Pegasus Flying Horse Born from Medusa & Poseidon Ancient Greek Roman
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Pegasus (Ancient
Greek: Πήγασος, Pégasos,
Latin Pegasus) is one
of the best known mythological creatures in Greek
mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as
pure white in colour. He was sired by Poseidon,
in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. He
was the brother of Chrysaor,
born at a single birthing when his mother was decapitated by Perseus.
Greco-Roman poets write about his ascent to heaven after his birth and
his obeisance toZeus,
king of the gods, who instructed him to bring lightning and thunder from
Olympus. Friend of the Muses, Pegasus is the creator of Hippocrene,
the fountain on Mt.
Helicon. He was captured by the Greek hero Bellerophon near
the fountain Peirene with the help of Athena and Poseidon. Pegasus
allows the hero to ride him to defeat a monster, the Chimera, before
realizing many other exploits. His rider, however, falls off his back
trying to reach Mount Olympus. Zeus transformed him into the
constellation Pegasus and
placed him up in the sky.
Hypotheses have been proposed regarding its relationship with the Muses,
the gods Athena, Poseidon, Zeus, Apollo,
and the hero Perseus.
The symbolism of Pegasus varies with time. Symbol of wisdom and
especially of fame from the Middle Ages until the Renaissance, he became
one symbol of the poetry and the creator of sources in which the poets
come to draw inspiration, particularly in the 19th century. Pegasus is
the subject of a very rich iconography, especially through the ancient
Greek pottery and paintings and sculptures of the Renaissance.
Personification of the water, solar myth, or shaman mount, Carl Jung and
his followers have seen in Pegasus a profound symbolic esoteric in
relation to the spiritual energy that allows to access to the realm of
the gods on Mount Olympus.
In the 20th and 21st century, he appeared in movies, in fantasy, in
video games and in role play, where by extension, the term "pegasus"
(plural: "pegasi") is often used to refer to any winged horse.
Etymology
The poet Hesiod presents
a folk
etymology if the
name Pegasus as
derived from pēgē "spring,
well": "the pegai of Okeanos,
where he was born."
A proposed etymology of the name is Luwian pihassas,
meaning "lightning", and Pihassassi,
a local Luwian-Hittite name in southern Cilicia of a weather god
represented with thunder and lightning. The proponents of this etymology
adduce Pegasus' role, reported as early as Hesiod,
as bringer of thunderbolts to Zeus. It was first suggested in 1952 and
remains widely accepted, but Robin
Lane Fox (2009) has criticized it as implausible.
Pegasus and springs
According to legend, everywhere the winged horse struck his hoof to the
earth, an inspiring spring burst forth. One of these springs was upon
the Muses' Mount
Helicon, the Hippocrene ("horse
spring"), opened, Antoninus
Liberalis suggested, at
the behest of Poseidon to
prevent the mountain swelling
with rapture at the song of the Muses; another was at Troezen. Hesiod
relates how Pegasus was peacefully drinking from a spring when the hero Bellerophon captured
him. Hesiod also says Pegasus carried thunderbolts for Zeus.
Birth
There are several versions of the birth of the winged stallion and his
brother Chrysaor in
the far distant place at the edge of Earth, Hesiod's "springs of
Oceanus, which encircles the inhabited earth, where Perseus found Medusa:
One is that they sprang from the blood issuing from Medusa's neck as Perseus was
beheading her, similar to the
manner in which Athena was
born from the head of Zeus. In another version, when Perseus beheaded
Medusa, they were born of the Earth, fed by the Gorgon's blood. 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 to the
birth of Aphrodite,
daughter of Zeus.
Bellerophon
Pegasus aided the hero Bellerophon in
his fight against both the Chimera and
the Amazons.
There are varying tales as to how Bellerophon found Pegasus; the most
common says that the hero was
told by Polyeidos to
sleep in the temple
of Athena, where the goddess visited him in the night and
presented him with a golden bridle. The next morning, still clutching
the bridle, he found Pegasus drinking at the Pierian spring
and caught Pegasus, and eventually tamed him.
Perseus
Michaud's Biographie
universelle relates that
when Pegasus was born, he flew to where thunder and lightning is
released. Then, according to certain versions of the myth, Athena tamed
him and gave him to Perseus, who flew to Ethiopia to help Andromeda.
In fact Pegasus is a late addition to the story of Perseus, who flew on
his own with the sandals loaned him by Hermes.
Olympus
Pegasus and Athena left Bellerophon to forge some sweet goods and
continued to Olympus where he was stabled with Zeus'
other steeds, and was given the task of carrying Zeus'
thunderbolts. Because of his faithful service to Zeus, he was honored
with transformation into aconstellation. On
the day of his catasterism,
when Zeus transformed him into a constellation, a single feather fell to
the earth near the city of Tarsus.
Legacy
World War II
The emblem of the World War II, British Airborne Forces, Bellerophon riding
the flying horse Pegasus.
During World
War II, the silhouetted image of Bellerophon the warrior,
mounted on the winged Pegasus, was adopted by the United
Kingdom's newly-raised parachute troops in 1941 as their
upper sleeve insignia. The image clearly symbolized a warrior arriving
at a battle by air, the same tactics used by paratroopers.
The square upper-sleeve insignia comprised Bellerophon/Pegasus in light
blue on a maroon background. The insignia was designed by famous English
novelist Daphne
du Maurier, who was married to the commander of the 1st
Airborne Division (and
later the expanded British Airborne Forces), General Frederick
"Boy" Browning. According
to The British Army Website, the insignia was designed by Major Edward
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, The Red
Devils. Today's Parachute
Regiment carries
on the maroon beret tradition.
During the airborne
phase of the Normandy
invasion on the
night of 56 June 1944, British
6th Airborne Division captured
all its key objectives in advance of the seaborne assault, including the
capture and holding at all costs of a vital bridge over theCaen
Canal, near Ouistreham.
In memory of their tenacity, the bridge has been known ever since as Pegasus
Bridge.
Popular culture
The winged horse that has provided an instantly recognizable corporate
logo or emblem of inspiration. Pegasus in Yu-Gi-Oh! is
a evil man who wants to steal the Exodyssian pecies. The South American
country of Ecuador launched
its first a satellite, named "Pegaso" (Pegaus in Spanish) on April 26,
2013. Pegasus
Seiya, the central character in the anime series Saint
Seiya , (Knights
of the Zodiac) takes his name "Pegasus" from the Pegasus Bronze Cloth he
uses to produce his armor. Pegasus
Airlines (Turkish:
Pegasus Hava Taşımacılığı A.Ş.) is a low-cost airline headquartered in
the Kurtköy area of Pendik, Istanbul, Turkey.
See also
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