Built with Bronze Age tools to the specifications of a 14-century BC vessel of the Mycenaean era, the 28.5-metre wooden ship sailed from the central Greek port of Volos.

The 50-oar ship carried a crew from all 27 European Union member-states and would sail a total distance of 1,200 nautical miles (2,222 kilometres) from Volos to Venice, project member Vangelis Constantinou said.

The Argo was originally scheduled to replicate the Argonauts’ legendary journey from the ancient port of Iolkos, near modern-day Volos, to the Black Sea kingdom of Colchis in today’s Georgia.

But organisers were unable to secure assurances for the ship’s safe passage through Turkey, Constantinou said.

Instead, the Argo will sail to the Adriatic and make port calls in Albania, Montenegro and Slovenia before reaching Venice on Aug 12.

“The ship can only sail a maximum distance of 20 nautical miles per day,”Constantinou said.

According to Greek legend, the expedition headed by Jason and featuring some fifty other heroes — including Hercules and Peleus, father of Achilles -- sailed to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece, the skin of a divine ram.

Equipped with a ram of its own, the 14th century BC ship is of similar design to the vessels that later carried the Greek armies of the Trojan war described in Homer’s Iliad, the organisers have said.

Upon its return to Volos the Argo will become a permanent city exhibit.—AFP