Argo Navis Argo Navis Argo Navis (the Ship Argo), or simply Argo, was a large constellation in the southern sky that has since been divided into the three constellations of Carina, Puppis and Vela. The genitive was "Argus Navis", abbreviated "Arg". Flamsteed and other early modern astronomers called the constellation just Navis (the Ship), genitive "Navis", abbreviated "Nav". It was identified in Greek mythology with the "Argo", the ship used by Jason and the Argonauts that sailed to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece. The original constellation is presently found near the southern horizon of the Mediterranean sky, becoming visible in
Golden Fleece the Golden Fleece signified the bringing of sheep husbandry to Greece from the east; in other readings, scholars theorized it referred to golden grain, or to the sun. A more widespread interpretation relates the myth of the fleece to a method of washing gold from streams, which was well attested (but only from c. 5th century BC) in the region of Georgia to the east of the Black Sea. Sheep fleeces, sometimes stretched over a wood frame, would be submerged in the stream, and gold flecks borne down from upstream placer deposits would collect in them. The fleeces would be