Pegasus

A winged horse that travelled faster than the wind. Offspring of Poseidon and Medusa he sprang from the neck of Medusa when Perseus struck off her head. Bellerophon met Pegasus by chance when the latter was drinking deeply from the spring of Peirene on the Acrocorinth. He was able to tame the horse with the assistance of Athena and Poseidon. Thanks to Pegasus, Bellerophon was enabled to slay the Chimaera. But when the hero attempted to fly up to Olympus with the winged steed, he was destroyed by Zeus, and Pegasus alone reached the abode of the gods. On Olympus, Zeus used Pegasus to carry his [p. 86] thunderbolts from the forge of Hephaestus, then later gave the steed as a gift to Io. Finally, Pegasus was given a place in the heavens by Zeus as a constellation. According to one theory Pegasus [meaning spring, well] in conjunction with Poseidon, god of the waters, and Athena, goddess of lightning, is the personification of the waves that surge high, or of the waters that bubble forth from rocks. Pegasus was associated with the poets many centuries later in the age of Rome. [pp. 86-87]

[Kyriazis, Constantine D. Eternal Greece. Translated by Harry T. Hionides. A Chat Publication.]

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