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Pegasus

Pegasus is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born when their mother was decapitated by Perseus. Greco-Roman poets wrote about his ascent to heaven after his birth and his obeisance to Zeus, who instructed him to bring lightning and thunder from Olympus.

Pegasus is the creator of Hippocrene, the fountain on Mount Helicon. He was captured by the Greek hero Bellerophon, near the fountain Peirene, with the help of Athena and Poseidon. Pegasus allowed Bellerophon to ride him in order to defeat the monster Chimera, which led to many more exploits. Bellerophon later fell from Pegasus's back while trying to reach Mount Olympus. Both Pegasus and Bellerophon were said to have died at the hands of Zeus for trying to reach Olympus. Other tales have Zeus bring Pegasus to Olympus to carry his thunderbolts.

Long honored as a constellation, Pegasus is a subject of very rich iconography, especially through ancient Greek pottery as well as paintings and sculptures of the Renaissance.

Pegasus Stamp Collection

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Uruguay 1930 Pegasus in a large

airmail series

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Greece 1988 Pegasus in Lefkada, capital of the Lefkada Regional Unit

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Switzerland 1957 Pegasus in a series of U.P.U. (Universal Postal Union) stamps

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Italy 1930 Pegasus in Airmail - Imperial Series

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Switzerland 1969 Pegasus in a Pegasus constellation

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Belgium 2012 Pegasus in a Mythical creatures series

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Spain 1937 Pegasus in Express Post

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Spain 1931 Pegasus in Express Post

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Spain 1939 Pegasus in Express Post

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Spain 1925 Pegasus in Express Post

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Romania 1992 Pegasus in a series of horses

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Spain 1931 Pegasus in 900 Years Abbey Montserrat

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Monaco 1942 Pegasus in airmail Post

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Hungary 1959 Pegasus rearing from flames with the autograph of Schiller The for 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Friedrich Schiller, 1759-1805

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San-marino 1946 Pegasus in Express Post for abroad with the three towers of San-marino

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Mali 1962 Pegasus in Anniversary of Admission to the west union postal

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Serbia 2014 Pegasus in the Chinese New Year - Year of the Horse

Irland 2000 Pegasus in Greetings Stamps  - from a series of Mythical Creatures

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Danmark 2000 Pegasus painting by Kurt Trampedach (1943-2013) danish painter and sculptor

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Romania 1949 Pegasus (winged horse) with a post carriage -  75th Anniversary of Universal Postal Union (UPU)

France 2013 Pegasus in the series of The small joys - Horse lucky charm

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Montserrat 1997 Pegasus in the series of Mythical creatures  with (OHMS overprint) On Her Majesty's Service

Italy 1958 Pegasus as Etruscan Winged Horse from Tarquinia

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USA 1940 Pegasus as a symbol beneath the poet John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)

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Ussr 1969 Pegasus with  Tupolev Tu-104 (1955) in Development of Soviet Civil Aviation

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Argentina 1951 Pegasus and Steam Locomotive for Five-year plan 1947 - 1951

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United nation vienna 2008 Pegasus a statue in Hohensalzburg Fortress  in front of the castle Mirabell 

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Finland 1981  A girl and a boy riding on Pegasus on the Centenary of the Youth Association Movement

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Hungary 1940 Pegasus symbolises the Poetics as one of the Artists' Relief Fund

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Uruguay 1994 Pegasus in AGADU-Emblem for the General Association of uruguayan Authors, 65th Anniv.

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Wallis et futuna 1984 Pegasus - a drawing of Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) for his 95th Birth Anniversary 

Ukraine 2004 Pegasus with a chariot for XXVIII Summer Olympic Games, Athens-2004

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Bulgaria 1981 Pegasus in the Day of the Word. a sculpture of bronze.

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China, People's Republic 1960 Pegasus in the 5th. anniv. of Liberation of Korea

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Lithuania 1996  An Elf Riding on Pegasus for Christmas

Belarus 2006   Pegasus - drawing by Daria Bunejewa  for Europa (C.E.P.T.) Integration

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USA 2005   Pegasus in the series of Constellations

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Nicaragua 1992   Liberated Pegasus by Hugo Palma (1942-)

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Brazil 1998    Pegasus (on the right) for 200 Years Born Dom Pedro I

Proetus, Bellerophon (son of the King of Corinth Glaucus and Eurymede, and a grandson of S

Greece 1992   Proetus king of Argos and Tiryns gives the letter to Bellerphon for Lobates in Lycia 

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Greece 1992 (block)  for European Conference of Transport Ministers

Bellerophon - When Bellerophon came to Proetus to be purified of a murder which he had committed, the wife of Proetus fell in love with him, and invited him to come to her: but, as Bellerophon refused to comply with her desire, she charged him before Proetus with having made improper proposals to her. Proetus then sent Bellerophon to Iobates in Lycia, with a letter in which Iobates was desired to murder Bellerophon. Iobates challenged Bellerophon to several seemingly impossible tasks which Bellerophon did complete. he sent Bellerophon on a mission that he deemed impossible: to kill a fire-breathing monster, the Chimera. The goddess Athena, realizing Bellerophon would surely die if he undertook this task alone, sent him aid in the form of the winged horse, Pegasus.

Pegasus aided the hero Bellerophon in his fight against the Chimera. There are varying tales about how Bellerophon found Pegasus; the most common  being that the hero was told by Polyeidos to sleep in the temple of Athena, where the goddess visited him in the night and presented him with a golden bridle. The next morning, still clutching the bridle, Bellerophon found Pegasus drinking at the Pierian spring, caught him, and eventually tamed him.

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Greece 1935   Athena with

Pegasus

Michaud's Biographie universelle relates that when Pegasus was born, he flew to where thunder and lightning are released. Then, according to certain versions of the myth, Athena tamed him and gave him to Perseus, who flew to Ethiopia to help Andromeda.

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Greece 2010   An Athenian and a Persian fighting each other (480 B.C.). Red-figured Attik kylix. from the series of Marathon Battle - 2500 Years Anniversary. Pegasus on the shield.

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Greece 1935   Bellerphon with

Pegasus

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Greece 2009  Bellerphon with

Pegasus

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Mexico 1945   Pegasus from the series Ethnicity and History

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Japan 2012   Pegasus in the series of Constellations 

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