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Mythographia

    Pegasus

    Pegasus is the winged horse who sprang fully grown from Medusa's neck the instant Perseus beheaded her, fathered by Poseidon before her death. Hesiod has him fly straight to Olympus to carry Zeus's thunder and lightning, while later tradition, most clearly Pindar and Apollodorus, has the hero Bellerophon tame and ride him to kill the fire-breathing Chimera from the air.

    Pegasus depicted as a horse's head and neck with large bronze wings spread behind it.
    Illustration, not a source

    Pegasus, the winged horse

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    By Reviewed by Mythographia Editorial Team

    Core Myth

    Hesiod's Theogony places Pegasus's birth at the exact moment of Medusa's death: when Perseus cuts off her head, two children she had already conceived with Poseidon spring out fully formed - Pegasus, named for the springs of Ocean near which he was born, and Chrysaor, a warrior born holding a golden sword. Hesiod gives Pegasus an immediate, specific destiny that has nothing to do with any hero: he flies away from the earth to the house of Zeus, where he lives ever after carrying the thunder and lightning bolt for the king of the gods. The far more famous role Pegasus plays in later tradition, carrying the hero Bellerophon into the sky to kill the Chimera, is absent from both Hesiod and from Homer's own telling of Bellerophon's fight in the Iliad, where no flying horse appears at all. Pindar's Olympian Ode 13 fills the gap: Bellerophon prays to Athena for help taming the wild horse, and she gives him a golden bridle in a dream, letting him catch and ride Pegasus the next morning without a fight. Apollodorus later completes the story by having Bellerophon mount Pegasus specifically to reach and kill the Chimera from above, out of range of her fire.

    How was Pegasus born?

    Hesiod's Theogony has him spring fully formed from Medusa's neck the instant Perseus beheaded her, alongside a second child, the warrior Chrysaor. Both had already been conceived with Poseidon before Medusa's death and were released only at the moment of the beheading itself.

    Hesiod, Theogony 280-283

    What did Pegasus do immediately after he was born?

    According to Hesiod, he flew away at once to the house of Zeus, where he settled permanently as the carrier of the god's thunder and lightning bolt, a role given to him directly in the Theogony with no hero or rider involved.

    Hesiod, Theogony 284-286

    Did Pegasus really help Bellerophon kill the Chimera?

    Only in later sources. Homer's Iliad, the earliest surviving account of that fight, never mentions Pegasus at all. Apollodorus, writing much later, has Bellerophon mount the winged horse specifically to shoot the fire-breathing Chimera down from a height her flame could not reach.

    Apollodorus, Library 2.3.2

    How did Bellerophon manage to tame and ride Pegasus?

    Pindar's Olympian Ode 13 credits Athena directly: Bellerophon prays to her for help with the wild horse, and she appears to him in a dream carrying a golden bridle, which lets him catch and ride Pegasus the following morning without any struggle at all.

    Pindar, Olympian Ode 13

    What happened when Bellerophon tried to fly Pegasus up to Mount Olympus?

    Pindar's Isthmian Ode 7 records that Bellerophon attempted to reach the dwelling places of heaven itself and the company of Zeus, an overreach the gods would not allow. Pegasus threw his rider back down to earth, ending Bellerophon's ambitions while Pegasus himself continued on unharmed.

    Pindar, Isthmian Ode 7

    Is Pegasus connected to the Muses or to poetry?

    A later, popular tradition credits a strike of Pegasus's hoof on Mount Helicon with opening the spring Hippocrene, sacred to the Muses. This detail belongs to authors writing well after Hesiod and Homer, so it is worth treating as a later addition to the myth rather than part of its earliest attested form.

    Later Traditions

    Bellerophon's own story ends badly in most later versions: Pindar's Isthmian Ode 7 has him try to fly Pegasus all the way to the dwelling places of heaven and the company of Zeus himself, an ambition the gods do not tolerate, and Pegasus throws his rider back down to earth. Pegasus himself carries on regardless, unaffected by whatever happens to the mortal who briefly rode him, and continues his service to Zeus on Olympus.

    Lineage

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    2 recorded relations, each with the ancient line behind it.

    Also Connected

    1 recorded connection, each with the ancient line behind it.

    Enemies

    1 more of this figure in the collections

    Where Accounts Differ

    • whether Pegasus was part of the original Chimera myth
    • Homer's Iliad, the oldest surviving account of Bellerophon's fight with the Chimera, does not mention Pegasus at all; the flying horse is added only in later sources such as Pindar and Apollodorus.

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    Mythology

    Appears In

    Related Terms

    Sources

    Primary sources
    • Hesiod, Theogony 278-286
    • Pindar, Olympian Ode 13
    • Apollodorus, Library 2.3.1-2.3.2
    • Pindar, Isthmian Ode 7
    Further reading
    • Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth (1993)