Xanthos and Balios
Xanthos and Balios ( Greek Ξάνθος "the blonde" and Βαλίος "the piebald") are immortal horses in Greek mythology .
Both are sons of Zephyr and the harpy Podarge. Xanthos - gifted by Hera - is able to speak human language. Poseidon had given the horses to King Peleus of Phthia on the occasion of his wedding to the sea nymph Thetis . Peleus bequeathed them to his son Achilles , who let them pull his chariot in the war against Troy . During the war the stallions were looked after by Achilles' friend Patroklos ; weeping the horses mourned Patroclus' death in battle. As Xanthos reveals that Apollo Patroclus killed and Achilles will die by a God and a man, take him the Furies , the ability to speak.
In another version, Xanthos and Balios are former titans who wanted to change their shape.
Alexander the Great is said to have ridden a descendant of Xanthos or a descendant of Diomedes' horses .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bibliotheke of Apollodor 3,13,5,4; Quintus Smyrnaeus , Posthomerica 3.743
- ↑ Homer , Iliad 16,150; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica 3,750-751
- ↑ Homer, Iliad 19,404-417
- ↑ Libraries of Apollodor 3,13,5,4
- ↑ Homer, Iliad 19,399
- ↑ Homer, Iliad 17.426-428; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica 3.743-745
- ↑ Homer, Iliad 19,408-418
- ↑ Diodorus 6.3
literature
- Friedrich Pfister : Xanthos 14) . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 6, Leipzig 1937, Col. 520 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Schultz: Balios 1) . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, column 748 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Xanthos and Balios in the Theoi Project (English)