Which
Olympian Created the First Horse?
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| Tunnel entrance to Olympia stadium in Greece |
Hello!
My name is Grace Elliot and today I'm
going to post about two of the things that fascinate me - history and animals!
I live in the
Apparently this date was arrived at by working
backwards in four year leaps from a definitive date written about by Thucydides
in 420 BC.
Unlike
our games, the ancients held four sets of sacred games which commemorated the
daring deeds of their heroes: the Pythian, Isthmian, Nemean and Olympic games.
Over the millennia it is only the Olympics that still hold any significance for
us today.
The
Olympics were so named after a group of twelve superhumans who came from Olympia Mount Olympus
So
that is a potted history of the origins of the Olympics - but I mentioned
animals - where do they fit in? Well, many of the original Olympians were
associated with animals. First, let's look at Poseidon (Zeus' brother), god of
the sea and earthquakes, and consider how he came to create that most
magnificent of animals, the horse.
Apparently
Poseidon fell in love with Demeter, the goddess of the earth and harvest.
However Demeter didn’t feel the same but didn’t want to anger him. She hit on a
plan to buy time and agreed to marry Poseidon on the condition he created a new
animal that was more beautiful than anything on earth. Demeter felt she was on
pretty safe ground because Poseidon's forte was making ugly serpents and sea
monsters. As it happened, Demeter was safe, but not for the reason she thought.
Poseidon did create an animal - the horse - but was so struck by the creatures
beauty and power that he forgot all about Demeter!
Poseidon
eventually fathered the legendary winged horse, Pegasus, after a union with
Medusa. The story goes that when the Greek hero, Perseus, slew the Medusa,
Pegasus sprang from her pregnant body and with one kick of his hoof made the
river Hippocrene flow: the waters of which are reputed to inspire the poets.
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| Bellerophon riding Pegasus The Winged Horse (1914) |
The unbroken Pegusus was given by the gods, as a
gift to a Corinthian hero, Bellerophon, for killing a fire-breathing monster
that had a lion's head, goat's body and serpent's tail. But Bellerophon needed
help to break Pegasus and make him rideable. This assistance came in the form
of the goddess Athena who told him where to find the golden bridle which would
tame the winged horse.
Sadly, having such a wonderful mount went to
Bellerophon's head. He became arrogant and decided to visit the home of the
gods at the top of Mount
Olympus
However the winged stallion eventually became the
bearer of Zeus’ thunderbolts and was rewarded with his own constellation in the
heavens.
Keeping
things in the family, the Olympian Hephaestus [son of Zeus and Hera] became the
god of Blacksmiths and Artemis [daughter of Zeus and Leto] the goddess of the Hunt. Their half brother
Hermes [son of Zeus and Maia] a bit of a wastrel by comparison, found an empty
tortoiseshell, strung it with strings and invented the first lyre.
So there we have it - Poseidon took time off from
making sea-serpents and monsters to create the horse!
In the four weeks since her guardians’
death, Eulogy Foster has lost everything.
Penniless and alone she seeks the help of
her estranged brother, Lord Lucien Devlin. But Devlin turns Eulogy onto the
streets, where she is attacked and thrown onto the mercy of a passing stranger,
Jack Huntley. As Eulogy seeks the truth behind her birth, she is drawn into the
world of art and artists, where her morals are challenged and nothing is as it
seems.
Jack Huntley: bitter, cynical and betrayed
in love. He believes women are devious, scheming, untrustworthy creatures - and
when he rescues a naïve Miss from being raped, his life is about to change
forever. There is something about Miss Foster that haunts him and challenges
his emotions. But despite their growing attraction, Eulogy will not share her
secret, which means he cannot trust her. Caught in a deadlock, both denying
their true feelings, events take a sinister turn as someone seeks to silence
Eulogy….forever.
Grace's other books:
Author Bio:
Grace Elliot leads a double life as
a veterinarian by day and author of historical romance by night. Grace lives
near London and is addicted to cats, acting as housekeeping staff to five
mischievous moggies.
Grace believes intelligent people need
romantic fiction in their lives as an antidote to the modern world and as an
avid reader of historicals she turned to writing as a release from the
emotionally draining side of veterinary work. Her second novel ‘Eulogy’s
Secret’ is a story of greed, blackmail and a stolen identity.
Visit Grace:
1 comment:
Thank you for the comment, Artemis, and what an apt name (winks)
Grace x
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