. n upon his winged horse, but felldown upon the earth. [Bellerophon.] Pe-gasus, however, continued his flight to heaven.—The connexion of Pegasus with the Pluses inGreek mythology was simply that he producedwith his hoof the inspiring fountain Hippo-crene. The story about this fountain runs asfollows. When the Muses engaged in a contestwith the daughters of Pierus on Mount Heli-con, all became darkness when the daughters ofPierus began to sing ; whereas during the songof the Muses, heaven, the sea, and all therivers stood still to l
. n upon his winged horse, but felldown upon the earth. [Bellerophon.] Pe-gasus, however, continued his flight to heaven.—The connexion of Pegasus with the Pluses inGreek mythology was simply that he producedwith his hoof the inspiring fountain Hippo-crene. The story about this fountain runs asfollows. When the Muses engaged in a contestwith the daughters of Pierus on Mount Heli-con, all became darkness when the daughters ofPierus began to sing ; whereas during the songof the Muses, heaven, the sea, and all therivers stood still to listen, and Helicon roseheavenward with delight, until Pegasus, bycommand of Poseidon, stopped its ascent bykicking it with his hoof. From this kick therearose Hippocrene, the inspiring well of theMuses, on Mount Helicon, which, for thisreason, Persius calls fons caballinus ( 1; cf. Ov. Met. v. 256; Strab. p. 379;Paus. ix. 81,3; Ant. Lib. 9). In later mythsPegasus is described as the horse of Eos; andin the legends of the stars lie is placed among. Pegoeosand Pollcrophon at the fountain of Hlppocronc(From a relief In the Npa<la Palace.) them as the heavenly horse (Tzetz. ad ; Ov. Fast. iii. 457 ; Hyg. Astr. ii. 18). Themyths of Pegasus are explained by manymodern writers as originating from ideas of thethundercloud, the clouds being supposed to be connected with Poseidon [see p. 162, b], and sofar this agrees with the idea of Hesiod, whomakes him the thunder-bringing horse of Zeus;but it is possible that the true origin may havebeen simpler. Poseidon was specially wor-shipped in Thessaly as the god of horses and alsoas the god who (as water-god) caused springsto break forth on the earth. It is far fromunlikely that the first beginning of the mythmay have been the hoof-marks of Thessa-lian horses trampling round a sacred spring ofPoseidon, and that the story may have travelledwith the Dorians southwards, and may havebecome localised at the various places. Th
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