Canopus is described as a handsome young man who was loved by an Egyptian prophetess, Theonoe, but never reciprocated her feelings.
According to legend, while visiting the Egyptian coast, Canopus was bitten by a serpent and died.
His master, Menelaus, erected a monument to him at one of the mouths of the River Nile, around which the town of Canopus later developed.
[1][2] Also named for Canopus is Canopus, the brightest star in the southern constellation of Carina (the keel of the ship Argo), and the second-brightest star in the night sky, after Sirius.
The last de Havilland Comet jet airliner ever flown was named Canopus.