A hippalectryon, or hippalektryon (), is a type of fantastic hybrid creature of Ancient Greek folklore; half-

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

(front) and half-

rooster The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

(hind), including the tail, wings and hind legs. Its colour varies between yellow and reddish. No myths related to it are currently known. The oldest representation currently known dates back to the 9th century BCE, and the motif grows most common in the 6th century, notably in

vase painting Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

and sometimes as statues, often shown with a rider. It is also featured on some pieces of currency. A few literary works of the 5th century mention the beast, most notably

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

and

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

, who used it as one of his favourite insults. The precise function of the Hippalectryon remains a mystery; as an apotropaic and prophylactic animal, it might have been dedicated to

Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...

and tasked to protect ships. Other studies interpret it as a grotesque beast to amuse children, or a simple fantastic decorative element without any specific function.

Etymology

The term ''hippalectryon'', also transcribed "hippalektryon", comes directly from Ancient Greek "", a compound word that comprises (''híppos'', "horse"), and (''alektryốn'', "rooster"). The name is thus a plain description of the hybrid creature. The name seems to have been used for the first time by

in ''Myrmidons'';Perdrizet
''L'hippalectryon. Contribution à l'étude de l'ionisme''
in ''Revue des études anciennes'', tome 6, 1904, pages 7-30John McK. Camp
''Horses and horsemanship in the Athenian Agora''
ASCSA 1998, volume 24 of ''Athenian Agora Picture Bks'', the comic usage made by Aristophanes suggests that by the end of the 5th Century, most of the inhabitants of Athens had never heard about the creature.

Description

In ''The Birds'',

describes the hippalectryon as a yellow-feathered, awkward-looking creature. The appearance of the creature is consistent amongst the known artistic representations. It involves a horse front part, including the head, withers and the front legs; the hind part is that of a rooster, including the wings, tail and legs. A text attributed to Hesychius of Alexandria mentions three different types of hippalectryons: a giant rooster; a giant vulture; and a creature close to

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: ''gryps'' or ''grypus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk ...

s as painted on fabrics from Persia. W. Geoffrey Arnott, ''Birds in the ancient world from A to Z'' Routledge, 2007, , , p.102-103. Some confusion might have arisen, as some texts also refer to hippalectryons as plain horses, a coat-of-arms, or as sea monsters. Before

, no specific term appears to refer to representations of hippalectryons.

Ceramic and sculpture

Terracotta hippalektryon Louvre CA1792-stitched-black

The oldest known representation of a hippalectryon is an askos from

Knossos Knossos (; , ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is a Bronze Age archaeological site in Crete. The site was a major centre of the Minoan civilization and is known for its association with the Greek myth of Theseus and the minotaur. It is located on th ...

, dating back to the 9th century BCE. Hippalectryons become a common theme from 575 to 480 BCE, often depicted with an unarmed rider, typically a young boy. The motif might not be an ancient Greek invention: an analysis of Aristophanes' works suggests that it could have originated in the Middle East, and the costumes worn by the people featured on pottery with hippalectryons seem to be Asian, though this particular point is a matter of debate. Hippalectryons are displayed almost exclusively on

black-figure Black-figure pottery painting (also known as black-figure style or black-figure ceramic; ) is one of the styles of Ancient Greek vase painting, painting on pottery of ancient Greece, antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th a ...

vases from Attica, and could constitute an alternative representation of Pegasus.Hippalectryon
o
Theoi
Hybrids are a popular and common theme in archaic Greek sculpture and vase painting.Hippalektryon
par Harvey Alan Shapiro : ''Art, Myth and Culture. Greek Vases from Southern Collections'' o
Perseus
Most hybrids appear to have reached Greece from the East, although no early representation of a hippalectryon in

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian or Middle Eastern art has yet been found. Hippalectryons have been found on engraved stones from the

Late Period of ancient Egypt The Late Period of ancient Egypt refers to the last flowering of native Egyptian rulers after the Third Intermediate Period in the 26th Saite Dynasty founded by Psamtik I, but includes the time of Achaemenid Persian rule over Egypt after the ...

. Though they differ from 6th century Attic and Ionic representations, the horse head and the rooster legs and tail are featured.

Numismatics

Five coins featuring a hippalectryon, or possibly Pegasus, were found in 1868 in the Volterra treasure, amongst 65 very old pieces of currency

Symbolism

According to a study of

' '' The Frogs'', hippalectryons were often painted on shields. A red-figure vase featuring Athena waving a shield sporting a hippalectryon has been found; the theme probably was credited with apotropaic and prophylactic virtues. Roosters are prophylactic as they are a symbol of solar power that routs demons with its singing at sunrise. Horses, especially winged horses, are a funerary symbol as they guide the souls of the dead. The grotesque and ugly hybrid supposedly induced laughter, thereby driving evil away. The Hippalectryon described in

' ''Myrmidons'' was probably sculpted to commemorate a naval high deed. In ''The Frogs'',

states that the motif was painted on galleys in ancient times, indicating that it could have been credited with magical powers to protect ships.

Occurrences in Greek texts

Hippalectryons are not associated with any known myth or legend.''Harper's New Monthly Magazine March to May 1882'', Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2005

As a consequence, they are scarcely mentioned by Greek authors. Aeschylus is the first to mention them: in ''Myrmidons'', he describes a ship featuring a "fire-coloured horse-chanticleer". Hippalectryon is one of Aristophanes' favourite insults. Michel Meslin, ''Cahiers d'anthropologie religieuse'' 3, 1994, Presses Paris Sorbonne , , p. 12

He uses it in '' Peace (play), Peace'' (421 BCE), '' The Birds'' (414) and in '' The Frogs'' (405), in which

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

and

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

mock Aeschylus for mentioning it.Swets et Zitlinger, « Annales de la Faculté des Lettres de Bordeaux et des Universités du Midi, quatrième série commune aux Iniversités d'Aix, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Toulouse », dans ''Revue des études anciennes'', t. 6, 190

He furthermore mentions that in his time (end of the 5th century BCE), most inhabitants of Athens had never heard of hippalectryons.

In popular culture

* Hippalectryons are seldom mentioned in modern works. There might be an occurrence in '' Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross'', a

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. Fr ...

published in '' Mother Goose'' English translation, published in 1729: * Hippalektryons appear in the ''

Percy Jackson & the Olympians ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' is a fantasy novel series by American author Rick Riordan. The first book series in his ''Camp Half-Blood Chronicles'', the novels are set in a world with the Greek gods in the 21st century. The series foll ...

'' series, in the fourth book, '' The Battle of the Labyrinth''. They are thought to be extinct, but there are some at Geryon's Ranch. * Hippalektryons also feature in the third book of the ''Thrones and Bones'' trilogy, ''Skyborn'', by Lou Anders. Karn and Asterius, the minotaur prince, use them to escape from the Thican soldiers at Caldera.

Notes and references

Notes

Bibliography

* Swets and Zitlinger, « Annales de la Faculté des Lettres de Bordeaux et des Universités du Midi, quatrième série commune aux Universités d'Aix, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Toulouse », i
''Revue des études anciennes''
t. 6, 1904. * W. Geoffrey Arnott, ''Birds in the ancient world from A to Z'', Routledge, 2007 . * Juan Eduardo Cirlot, Jack Sage et Herbert Read, ''A dictionary of symbols'', Routledge, 1993 .