Hi, I’m Mike Rugnetta and this is Crashcourse
Mythology. Today we’re moving on from the scary monsters
of the last episode to nice, mythical... horses. Well, some of them are nice. Some are terrible - shocking! I know. [Intro]
Horses are domestic animals that have been inextricable from human life in many cultures
for a loooong time. So it makes sense there are a ton of mythical
horses. If you’re Apollo, your mythical horses can
even fly! I’ll take that over a Tesla any day! But the beginning of our mythical horse history
doesn’t end at the Greeks and Romans, oh no! According to Plutarch, the Egyptian god Osiris
once asked his son Horus which animal would be most useful in battle. Horus chooses the hors-es. When Osiris asks why he doesn’t go for something
more fierce like the lion, Horus answers that a lion is good for saving a man in danger,
but a horse is best for “cutting off the flight of the enemy and annihilating him.”[1]
This answer convinces Osiris that Horus is ready to become a warrior. Svaldilfari is a famous mythical horse from
Norse mythology. Thats right - this horse is a Norse, of course,
of course. He’s a true power-horse (which means he’s
got lots of… horse power…I guess) and he helps a mysterious builder complete a wall
around Asgard...almost. v
Y’see, the wall is being built because if the builder completes it, he gets to marry
Freya, the goddess of love, and sex and beauty...and war and death. The Aesir don’t want some rando marrying
Freya, so they give this dude an impossible task: he has a single season to complete his
labor. When it looks like the builder is going to
complete his task with the help of Svadilfari, Loki transforms himself into a beautiful mare
and … distracts Svadilfari. Without his magic horse friend, the builder
fails and Freya escapes. Also, they kill the builder and horse-Loki
gives birth to an eight-legged baby. They name this horse Sleipnir, and Odin takes
it as his personal steed. There are myths about real, historical horses
as well, like Bucephalus, the 4th century BCE steed of Alexander the Great. Initially Bucephalus was untameable, but even
as a thirteen-year-old, Alexander figured it out. He realized that Bucephalus lost it when he
saw his shadow, so he turned the horse toward the sun, and his shadow... was behind him. Clever! Another famous equine is Al-Buraq, Muhammad’s
horse. According to a tale from the hadith, Al-Buraq
carried Muhammad on his journeyv from Mecca to Jerusalem and back in a single evening,
including a stop in the heavens. In Persian imagery, Al-Buraq is often pictured
with wings and a human face. And speaking of horses with human features,
let’s take our own mythical journey back to the Greco-Roman tradition and talk about
… centaurs! Centaurs have the body of a horse, and the
head and torso of a person. Most myths describe centaurs as more animal
than human; often they personify human lust, and their manimal hybridity puts them in the
same monstrous category as werewolves or fawns. [stage whisper] Or Thoth. Who is also monstrously handsome. God, just look at him. One of the most famous centaur stories revolves
around a lot of monstrous lust. It’s the wedding of King Perithoos of the
Lapiths to Hippodameia. (extra foreshadowing: Hippodemeia means “tamer
of horses.”) Perithoos and Hippodameia invite a number
of centaurs to come celebrate, and when they show up, they hit the open bar pretty hard. The centaurs get wasted, and one of them,
Eurythion tries to rape Hippodameia. A brawl ensues, which grows to a full scale
battle that becomes known as the Centauromachy. The whole story is immortalized in the metopes
of the Parthenon and also in a relief by Michelangelo... his final work. While we’re confident sayinging drunk centaurs
come from sober centaurs… this leaves unanswered the question: where do SOBER centaurs come
from? In one myth Apollo’s son, Centauros, mates
with a horse. Another myth claims that centaurs are the
offspring of Kronos and Philyra. Kronos and Philyra had been *ahem* horsing
around... for a while when Rhea, Kronos’s titan wife, burst in on them. Kronos gets so spooked that he transforms
into a horse and gallops out of bed. All’s well that end’s well except… nine
months later Philyra gives birth to Chiron who’s - you guessed it - a centaur. Chiron is less aggressive than other centaurs,
and becomes famous for his wisdom. He goes on to teach Achilles and Asclepius
the healer, and in one set of very important mythological stories... is the director of
activities at Camp Half-Blood. Centaurs have a rather ambivalent reputation,
but there’s one Greek horse who’s a real solid dude … horse [[[happy thumbs up gestures]]]. Our favorite winged steed: Pegasus. Pegasus is born when the hero Perseus decapitates
the Gorgon Medusa. He has a whole plan - mirrored shield, very
sharp sword, and it’s off with her head! As Perseus stuffs Medusa’s head into a magic
sack, blood pours from the monster’s neck, and creates a magnificent, winged white horse. In some versions of the story, Pegasus lets
Perseus jump right on, and the two escape the rest of the Gorgons. In other versions Pegasus behaves like a wild
horse and flies away. Perseus has to chase after him with his winged
sandals. Eventually, Athena catches and tames Pegasus
then lends him back to Perseus. The two go rescue princess Andromeda, who’s
been stripped naked, chained to a rock, and molested by a sea monster. All because her mother boasted about how beautiful
she is. Don’t boast when there are gods around,
they always take it SUPER personal. After the rescue, Perseus gives Pegasus back
to Athena and the horse becomes a friend of the Muses. But, to be fair, Pegasus isn’t always so
helpful. Thoughtbubble, take us to the dark side of
the… horse. The warrior Bellerophon decides that he wants
to tame Pegasus. He spends the night at Athena’s temple,
receives a golden bridle, and some instruction and ... everything goes according to plan. Pegasus tamed! Huh - that was easy. Thanks Thoughtbub–NAWWWW JK because things
get real for real when Bellerophon, who has been falsely accused of adultery, is sent
on a quest to kill the Chimaera, a fire-breathing monster with a lion’s body, a goat’s head,
and a serpent’s tail. Bellerophon and Pegasus fly off to fight the
Chimaera. With Pegasus’ help, Bellerophon stabs the
chimaera in the mouth. The fire breath melts his sword and the monster
chokes on the molten metal. After the Chimaera, Pegasus and Bellerophon
manage a couple other heroic buddy victories. Iobates, the king who sent him on his quest,
realizes that this guy is probably innocent and awards Bellerophon his daughter Philonoe’s
hand in marriage. Then stuff starts to get real, for real, FOR
REAL. Instead of enjoying domestic bliss, Bellerophon
decides that he deserves to be on Olympus alongside other heroes like Herakles. And now that he’s tamed Pegasus, he’s
just going to hop on and fly up to Olympus to take what he feels is his rightful place. I’m sure, out of all the ambitious dudes
in all of mythology, Bellerophon’ll be the ONE this works out for, right? WRONG Zeus overhears Bellerophon bragging
about his plan. WHAT’D I JUST SAY ABOUT BOASTING? The god sends a gadfly to bite Pegasus on
the butt. The horse rears up and throws Bellerophon. The arrogant hero falls to his death, while
Pegasus flies on to Olympus alone. There, Zeus makes him his pack horse, where
he carries Zeus’ thunderbolts around - The horse will be with Zeus ... always. Thanks, Thoughtbubble. And, finally: we can’t do an episode on
mythical horses without talking about unicorns. The Greeks and Romans thought unicorns were
real -- animals with a horse’s body, a stag’s head, elephant’s feet, a boar’s tail,
and a three-and-a-half-foot horn. Elephant feet? Really. What a mess! In Medieval Europe, unicorns became an important
symbol in art and allegory. By this point, unicorns had lost many of their
features, and were represented mostly as majestic horses with a single horn protruding from
their foreheads. It’s easy to see the phallic symbolism of
such horns, but unicorns were also symbols of chastity. It was believed that they couldn’t be captured
through force, but would willingly lay their heads in the lap of a young virgin. So when unicorns appear alongside virgins
in medieval art, like the famous unicorn tapestries, the virgin is meant to symbolize Mary. This is how the unicorn became a symbol of
Jesus, as well... with images of unicorn killing acting as an allegory for the crucifixion.[2]
There are unicorns in east Asian mythology too. Qilin, the Chinese unicorn, has the body of
an antelope, an ox’s tail, and a twelve-foot long horn. Its appearance portends momentous changes
-- like the birth or death of a king. According to one myth, Qilin appeared on the
banks of a river to give legendary emperor Fu Hsi magical signs that would inspire Chinese
writing.[3] Horses and their mythical relatives have a
complicated relationship to humans. They can represent our worst impulses, as
centaurs do, or a boon companion like the monster-fighting Pegasus. The wide range of their symbolism makes sense
- given the wide range of their place in human life. Horses have been important human companions
for a long, long time: they’ve been transportation, pack animals, laborers, and even… friends? Horses helped so many cultures experience,
and understand, their landscape. So it makes sense we’d want to tell stories
about them - sorta, actually, how we do with cars today… when you think about it. I’m fine with calling The Fast and the Furious
franchise a modern epic. Thanks for watching. See you next time, when we continue our survey
of mythical monsters with that rowdy lot you should NEVER make a deal with: Dragons. Crash Course Mythology
is filmed in the Chad and Stacey Emigholz studio in Indianapolis, IN, and is produced
with the help of all these nice people. Our animation team is Thought Café. Crash Course exists thanks to the generous
support of our patrons at Patreon. Patreon is a voluntary subscription service
where you can support the content you love through a monthly donation, and help keep
Crash Course free, for everyone, forever. Thanks for watching, and for putting up with
all our horse puns. WE’RE JUST HORSIN’ AROUND. Neigh, BUT SERIOUSLY hope you got a kick out
of this episode. ________________
[1] Quoted in Sax, B. The Mythical Zoo. p 198
[2] Sax, B. p. 202 [3] Rosen, p. 73
Never thought I'd see SR referenced there of all places.