Pegasus was a divine immortal winged horse. He was a child of Poseidon, the Olympian god of the sea, and the evil Gorgon Medusa, a winged female with snakes instead of hair who could turn people who looked at her into stone.

In ancient art, Pegasus is normally depicted as a glowing white horse with large wings, slightly larger in size than a normal horse. Pegasus appears on pottery, starting with seventh century BCE Corinthian ware and also on coins. He is portrayed in the Temple of Artemis on Corcyra and was also a popular subject in Roman art and mosaics. Representations of Pegasus are still common in popular culture. He is mentioned by Hesiod and other classical writers.

Pegasus was initially ridden by the Greek hero Bellerophon. Athena helped Bellephron tame Pegasus with a magical bridle. With the aid of Pegasus, Bellerophon was able to kill the evil fire-breathing chimera, a monster with a lion’s body, goat head, and a snake for a tail. Bellerophon had several other adventures with Pegasus but eventually became arrogant and tried to fly up to the heavens to become one of the gods. He fell off the back of Pegasus and died but the horse flew on to join the gods and became part of the stable of the god Zeus and also served Eos, the goddess of dawn. This saga was mentioned in the Iliad.