PEGASUS - The winged horse of cork

Pegasus, as the horse of Muses, was put on the top of roof of Poznań Opera House (Max Littmann, 1910)

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,[6] 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 and sea foam, implying that Poseidon had involvement in their making. The last version bears resemblance to the birth of Aphrodite.
[edit] 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[7] 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.[8] When the steed saw the bridle, he approached Bellerophon and allowed him to ride. Bellerophon slew the Chimera on Pegasus' back, and then tried to ride the winged horse to the top of Mount Olympus to see the gods. However, Zeus sent down a gadfly to sting Pegasus and cause Bellerophon to fall.

Category:

Film & Animation

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• Poznań
• Opera
• stallion
• Chrysaor
• Hesiod's
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• Zeus
• Perseus
• Medusa
• Chimera
• Amazons
• hero
• Polyeidos
• temple
• Athena
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• Pierian
• spring
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• bridle
• Bellerophon
• Pegasus
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• Olympus
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• gadfly
• sting