In Greek mythology, Pegasus was a winged horse that was the son of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa.
Pegasus aided the hero Bellerophon in his fight against both the Chimera and the Amazons. There are varying tales as to how Bellerophon found Pegasus; the most common says that the hero was told by Polyeidos to sleep in the temple of Athena, where the goddess visited him in the night and presented him with a golden bridle. The next morning, still clutching the bridle, he found Pegasus drinking at the Pierian spring. When the steed saw the bridle, he approached Bellerophon and allowed him to ride. Bellerophon slew the Chimaera on Pegasus' back, and then tried to ride the winged horse to the top of Mount Olympus to see the gods. However, Zeus sent down a gadfly to sting Pegasus, causing Bellerophon to fall all the way back to Earth on the Plain of Aleion ("Wandering"), where he lived out his life in misery as a blinded cripple as punishment for trying to act as a god.
Afterward, Pegasus found sanctuary on the sacred mountain, where he carried Zeus' thunderbolts and was ridden by Eos, the goddess of dawn.
In his later life, Pegasus took a mate, Euippe (or Ocyrrhoe), and had two children Celeris and Melanippe. This family is the origin of the winged horses. Celeris is associated with the constellation Equuleus.
Pegasus was immortal. Because of his faithful service Zeus honored him with a constellation. On the last day of his life, when Zeus transformed him into a constellation, a single feather fell to the earth near the city of Tarsus.
In modern terminology, the word "pegasus" (plural "pegasi") has come to refer to any winged horse, though the term "pterippus" (meaning winged horse, plural "pterippi") is also used. Pegasus is also the symbol of the Mobil brand of gas and oil, marketed by the Exxon Mobil Corporation. As such, it has also been a symbol of Dallas, Texas, gracing its skyline atop the Magnolia building, since the 1930s.
In psychoanalysis, Freud interpreted the creature as an expression of the primal scene.
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