InGreek mythology,Hippocrene/hɪpəˈkriːniː/ (Ancient Greek:Ἵππουκρήνη[1] or Ἱπποκρήνη or Ἱππουκρήνη[2]) is aspring onMount Helicon.[3] It was sacred to theMuses and was said to have formed when the winged horsePegasus struck his hoof into the ground, whence its name which literally translates as "Steed/Horse's Fountain".[4] The water was supposed to bring forth poetic inspiration when imbibed.[5][6]
Hesiod refers to the horse's well on Helicon in hisTheogony.[7]
And after they have washed their tender skin inPermessus orHippocrene or holyOlmeidus, they perform choral dances on highestHelicon, beautiful, lovely ones, and move nimbly with their feet.
Petrarch refers to the fountain of Helicon in his epic poemAfrica:
Sisters who are my sweet care,
If I sing to you of wonders,
I pray that it be granted to me
To drink again at thefountain of Helicon.
Camoens cites the fountain as a great source of poetic inspiration in his epic Portuguese poemThe Lusiads,[8][9] as translated:
And you, myTagianNymphs, oh, since my rhyme
With ardent genius new you now inspire,
If I was wont, well pleased, in former time
To celebrate your stream with humble lyre,
Oh, grant me now a lofty note sublime,
A grand and glowing line of poet's fire,
That of your watersPhoebus may ordain:
They shall not envy those ofHippocrene.
John Keats refers to Hippocrene in his poem "Ode to a Nightingale".[10]
O for a beaker full of the warm South
Full of the true, the blushfulHippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow mentions the fountain in his poem "Goblet of Life":
No purple flowers,—no garlands green,
Conceal the goblet's shade or sheen,
Nor maddening draughts ofHippocrene,
Like gleams of sunshine, flash between
Thick leaves of mistletoe.
Media related toHippocrene source at Wikimedia Commons
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