Pegasus/Sandbox



Pegasus is a divine winged horse from Greek Mythology.

There are several versions of the origins of Pegasus. The most famous is that he was born from the blood that came from Medusa's neck when Perseus chopped her head off. In a slightly different version, he was born from bloody mud instead. There are a couple of other origin stories that are not as widely-known, one being that Pegasus was born when someone's severed genitals were thrown into the sea, and another had Medusa's blood mix with sea foam. Either way, Poseidon was involved. Somehow his brother is Chrysaor, another figure from Greek Mythology who is often illustrated as either as a young man or a winged boar.

Some of Pegasus' most famous feats were his aid in the defeat of Chimera, serving as Bellerophon's winged mount.

Legend goes that Bellerophon had a magical golden bridle given to him by the goddess Athena and that he used the golden bridle to tame Pegasus. He also carried lightning bolts for Zeus, who rewarded him by being transformed into a constellation (pictured at the top).

Winged horses are a very common trope throughout human history, thus in media Pegasus often appears as A Kind of One, where all pterippi (winged horses) are named after him.

This myth provides examples of the following tropes:

 * Cool Horse: Pegasus' myth dates back to 425 BC and is one of the earliest examples.
 * Interspecies Romance: A Gorgeous Gorgon and a Physical God were his parents. Before anyone objects to the fact that Medusa and Poseidon didn't actually have sex to create Pegasus, keep in mind they certainly did to make his brother.
 * Just-So Story: So, kids, that's how we got those stars up in the sky that (if you tilt your head and squint) sort of look like the front half of an upside-down winged horse.
 * Painting the Frost on Windows: Pegasus ferries lightning bolts.
 * Spontaneous Generation: The whole origin story involving him coming out of Medusa's blood.

Film

 * Clash of the Titans
 * Disney's Hercules: He's Hercules' ride in this film, despite the fact that this never happened in actual Greek Mythology.

Literature

 * Julia Golding's Companion's Quartet.

Myth and Legend

 * The original Greek Mythology of course.

Video Games

 * Kingdom Hearts, which is based on both Disney Animated Canon and Final Fantasy, of course has a sequence where Sora fights the Hydra on Pegasus' back.