Pegasus: Medusa, Bellerophon and the winged horse

Pegasus begins life at the moment Medusa loses hers. When Perseus cuts off her head, the winged horse and Chrysaor emerge. Yet Pegasus's best-known rider is Bellerophon, and his place in Hesiod's account is eventually with Zeus, carrying thunder and lightning. Theogony 270–294.

The familiar horse therefore connects several stories. Keeping their sources visible gives us more than a sequence of attractive pictures of something white with wings.

From Medusa to Zeus

Hesiod makes Medusa mortal while her Gorgon sisters are immortal. Poseidon lies with her in a flowery meadow, and the birth of Pegasus and Chrysaor follows the beheading. The poet explains Pegasus's name through the springs of Ocean near which he is born. That is a poetic explanation of the name, not evidence of where a real horse took its first steps. Theogony 270–294.

Pegasus then leaves the earth for the gods and serves Zeus. His role as thunderbolt-bearer is already present in this early account; it need not be invented as a reward at the end of every modern retelling.

Athena's bridle and Bellerophon's fall

Pindar's thirteenth Olympian ode describes Bellerophon struggling to capture Pegasus at Peirene. Athena appears in a dream with a golden bridle. The hero wakes to find the equipment beside him, follows the religious instructions associated with the dream and gains control of the horse. He rides Pegasus against the Chimera and other enemies. Olympian 13.63–92, translated excerpt.

Flight gives the rider a decisive advantage, but it does not remove every limit. In the seventh Isthmian ode, Pindar describes Pegasus throwing Bellerophon when the hero seeks to reach the gods' dwelling. That account makes the attempted ascent the point at which ambition exceeds its proper bounds. Pegasus and his rider do not share the same final destination. Isthmian 7.44ff, translated excerpt.

What the evidence actually shows

A Corinthian silver stater at Cleveland, dated around 350–338 BCE, shows Pegasus taking flight on one side and Athena on the other. The museum connects the repeated image with Corinthian mythology and Athena's gift of the reins. It is a useful object for seeing how a story could become a recognisable civic image. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916.984.

The central visual idea is straightforward: a horse with wings. A fixed white coat, a particular mane, expressive eyes and a measurable divine aura do not follow from that evidence. Artists can choose such details, but a modern description should not turn their choices into an ancient breed standard.

The horse and the spring

Strabo records that Pegasus's hoof striking the rock on Helicon brought forth Hippocrene, the Horse Spring. This is another specific place story attached to the creature, distinct from Hesiod's explanation of its birth-name near Ocean. Geography 8.6.20, translated excerpt.

Pegasus can readily suggest freedom, aspiration or poetic inspiration to later readers. Those are interpretations that work best when connected to the actual motifs: impossible flight, a rider trying to go too far, and a spring associated with a marvellous hoof strike. They should not flatten the horse into one timeless symbol of all desirable things.

Read next

Follow the stories of Medusa and the Chimera, or compare Griffins, the Sphinx, Centaurs and Cerberus. See also the Olympian gods, our Greek monsters guide and book guide.

Read next Gegenees: The six-armed giants who attacked the Argonauts

Sources and further reading

• S1: Hesiod, Theogony 270–294 and 325, H. G. Evelyn-White (1914)
• S2: Pindar, Olympian 13.63–92 and Isthmian 7.44ff, D. S. Conway translation excerpts on Pegasus page
• S3: Cleveland Museum of Art, Stater: Pegasos / Athena, c.350–338 BCE, 1916.984