Pegasus the Flying Horse
Pegasus the Flying Horse
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Many thanks to the artist, Sue Dawe, who drew this image!
Pegasus - winged horse in Greek mythology.
Pegasus was born of the blood which spurted from Medusa (a Gorgon) when Perseus cut off her head. Athena tamed Pegasus with a golden bridle as he flew up to join the gods.
Athena gave the bridle (and thence the horse) to Bellerophon before his fight with the Chimera.
Bellerophon, himself a demi-god (son of Poseidon or Glaucos), and grandson of Sisyphus, having tamed Pegasus, killed the Chimera, conquered the Amazons, and having been given the hand of the daughter of the King of Lycea in marriage, became proud, whence Pegasus bucked him off and flew off into the heavens where Zeus made him into a constellation (the "Great Square").
Pegasus is also known as the inspirer of poetic creativity: as the Muses were holding a song contest, Zeus dispatched Pegasus to stop the ruckus, and the streams which had resulted on the growing slopes of Mount Helicon. Pegasus stomped his hoof on the mountain, and the fountain Hippocrene sprang forth (hippos = horse). This fountain is an inspiration to poetry, as are Aganippe and Pieria, fountains of inpsiration created by Pegasus' stamping.