Pegasus in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Pegasus

8 passages from 6 ancient authors that tell of Pegasus, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Pegasus was a flying horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as white coloured. His father was Poseidon and his mother was the Gorgon Medusa; he wa... For the story in one place, read our article on Pegasus.

Hesiod (2)

Hesiod, Theogony 265–304Iris, the Harpies, the Graiai, Gorgons and Echidna (265-304)Thaumas and Electra have Iris and the Harpies, and Phorcys and Ceto have the Graiai and the Gorgons. Poseidon lies with Medusa, and when Perseus cuts off her head Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus spring forth; Chrysaor has the three-headed Geryon, whom Heracles kills. The section ends with Echidna, the monstrous child of Ceto and Phorcys, half nymph and half huge snake, who lives in a cave in Arima.
Hesiod, Theogony 305–334Echidna's offspring: Cerberus, the Hydra, the Chimaera and the Sphinx (305-334)Typhaon is joined in love to Echidna, and their offspring are Orthus, Cerberus, the Hydra and the Chimaera. The Hydra is nourished by Hera and killed by Heracles with Iolaus's help, and the Chimaera is killed by Pegasus and Bellerophon. Echidna and Orthus bear the Sphinx and the Nemean lion, which Hera rears, and the section ends with Ceto and Phorcys's youngest child, the serpent that guards the golden apples.

Apollodorus (2)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 2.3.1–2Bellerophon and the ChimaeraBellerophon, after killing a man by accident, is purified by Proetus, and Stheneboea falsely accuses him when he rejects her. Proetus sends him to Iobates in Lycia with a letter calling for his death, and Iobates sets him to kill the Chimaera, which he does from the air on the winged horse Pegasus. He then defeats the Solymi and the Amazons and kills the ambush set for him, after which Iobates gives him his daughter and the kingdom.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 2.4.1–5Perseus: Danae, Medusa and AndromedaAn oracle tells Acrisius that his daughter's son will kill him, so he shuts Danae in a brazen chamber, but she bears Perseus to Zeus and is cast into the sea with him in a chest. On Seriphus, Polydectes sends Perseus to fetch the Gorgon's head; with help from Hermes and Athena he gets the nymphs' gear from the Phorcides and beheads Medusa, from whom Pegasus and Chrysaor spring. He rescues Andromeda from a sea monster, turns Polydectes to stone, and accidentally kills Acrisius with a discus at Larissa, so fulfilling the oracle. The section ends with Perseus's descendants and the birth of Eurystheus.

Pindar (1)

Pindar, Olympian Odes 13.1–115Olympian 13: for Xenophon — Corinth and BellerophonPindar praises Corinth and the house of Xenophon, victor in the foot-race and pentathlon, and asks who first invented the dithyramb and the bridle. He tells of the Corinthian heroes of the Argo and of Troy, and how Bellerophon slept at Athena's altar, was given the golden bridle and tamed Pegasus at the spring of Peirene. The ode ends with the list of the family's victories at the Isthmus and Nemea and a prayer to Zeus.

Aristophanes (1)

Aristophanes, Peace 82–176Prologue: Trygaeus takes flight on the beetleTrygaeus sets off on the beetle and the Servant tries in vain to stop him, while he calls for silence below and for the dung to be kept out of the beetle's way. He says that he is flying to ask Zeus what he means to do with Hellas, and that he will indict him if Zeus gives it up to the Medes. His daughters beg him not to leave them, and he promises them buns if he returns, then starts upwards, calling on the man at Peiraeus not to commit a nuisance that might upset the beetle. He reaches the gate of Zeus, where Hermes answers.

Ovid (1)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.250–337Athena visits the Muses; PyreneusAthena (Minerva), having helped Perseus, visits the Muses on Mount Helicon and sees the spring that Pegasus made with his hoof. One of the Muses tells how King Pyreneus once offered them shelter in a storm and then tried to rape them, and fell to his death when he leapt from a tower thinking he could fly. The Muses then speak of the nine daughters of Pierus, who had challenged them to a singing contest, and Athena sits down to listen.

Pausanias (1)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.4.1–7Corinth: Athena the Bridler, the kings of Corinth and the road up to Acro-CorinthNear the tomb of Medea’s children is the sanctuary of Athena the Bridler, which leads Pausanias to Bellerophon and Pegasus and to the lineage of Corinth’s kings from Sisyphus to the Dorian Aletes, the Bacchids and the tyrant Cypselus. He describes the theatre, the Daedalic Hercules, the spring Lerna and the temples of Zeus and Asclepius, and the shrines of Isis, Serapis, the Mother of the Gods, the Fates, Demeter and Bunaean Hera on the way up to Acro-Corinth.