Hippocampus (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the hippocampus (Ίπποκάμπη / Hippokámpê; or Ίππόκαμπος / Hippókampos), from ἵππος / híppos (horse) and κάμπος / kámpos (sea monster) is, according to Pausanias in his Description of Greece, a sea horse with the lower part of the body from the chest in the shape of a sea monster or fish. The hippocampus even appears in the Homeric poems as a symbol of Poseidon, whose chariot crossed the sea pulled by fast horses. Later poets and artists conceived and represented the horses of Poseidon and other marine deities as a combination of horse and fish. According to descriptions, they measured up to 5 meters long, enough to carry many sea creatures at once.

Sources

• PAUSANIAS: Description of Greece ii.1.
• Iliad xiii, 24 and 29.
• EURÍPIDES: Andromeda 1021.
• VIRGILIO: Geórgicas iv.389
• FILÓSTRATE THE VIEW: Images i.8.
  • English translation, on Theoi site.
• STAGE: Tebaida ii.45.