Webster (1832) A Dictionary of the English Language from Greek Ἀργῶος through Latin Argōus.{{L&S|Argo|ref}}

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Diodorus Siculus records that some thought the name was derived from an ancient Greek word for "swift" to indicate that the ship was designed to move quickly.{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U6wTAAAAYAAJ&q=argo+ship+jason&pg=PA86 |title = A Classical Dictionary: Containing a Copious Account of All the Proper Names Mentioned in Ancient Authors|last1 = Lemprière|first1 = John|year = 1825}}{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oysUAAAAYAAJ&q=diodorus+argo+swift&pg=PA254 | title=The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian: In Fifteen Books. To which are Added the Fragments of Diodorus, and Those Published by H. Valesius, I. Rhodomannus, and F. Ursinus| last=Diodorus (Siculus)| year=1814}} Cicero, the Roman senator and orator, proposed that it was named after the Argives, a name for the Greek people of Argos in the Peloponnese that was commonly used by Homer.

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The Argo was constructed by the shipwright Argus, and its crew were specially protected by the goddess Hera. The best source for the myth is the Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius. Argus was said to have planned or constructed the vessel with the help of Athena. The ship was built for travel in the open sea and designed to move quickly with the assistance of a sail. Apollodorus stated the ship had fifty oars, all of which were manned by the Argonauts.Apollodorus (1921). The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer. London: Harvard University Press. pp. Chapter 9, Section 1. His description of the boat would place it as a forerunner or early version of a boat type that became known as a penteconter.

The boat was built with a variety of wood from around the region of Greece. In Medea, Euripides mentions the oars were made from pine trees around Mount Pelion.Euripides. Medea (Euripides with an English translation by David Kovacs). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. Lines 1-48. Catullus later mentioned the boat was made out of fir-wood.Catullus, Carmina Valerius (1894). Carmina (translated by Sir Richard Francis Burton. London. pp. Poem on Marriage of Peleus and Thetis. The prow of the ship was also made with a special piece of oak from Dodona, an area sacred to Zeus. The oak was said to be able to speak with a human voice and could tell oracles.Warner, Rex (1967). The Stories of the Greeks. USA: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, Inc. p. 57.

According to Apollodorus and Catullus, the Argo was the first ship to sail the seas and was favored by the gods.Curtius, Ernst Robert (2015). "The Ship of the Argonauts". Essays on European Literature. 10.1515.97: 465–496. Dionysius Scytobrachion called the Argo a well crafted vessel but did not consider her the first ship.{{Cite journal|last=Jackson|first=Steven|date=1997|title=Argo: The First Ship?|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41234283|journal=Rheinisches Museum für Philologie |series=Neue Folge|volume=140|issue=3/4 |pages=249–257|jstor=41234283 }} Some sources state that since people had not seen a ship before they described the Argo as a monster.

The Argo was built in Thessaly around the area of Mount Pelion.P. Ovidius Naso (1813). Commentary on the Heroides of Ovid. London. pp. Hypsipyle Jasoni lines 3–6. The Roman poet Sextus Propertius, writing during the reign of Augustus, said it departed from the port of Pagasae.Sextus Propertius (1995). Elegies (translated by Vincent Katz). Los Angeles: Sun and Moon Press. pp. Addressed to Gallus.

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It was Athena who taught Tiphys to attach the sails to the mast, since he was the steersman and would need to know the workings of the ship.{{Cite web| url= http://www.argonauts-book.com/the-argo.html|title=The Argo|website=Jason and the Argonauts|access-date=2016-04-10}} Other sources say he had previously been a sailor along with two other members, which is why he was chosen to steer the boat. Lynceus was also said to have helped guide the ship because he had great sight during night and day.

The ship carried enough supplies, such as vases holding water, for the collective crew and lasted four days before having to refuel.{{Cite journal|last1=Sleeswyk|first1=Andre Wegener|last2=Meijer|first2=Fik|date=January 1998|title=The Water Supply of the Argo and Other Oared Ships|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00253359.1998.10656684|journal=The Mariner's Mirror|volume=84|issue=2 |pages=131–138|doi=10.1080/00253359.1998.10656684 |url-access=subscription}} Other items, such as a bronze tripod, were carried aboard. Herodotus claimed the bronze tripod was given to Triton after the Argonauts got lost in Lake Tritonis and needed assistance.{{cite book | author=Herodotus | last2=Strassler | first2=Robert B. | last3=Purvis | first3=Andrea L. | title=The landmark Herodotus : the histories | publisher=Anchor Books | publication-place=New York | date=2009 | isbn=978-1-4000-3114-6 | oclc=264043716}} It was said the boat had to be carried over land for 12 days to get back on course.{{cite book | last1=How | first1=W. W. | last2=Wells | first2=J. | title=A commentary on Herodotus with introduction and appendixes | publisher=Oxford University Press | publication-place=Oxford [Oxfordshire] | date=1991| isbn=0-19-814384-2 | oclc=18558958}}

The Argo was said to be loved by the Nereids, who alongside Triton helped guide the ship at dangerous times in the Argonauts' journey.Conington, John (1876). Commentary on Vergil's Aeneid, Volume 1. London: Whittaker and Co. pp. Lines 144.

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After her successful journey, Argo was consecrated to Poseidon in the Isthmus of Corinth.

Because the ship was a sacred item, having been made with the help of the gods, she was made into a monument as well as being dedicated to the gods. Years later, a beam fell from the top of the ship and killed Jason while he was asleep on the ground.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/medeatranslatedi00euriuoft|title=The Medea. Translated into English rhyming verse with explanatory notes by Gilbert Murray|last1=Euripides|last2=Murray|first2=Gilbert|date=1912|publisher=New York Oxford University Press|others=Robarts - University of Toronto|pages=[https://archive.org/details/medeatranslatedi00euriuoft/page/77 77]–78, 96}} He was then translated into the sky and turned into the constellation Argo Navis.{{1728|title= Argo| url= http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&id=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01&entity=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01.p0177&q1=Argo | page= 132}}

The Argo was a well recognized motif in ancient Greece and has been used in plays, movies, books, philosophical writings and more. Several authors of antiquity (Apollonius Rhodius, Pliny,Hist. Nat. 1.c.56 Philostephanus) discussed the hypothetical shape of the ship. Generally she was imagined like a Greek warship, a galley, and authors hypothesized that she was the first ship of this type that had gone out on a voyage on the high seas. Aristotle used the ship as an example to talk about ostracism in Athens, specifically remarking that the ship left Heracles behind because he was too heavy.Aristotle (1944). Politics (Aristotle in 23 Volumes translated by H. Rackham). London: Harvard University Press. pp. Book 3, Section 1284a.

File:Honor Blackman Jason and the Argonauts.jpg

The version of the Argo that appears in the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts was modeled after a Greek warship, with shields lining the side of the boat. On either side of the boat are rowers, who are directed how to row through the drumbeat of a leader. A red sail with the head of the golden ram marks the goal of their journey. Besides its practical purposes, the ship is also decorated with ancient motifs, such as eyes on the front of the ship at the water level.

The sacred oak of the ship is here represented as the head of a woman with partial extending wings making up the stern of the ship. The painted head is modeled on the goddess Hera in the movie (played by Honor Blackman) and has the ability to speak to Jason throughout the movie. Argus, the ship builder, said he was inspired to add that feature to the boat when creating it. Filmmakers gave this head the practical effect of being able to open and close its eyes when speaking to Jason.Chaffey, Don, director. Jason and the Argonauts. Columbia Pictures, 1963.

• Flying Dutchman
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• [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-017083 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (medieval and early modern images of Argo)]
• [http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/44793,news-comment,news-politics,a-recreation-of-the-mythological-greek-ship-the-argo-is-being-rowed-to-georgia Voyage of the Argo] – slideshow by The First Post

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Category:Mythological ships

Category:Argonautica

Category:Jason

Category:Objects in Greek mythology