Pegasus, in Greek mythology, a winged horse that sprang from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa as she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. Pegasus’s story was a favourite theme in Greek art and literature; Euripides’ lost tragedy Bellerophon was parodied at the beginning of Aristophanes’ Peace (421 BC). In late antiquity Pegasus’s soaring flight was interpreted as an allegory of the soul’s immortality; in modern times it has been regarded as a symbol of poetic inspiration.
Pegasos was commemorated amongst the stars as the constellation of the same name. Its rising marks the arrival of spring and, in Greece, of seasonal thunderstorms.
Pegasos’ name means either “of the spring” from the Greek word pêgê, or “sprung forth” from the word pêgazô. The first alludes to the steed’s connection with various springs, and the latter to its birth from the Gorgon’s neck
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 the Muses’ Mount Helicon, the Hippocrene (“horse spring”). Antoninus Liberalis has suggested, that it was opened at the behest of Poseidon to prevent the mountain swelling with rapture at the song of the Muses. Another spring associated with Pegasus was at Troezen. Hesiod relates how Pegasus was peacefully drinking from a spring when the hero Bellerophon captured him.
Credit : Britannica
Picture Credit : Google
