Pegasus (mythology)

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Front of a silver tridrachm from Corinth , approx. 308–306 BC Chr.

Pegasus ( ancient Greek Πήγασος Pēgasos , Latin Pegasus , rarely Pegasus ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology .

myth

Pegasus, Attic red-figure lekythos , 480–460 BC Chr., Staatliche Antikensammlungen , Munich, (Inv. 2504)
Pegasus statue in the Sacro Bosco Park
Bronze figure of Pegasus, part of the decoration of a ship that sank at Antiochia ad Cragum in the 1st or 2nd century , now in the Archaeological Museum of Alanya , Turkey
Serigraph "The important thing is not always important" by Adi Holzer from 1976 (catalog raisonné 269).
Pegasus on the gable of the Bavarian National Theater in Munich.
Bellerophon kills the chimera ( mosaic from Rhodes )

Pegasus was the child of the sea god Poseidon and the gorgon Medusa . The traditions of his birth vary: one version reports that he sprang from Medusa's neck when she was beheaded by Perseus . He was born as a twin of Chrysaor . Another tells that it sprang from the spot on the earth on which Medusa's blood dripped.

Pegasus wore Bellerophon in his battle against the Chimera and the Amazons . There are different stories of how Bellerophon found Pegasus: some say that the hero found him drinking at the well of Peirene (at the "Pirenian spring"), others report that either Athene or Poseidon Pegasus led to Bellerophon. Before helping Bellerophon, Pegasus brought lightning and thunder to Zeus , and after Bellerophon's death he returned to Mount Olympus to help the gods.

Allegedly two wells were created by Pegasus' hoofbeat: one at the behest of Zeus on the Helikon Mountains (the "heliconic spring" from which all poets drink), a second in Troizen (see also Hippocrene ).

Pegasus was transformed into a constellation , but a feather on his wings fell back to earth near the city of Tarsus , giving the city its name. Its origins as a hybrid are probably of oriental origin. He was depicted frequently in Cretan and Asian art, and even on Roman coin reverses until the third century AD.

reception

The source of Pegasus as the source of all wisdom can be found in the famous literature excursion in Gottfrieds von Straßburg Tristan , verse 4728ff .: I waene, he ( Heinrich von Veldeke is meant ) sîne wîsheit / ûz Pegases origin nam, / from which diu wîsheit elliu came .

In heraldry , Pegasus is also called a wing horse . It is shown in the coat of arms of the Knights Templar as a symbol of poverty.

In a figurative sense, the winged Pegasus is seen as the poet's steed, as a symbol of poetry ridden by the poet.

In fairy tale chess , one figure is called Pegasus because of its special abilities .

In reinterpretations of the legend about the winged horse, Pegasus is not placed alongside Bellerophon, but the more famous Perseus , such as B. in the film Clash of the Titans or in Joachim Wtewael's painting Andromeda .

In Disney's 1997 cartoon, Hercules , Pegasus is placed by his side and is a gift from Zeus to his son. Pegasus should protect him.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the accusative of Pegason and therefore going back to Pegasos in Ovid , Metamorphosen 4,786, Pegasos also in Cicero , Pro Quinctio 25; compare Karl Ernst Georges : Extensive Latin-German concise dictionary. Hannover 8 1918 (Reprint Darmstadt 1998), Volume 2, Sp. 1537 fsv Pegasus 1
  2. ↑ Entry on Duden online

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Pegasus  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Pegasus  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Pegasus in Heraldry  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Pegasos in the Theoi Project (English)