The flying horse Pegasus is a famous mythical creature. He was the child of
Poseidon and
Medusa Gorgon, who accompanied the hero Bellerophontes on many adventures.
The immortal white-winged stallion Pegasus is one of the most iconic creatures in Greek mythology, he was born from the tragic and violent union of the god, Gorgon and the sword hero.
Although Pegasus is primarily remembered as the faithful companion of the hero Bellerophonte, his story is much more extensive. He was the thunderbolt of
Zeus, tamed by Athena, and created the inspiration for the nine muses. Pegasus is the legendary flying horse that soared through the skies of Greek mythology.
The birth of Pegasus: gods, gorgon and sword
Pegasus is often depicted as a pure white stallion with magnificent feathered wings. However, there are cases where he is depicted without wings but able to fly, or with black fur.
The birth of Pegasus is one of the most unique stories among the many unorthodox birth stories found in Greek mythology. Pegasus was the offspring of the sea god Poseidon and Medusa, the older sister of the three infamous Gorgons, monstrous women with hair made of snakes who could turn a man to stone with a single glance. This story emphasizes the cruel treatment of humans by the Olympian gods.
Medusa, the only mortal in her family, was not a Gorgon from birth: she had once been a beautiful girl. She and her two sisters, Spheno and Euryala, were the daughters of the sea gods Phorkys and Keto. Medusa's beauty attracted the attention of Poseidon, god of the seas and horses, who fell in love with her. In some versions of the myth, Medusa and Poseidon were lovers until that fateful night that changed her life forever. In most versions, however, Poseidon abused Medusa while she was visiting one of Athena's sacred temples.
Engaging in sexual intercourse in the temple of the virgin goddess Athena, whether consensual or not, was an unforgivable act of blasphemy requiring punishment. As an associate of Olympus, Athena could not punish Poseidon for forcibly possessing a mortal woman in the temple.
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Instead of recognizing Medusa as a victim of violence, Athena decided to direct all her anger at her. Athena turned Medusa into a monstrous Gorgon, cursed with petrified eyes and snake hair, doomed to be persecuted by men.
Some sources also suggest that Medusa angered Athena by declaring that she was more beautiful than the goddess, perhaps reflecting the author's attempts to justify the harsh punishment meted out to her.
Many years after Medusa began her new life as a monster, the hero Perseus was sent to kill her and bring Medusa's head to the cruel King Polydectes.
With the help of a few gifts from the Olympians, Perseus quietly approached Medusa while wearing Hades' invisibility helmet. He used a mirrored shield given to him by Athena to attack her without making direct eye contact, allowing him to decapitate her with his diamond sword. Then something unexpected happened: the fully formed twins, the white-winged horse Pegasus and the giant Chrysaor, burst from Medusa's neck.
It turns out that Medusa was pregnant with Poseidon's twins throughout her existence as a gorgon. After her death, with the help of Perseus' sword, she was finally able to bring her sons into the world. Other sources tell us that they were born like Aphrodite when Medusa's blood fell to the earth or sea.
Very little is known about Pegasus' twin brother, Chrysaorus, meaning "he who has the golden sword", except that he married the oceanid Callirhoe. They had a son, the three-headed giant Geryon, whom Heracles later defeated in his tenth feat.
Pegasus and Perseus: a modern myth
The story of Perseus and Pegasus traditionally ends after the hero decapitates Medusa, leading to the birth of Pegasus. However, centuries later, when ancient Greek myths became popular in Europe, many writers and artists began depicting Perseus and Pegasus as mates.
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In these later versions of the myth, Pegasus takes Perseus to the island of Seriphos, where he helps the hero rescue Andromeda from a sea monster in Ethiopia. However, in the original versions of this myth, Perseus received various magical items from the gods, including the winged sandals of Hermes, which allowed him to fly without the help of Pegasus.
Pegasus and Athena: Taming Olympus
In the years leading up to his meeting with his heroic partner Bellerophontes, Pegasus flew freely through the sky and eventually made his way to his father Poseidon's family on Olympus. Although Pegasus lived in the legendary Olympian stables where the animals pulling the many chariots of the gods were kept, he was not tamed.
However, the majestic and wild white-winged stallion eventually caught Athena's attention. She began training Pegasus and succeeded in creating a golden bridle that allowed her to tame him, saddle him, and teach him to let mortals ride him.
Pegasus and the Muses: creating a source of inspiration
Pegasus is often associated with the creation of natural springs and the nine muses, goddesses of inspiration in literature, science and art. According to myth, the nine muses engaged in a song contest against the nine daughters of King Pyrus, known as the Pyridae.
Although the Pyridae were talented singers, they could not compare with the Muses, whose extraordinary performance was so spectacular that Mount Helicon, where the contest was held, filled with water in admiration.
The mountain was on the verge of bursting, but could not release the water trapped inside it. To avert disaster, Poseidon asked his son Pegasus to fly to Mount Helicon and help ease the mountain's swelling. When Pegasus landed on top of Mount Helicon, he struck the ground with his hoof, which created a spring and released the water trapped inside the mountain.
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This natural spring on Helicon was named Hippocrene, which translates as "horse fountain" and became sacred to the Muses. Hippocrene became known as a source of inspiration and it was believed that drinking its water gave inspirational ideas. Pegasus was also believed to have created other springs, including one at Troezen and the spring of Pirene in Corinth, where he was destined to meet the hero Bellerophontes.
Pegasus and Bellerophontes: Rider of Pegasus
Pegasus is best known for his adventures alongside Bellerophonte. Together, this heroic duo helped each other defeat monsters and entire armies through their unique aerial battles.
Bellerophontes was the son of Poseidon and Queen Eurynoma, wife of King Hlavk of Corinth. In earlier versions of the myth, such as Homer's Iliad, Glaucus, son of the infamous King Sisyphus, is portrayed as Bellerophontes' father rather than Poseidon's. Although Bellerophontes possessed all the traditional traits of a hero, he was renowned for his exceptional skill in riding and handling horses, Poseidon's sacred animals.
In Greek mythology, heroes in Greek mythology often face tragic events that determine their fate.
Bellerophontes is one such hero whose journey is marked by a series of accidents that lead him to adventure and ultimately to his destined companion, Pegasus.
Bellerophontes faced his first misfortune when he accidentally killed a man, resulting in blood guilt and his banishment from Corinth. Seeking redemption, he received a ritual purification from King Tyrins Proetus. Problems arose when Queen Spheneboea, also called Anthea, Proetus' wife, fell in love with Bellerophon and tried to seduce him. However, the noble Bellerophontes rejected her advances.
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Feeling heartbroken, angry, or ashamed over the rejection, Spheneboea decided to take revenge. She approached Proetus and falsely accused Bellerophont of attempted violence. An enraged Proetus wanted to kill Bellerophonte. However, fearing the sacred laws of hospitality that protect guests, he instead asked Bellerophontes to deliver a letter to Spheneboea's father, Jobathus, king of Lycia. Bellerophontes agreed and set out with the letter, demanding that Jobath execute him for allegedly attacking his daughter.
Jobath decided to host Bellerophonte for a few days of feasting before reading the letter, putting him in a similar predicament to Proetus due to the laws of hospitality protecting guests.
Instead, Jobath devised a plan to send Bellerophont on a series of dangerous quests to kill monsters and villains, hoping that he would die in the process. The first task Jobath gave Bellerophont was to find and kill the mythical three-headed fire-breathing monster Chimera.
Bellerophonte accepted Jobath's assignment, wanting to become famous in history and legend. During his journey in search of the Chimera, Bellerophontes met the Corinthian prophet Polyedides, who warned him that he could not defeat the Chimera alone. Polyedides told Bellerophonte to return to Corinth and spend the night in the temple of Athena to find his destined ally, his half-brother Pegasus.
Pegasus and Bellerophonte: The Taming of Pegasus
Following Poliades' instructions, Bellerophonte traveled to Corinth and spent the night in the temple of Athena, making the necessary sacrifices. During the night, Athena appeared to Bellerophontes in a dream and gave him a golden bridle, which she had originally made for riding Pegasus. She told him to sacrifice a white bull to his father Poseidon and to find Pegasus at the nearby spring of Pyrenees in Corinth. Athena advised him to use a golden bridle and his natural talent for handling horses to tame the creature.
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The next day Bellerophon woke up and found a golden bridle. After sacrificing a white bull to Poseidon, he went to the spring of Pirene to tame Pegasus. With the golden bridle in his hands, Bellerophon spent hours trying to approach Pegasus, quietly saying soothing and meaningless words to calm the winged stallion.
Finally, Pegasus allowed him to put on the bridle. But to say that Bellerophonte had tamed Pegasus would be too simplistic. The snow-white winged stallion was no ordinary horse - he possessed an intelligence closer to that of a human than to that of a wild horse.
Rather than taming him, it would be more accurate to say that Bellerophontes earned Pegasus' respect through his loyalty and gentle perseverance. Through his natural talent with horses and his golden bridle - a sign indicating that his first rider, Athena, approved of him - Bellerophontes earned Pegasus' trust, allowing them to form an unbreakable bond.
In some versions of the myth, Athena brings the harnessed Pegasus directly to Bellerophonte after a night in her temple, and in later versions of the myth, Poseidon gives Pegasus to Bellerophonte.
Pegasus and Bellerophonte: a heroic duo
With the help of Pegasus, Bellerophonte became a legendary hero. The duo took to the skies and defeated the fearsome fire-breathing Chimera. This monstrous creature had the head and front legs of a lion, the torso and hind legs of a goat, and a serpent's tail. A fire-breathing goat's head protruded from the torso, and at the end of the tail was the head of a snake.
After several unsuccessful attempts to pierce the Chimera's skin with arrows, Bellerophont defeated the monster by throwing a lead-tipped spear into its mouth. Although the spear barely penetrated the monster's throat, this was not Bellerophont's true goal. He timed his attack to coincide with the Chimera's deadly fire breath, which melted the piece of lead on his spear and suffocated the creature.
Bellerophont's adventure would have failed had he not trusted Pegasus, who maneuvered to get into position to dodge the monster's flames at the last moment.
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Bellerophontes and Pegasus performed a few more missions for Jobath. In what may have been the first aerial assault in history, Bellerophonte defeated the Amazon army by attacking them from the air, dropping boulders on them and crushing the legendary warriors from the sky.
The duo defeated pirates and various enemies until Bellerophontes proved his innocence and exposed Sfeneboi's deception to her husband Proetus and father Jobat. As an apology and reward for completing numerous impossible tasks, Jobath offered Bellerophontes the hand of his remaining daughter Philonoe and half of his kingdom.
In some versions of the story, Bellerophonte could not forgive Spheneboe for her actions and decided to take revenge. He invited her to join him for a flight over the seas on Pegasus. During the flight, Bellerophonte threw Sfeneboe from the back of the Pegasus into the sea, which led to her death.
Pegasus and Bellerophonte: the last flight.
In the following years, Bellerophonte ruled as king of Lycia and gradually became arrogant. With the help of Pegasus, he exceeded all expectations and achieved the impossible, killing monsters and defeating entire armies single-handedly. In his arrogance, Bellerophontes convinced himself that a man with his authority and success deserved to live on Olympus with the gods.
After saying goodbye to his family and kingdom, Bellerophonte mounted Pegasus, his best friend and faithful companion, and began to fly to Olympus. Zeus, however, could not tolerate Bellerophontes' arrogance; no mortal could afford to join the gods on Olympus, regardless of his accomplishments. As Pegasus ascended to the heavens, Zeus sent a gadfly to bite Pegasus, causing him to flinch and throw Bellerophont off his back.
In some versions of the story, Bellerophontes dies from a fall, and in others he survives but becomes disabled. Because of his selfish attempt to reach Olympus, people reject him for the rest of his life.
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Bellerophonte and Pegasus would never meet again. While Bellerophonte was denied the right to join the gods, Pegasus was accepted among them. Pegasus had lived on Olympus long before meeting Bellerophonte and continued his ascent to where he remained.
Back on Olympus, Pegasus assumed a new role as Zeus' thunderer. In this position, Pegasus accompanied the king of the gods in battle, carrying Zeus' weapons, particularly his famous thunderbolts. After years of faithful service, when it was time for Pegasus to retire, Zeus honored his squire by immortalizing him in the stars in the form of the constellation Pegasus.