Κανωπος
Canopus or Canobus was the hero who gave his name to a town in Egypt and to one of the rivers of the Nile delta (Canope) near Alexandria. He was a native of Amyclae who acted as pilot for Menelaus when the latter came with Helen to Egypt after the capture of Troy. Canopus was young and extremely handsome. Theonoe, the daughter of Proteus the king of Egypt, loved him, but he did not return her love. One day, when Canopus was ashore, he was bitten by a snake and died. Menelaus and Helen buried him building him a tomb on the island of Canope. The plant named helenion sprang from the tears shed by Helen at this event. Another tradition claims that Canopus was the pilot of Osiris, the Egyptian god. His is also said to have steered the Argo, and both pilot and ship were placed among the constellations.
{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}
Table of Sources
- Conon, Narr. 8
- Tac. Ann. 2, 60
- Strabo 17, 1, 17, p. 801
- Serv. on Virgil, Georg. 4, 287; Aen. 11, 263
- Hyg. Astron. 2, 32
- Pseudo-Eratosth. Catast. 37