PEGASUS THE CONSTELLATION & HORSE OF ZEUS

Hesiod, Theogony 280 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
"Pegasos, soaring, left the earth, the mother of sheep flocks, and came to the immortals, and there he lives in the household of Zeus, and carries the thunder and lightning for Zeus of the counsels."

Pindar, Olympian Ode 13. 92 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"Pegasos dwells in the ancient stalls of Zeus upon Olympos."

Plato, Phaedrus 246 (trans. Lamb) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) :
"A pair of winged horses and a charioteer. Now the winged horses and the charioteers of the gods are all of them noble and of noble descent . . . Zeus, the mighty lord, holding the reins of a winged chariot, leads the way in heaven, ordering all and taking care of all; and there follows him the array of gods and demigods, marshalled in eleven bands [the twelve Olympians]."

Aratus, Phaenomena 206 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek astronomical poem C3rd B.C.) :
"The huge [constellation] Horse (Hippos) [is Pegasos] . . . the Horse himself circles in the heaven of Zeus and is there for thee to behold."

Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 18 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Constellation Horse. This sign Aratus and many others have called Pegasus, offspring of Neptunus [Poseidon] and the Gorgon Medusa . . . As he [Bellerophon] was attempting to fly to heaven, and had almost reached it, he became terrified looking down at the earth, and fell off and was killed. But the horse [Pegasos] is said to have flown up and to have been put among the constellations by Jove [Zeus]."

Ovid, Fasti 3. 449 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Now when stars spangle the deep blue heavens, look up: you’ll see the neck of the Gorgonian horse [the constellation Pegasos]. Men believe it sprang with its blood-spattered mane from the butchered Medusa’s pregnant neck. As it glided above the clouds and beneath the stars, the sky was its earth and wings were its feet. It had only just protested its strange bridling [by Bellerophon], when its light hoof dug Aonia’s spring [the Hippokrene of Mt Helikon]. Now it enjoys the sky, which it wings sought before, and gleams resplendent with five stars and ten."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 37. 265 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"Pegasos flying on high quickly cut the air on his long wings."

Pegasus and the Muses

Back to the aftermath of Pegasus’s birth. Parentless, he was raised by the Muses at Mount Helicon, where he was taken by goddess Athena. In all of his excitement for being given to those women, Pegasus was striking the side of the mountain with his hooves and his marks caused springs to turn into flowing fountains of inspiration.

Those springs became sacred to the Muses who loved and respected the “flying horse”. But to one of them – Urania, the Muse of Astronomy and Universal Love, Pegasus was particularly important. She saw a heroic future for Pegasus as well as some, possible celestial honor waiting for him. Urania suffered a lot when Bellerophontes, a mythical hero, took Pegasus away.

Hesiod’s story about the Bellerophontes’s “hijack” of Pegasus confirmed that whenever Pegasus struck his hoof a fountain of inspiration burst immediately. One of those sacred springs was the Hippocrene (meaning “horse spring”) on Mt Helicon.

THE BIRTH OF PEGASUS

 When Perseus had cut off the head of Medousa there sprang from her blood stout-hearted Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus so named from the pegai (springs) of Okeanos, where he was born."

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 42 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :"When he [Perseus] saw Medousa, he beheaded her. As soon as her head was severed there leaped from her body the winged horse Pegasus and Khrysaor, the father of Geryon. The father of these two was Poseidon."

Lycophron, Alexandra 840 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"The harvester [Perseus] who delivered of her [Medousa’s] pains in birth of horse [Pegasus] and man [Chrysaor] the stony-eyed weasel whose children sprang from her neck.”

Strabo, Geography 8. 6. 20 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Pegasos, a winged horse which sprang from the neck of the Gorgon Medousa when her head was cut off."

Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 151 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"From Medusa, daughter of Gorgon, and Neptunus [Poseidon], were born Chrysaor and horse Pegasus."

Ovid, Metamorphoses 4. 786 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"While deep sleep held fast Medusa and her snakes, he [Perseus] severed her head clean from her neck; and from their mother's blood swift-flying Pegasus and his brother [Khrysaor] sprang . . . he [Medousa], it's said, was violated in Minerva's [Athena’s] shrine by the Rector Pelagi (Lord of the Sea) [Poseidon]."

Ovid, Metamorphoses 6. 119 ff :
"As a bird [Poseidon mated with] the snake-haired mother of the flying steed [i.e. Medousa mother of Pegasus]."

Ovid, Fasti 3. 449 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Men believe it [Pegasos] sprang with its blood-spattered mane from the butchered Medusa’s pregnant neck. As it glided above the clouds and beneath the stars, the sky was its earth and wings were its feet."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 31. 13 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"As Medousa was slain [by Perseus], the neck was delivered of its twin birth, the Horse [Pegasos] and the Boy [Khrysaor] with the golden sword."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 24. 270 ff :
"[Perseus] shore off the snaky swathe of one Medousa, while her womb was still burdened and swollen with young, still in foal of Pegasos; what good if the sickle played the part of childbirth Eileithyia, and reaped the neck of the pregnant Gorgon, firstfruits of a horsebreeding neck?"

Pegasus, son of Medusa and Poseidon

The myth said that Pegasus was the son of mortal  Medusa and Poseidon, god of the sea. Pegasus and his brother Chrysaor were born from the blood of their beheaded mother Medusa, the gorgon tricked and killed by Perseus.

A more detailed version of the myth said that two of them were born when Medusa’s blood mixed with the foam of the sea. The myth says that Pegasus was born as a winged horse because his father Poseidon had the shape of horse when seducing Medusa. When Pegasus was born, a huge thunder with lightning pierced the sky, and that’s how his connections to the forces of skies were established.

But the most common version of the myth about Pegasus says that the goddess Athena tamed the winged horse and gave him to Perseus, who later needed to fly far away to help his lover Andromeda

Mercury riding Pegasus

PEGASUS

Pegasus,the winged house in Greek Mythology, was involved in some of the most intriguing tales of the times.

From his birth to his death, Pegasus remained a mysterious creature capable of everything, symbolizing the divine inspiration or the journey to heaven, since riding him was synonymous to “flying” to the heavens.

Pegasus was represented as a goodhearted, gentle creature, somewhat naive but always eager to help.

For his service and loyalty, Zeus honored him with a special immortality turning Pegasus into a constellation on the last day of his life.