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Silverdenarius ofDomitian with Pegasus on the reverse, dated 79–80 AD
Pegasus (Ancient Greek:Πήγασος,romanized: Pḗgasos;Latin:Pegasus, Pegasos) is awinged horse inGreek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired byPoseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by theGorgonMedusa. Pegasus was the brother ofChrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood when their mother was decapitated byPerseus. Greco-Roman poets wrote about his ascent to heaven after his birth and his obeisance toZeus, who instructed him to bring lightning and thunder fromOlympus.
Pegasus is the creator ofHippocrene, the fountain onMount Helicon. He was captured by the Greek heroBellerophon, near the fountainPeirene, with the help ofAthena and Poseidon. Pegasus allowed Bellerophon to ride him in order to defeat the monsterChimera, which led to many more exploits. Bellerophon later fell from Pegasus's back while trying to reachMount Olympus. Both Pegasus and Bellerophon were said to have died at the hands of Zeus for trying to reach Olympus. Other tales have Zeus bring Pegasus to Olympus to carry his thunderbolts.
Long honoredas a constellation, Pegasus is a subject of very rich iconography, especially throughancient Greek pottery as well as paintings and sculptures of the Renaissance.
The poetHesiod presents afolk etymology of the namePegasus as derived fromπηγήpēgē 'spring, well', referring to "thepegai ofOkeanos, where he was born".[1]
A proposed etymology of the name isLuwianpihassas 'lightning', andPihassassi, a local Luwian-Hittite name in southernCilicia of a weather deity associated with thunder and lightning. The proponents of this etymology adduce the role of Pegasus, reported as early asHesiod, as the bringer of thunderbolts to Zeus. That interpretation was first suggested in 1952 and remains widely accepted,[2] butRobin Lane Fox (2009) has criticized it as implausible.[3]
According to early myths, everywhere the winged horse struck his hoof to the earth, an inspiring water spring burst forth. One of these springs was upon theMuses'Mount Helicon, theHippocrene ("horse spring").[4]Antoninus Liberalis suggested,[5] that it was opened at the behest ofPoseidon to prevent themountain from swelling with rapture at the song of the Muses. Another spring associated with Pegasus was atTroezen.[6] Hesiod relates how Pegasus was peacefully drinking from a spring when the heroBellerophon captured him.
There are several versions of the birth of the winged stallion and his brotherChrysaor in the far distant place at the edge of Earth, Hesiod's "springs of Oceanus", which encircles the inhabited earth, wherePerseus foundMedusa:
One is that they sprang from the blood issuing from Medusa's neck asPerseus was beheading her,[8] similar to the manner in whichAthena was born from the head of Zeus after he swallowed her pregnant mother.
In another version, when Perseus beheaded Medusa, the brothers were born of the Earth, when the Gorgon's blood fell upon her. A variation of this story holds that they were formed from the mingling of Medusa's blood, pain, and sea foam, implying that Poseidon had involvement in their making.
The last version bears resemblance toHesiod's account of the birth ofAphrodite from the foam created when the severed genitals ofUranus were cast into the sea byCronus.
Pegasus aided the heroBellerophon in his fight against theChimera. There are varying tales about how Bellerophon found Pegasus; the most common[9] being that the hero was told byPolyeidos to sleep in thetemple of Athena, where the goddess visited him in the night and presented him with a golden bridle. The next morning, still clutching the bridle, Bellerophon found Pegasus drinking at thePierian spring, caught him, and eventually tamed him.
Michaud'sBiographie universelle relates that when Pegasus was born, he flew to where thunder and lightning are released. Then, according to certain versions of the myth, Athena tamed him and gave him to Perseus, who flew toEthiopia to helpAndromeda.[10]
Silver coin ofSyracuse:obverse, head of Athena wearing a Corinthian helmet adorned with a griffin;reverse, Pegasus flying and beneath him atriskeles
After Bellerophon fell off Pegasus while trying to reach Olympus, Pegasus and Athena left him and continued to Olympus where he was stabled with other steeds belonging toZeus, and was given the task of carrying Zeus's thunderbolts, along with other members of his entourage, hisattendants/handmaidens/shield bearers/shieldmaidens,Astrape and Bronte.
Because of his years of faithful service to Zeus, Pegasus was later honoured with transformation into aconstellation.[11] On the day of hiscatasterism, when Zeus transformed him into a constellation, a single feather fell to Earth near the city ofTarsus.[12]
The pegasus became a common element in British heraldry, appearing chiefly as asupporter or acrest. Pegasi may also appear uponescutcheons, although this is rare. A pegasus rampant is featured on the arms of theInner Temple, while those of the Richardson family contain a rare depiction of a pegasus sejant.[13]
DuringWorld War II, the silhouetted image of Bellerophon the warrior, mounted on the winged Pegasus, was adopted by theUnited Kingdom's newly raised parachute troops in 1941 as their upper sleeve insignia.
The emblem of the World War II, British Airborne Forces,Bellerophon riding the flying horse Pegasus
The image clearly symbolized a 67 warrior arriving at a battle by air, the same tactics used byparatroopers. The square upper-sleeve insignia comprised Bellerophon/Pegasus in light blue on a maroon background. One source suggests that the insignia was designed by famous English novelistDaphne du Maurier, who was wife of the commander of the1st Airborne Division (and later the expanded British Airborne Forces), GeneralFrederick "Boy" Browning. According to the British Army Website, the insignia was designed by the celebrated East Anglian painter MajorEdward Seago in May 1942. The maroon background on the insignia was later used again by the Airborne Forces when they adopted the famous maroon beret in Summer 1942. The beret was the origin of the German nickname for British airborne troops, theRed Devils. Today'sParachute Regiment carries on the maroon beret tradition. The selection process for the elite Parachute Regiment is calledPegasus Company (often abbreviated to "P Company").
In 2015 it was announced that the units of16 Air Assault Brigade would once again use the Pegasus insignia after a 15-year hiatus.[14]
The winged horse has provided an instantly recognizable corporate logo or emblem of inspiration.Ecuador launched its weather satellite, namedPegaso (pronounced[peˈɣaso], Pegasus in Spanish), on 26 April 2013 but it was damaged by Russian space debris.[16]Pegasus Airlines (Turkish: Pegasus Hava Taşımacılığı A.Ş.) is a low-cost airline headquartered in the Kurtköy area of Pendik,Istanbul,Turkey.Mobil Oil has had a Pegasus as its company logo since its affiliation withMagnolia Petroleum Company in the 1930s.TriStar Pictures famously uses a winged horse in their logo.
^Noted byKarl Kerényi,The Heroes of the Greeks, 1959:80: "In the name Pegasos itself the connection with a spring,pege, is expressed."
^The connection ofPegasus withPihassas was suggested by H.T. Bossert, "Die phönikisch-hethitischen Bilinguen vom Karatepe",Jahrbuch für kleinasiatische Forschung,2 1952/53:333, P. Frei, "Die Bellerophontessaga und das Alte Testament", in B. Janowski, K. Koch and G. Wilhelm, eds.,Religionsgeschichtliche Beziehungen zwischen Kleinasien, Nordsyrien und der Alte Testament, 1993:48f, and Hutter, "Der luwische Wettergottpihašsašsi under der griechischen Pegasos", in Chr. Zinko, ed.Studia Onomastica et Indogermanica... 1995:79–98. Commentary was provided byR. S. P. Beekes in hisEtymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. 1183.
^"a storm god is not the origin of a horse. However, he had a like-sounding name, and Greek visitors toCilicia may have connected their existing Pegasus withZeus's lightning after hearing about this 'Pihassassi' and his functions and assuming, wrongly, he was their own Pegasus in a foreign land." Robin Lane Fox,Travelling Heroes in the Epic Age of Homer, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2009,ISBN9780307271518, pp. 207ff.
^Hesiod,Theogony 281; Pseudo-Apollodorus,Bibliotheke 2. 42,et al. Harris, Stephen L. and Gloria Platzner.Classical Mythology: Images and Insights. 2nd ed. (New York: Mayfield Publishing), 1998. 234.
^Aratus,Phaenomena 206; Scott Littleton,Mythology. The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth and Storytelling London: Duncan Baird, 2002:147.ISBN1-903296-37-4
^Grimal, Pierre (4 September 1996). Trans. by A. R. Maxwell-Hyslop (ed.).The Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. p. 349.ISBN978-0-631-20102-1.
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