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Poseidon, accompanied by dolphins and fish was the Greek God of the sea and earthquakes, and as such is usually depicted as being heavily bearded, with long hair and holding three pronged spear (trident) which reflects his power.
Poseidon was a man with an extremely short fuse, this reflected itself in his regular rages and furious outbursts, ultimately manifesting itself in terrible storms and earthquakes in which he was known to split mountains, and throw then into the sea causing terrible tsunamis and producing new islands and land.
He fell in love with a beautiful Princess who he seduced in a temple consecrated to The Goddess Athena. As a result of this dalliance in the Temple, Athena turned the Princess into a monster (a Gorgon who was named medusa). Her hair was formed from serpents, and she turned instantly into stone any person who looked directly at her face.
Perseus a Greek God was the son of Danae the daughter of the king Acrisius of Argos. A prophecy said the king’s grandson would kill him, so he imprisoned his daughter Danae in a bronze underground chamber in order to keep her pure and chaste.
The Greek God Zeus who was enamoured by the beautiful Danea, disguised himself as a shower of Gold in order to overcame the king's precautions preventing access to the bronze chamber. As a consequence of this liasson, Danae conceived her son Perseus.
When the King found out his daughter had given birth to Perseus he became incandescent with rage, and had them both locked inside a wooden box and had it tossed into the sea.
A fisherman from the island of Seriphos spotted the box whilst pulling in his nets and rescued both Princess Danea and her young son Perseus.
The fisherman was the brother of King Polydectes, the ruler of the island of Seriphos, who, being a kind and benevolent ruler offered the mother and child his hospitality and protection. Over the years under the tutelage of learned men and guidance of the king, Perseus grew up to be become a bold and courageous young man.
It was about this time that King Polydectes, fell in love with the mother of Perseus, Princess Danea who spurned all his efforts to woo her citing her son as her reason. In an effort to overcome her resistance, the king sent for Perseus and under the guise of testing his skill and courage set him the task of finding the Gorgon Medusa, and returning to the Island with her head.
Athena the creator of the (Gogon Medusa) called him, and gave him a magical mirror in which he could see the image of Medusa, and thus avoid being turned into stone.
Hermes the God of eloquence, story telling, and commerce also called to Perseus. In order to help in his quest he gave him a pair of winged sandals that enabled our hero to fly.
Hades was the King of the underworld which was the repository of all dead souls. After death, the souls were received by the boatman Charon on the shores of the river Styx. He then rowed them across the river to the Kingdom of Hades. Hades decided to help Perseus, and gave him the helmet of invisibility.
Armed only with his courage and the weapons that the Gods had presented to him, Perseus, set out to find and confront the Medusa. After many adventures he located medusa, and finding her asleep, decapitated her with one blow from his sword.
From the bloodied neck of the now dead Medusa sprang out the warrior Chrysaor; and the winged horse Pegasus who had been conceived by Poseidon's seed before the Princess was transformed into the gogon Medusa by Athena.
His mission accomplished, he set out on the return journey to the Island of Seriphos with the head of the medusa. During the journey he stopped off in Ethiopa to replenish his supplies, and whilst there he met and fell in love with Adromeda and married her.
Finally landing on Serephos with his new wife, Perseus quickly realised that his mother Danae, was imprisoned in the palace by King Polydectes whose ardour she was still rebuffing.
Furious at the treatment of his mother, Perseus overthrew the king, with his triumph complete he was invited he was invited to the city of Larissa to participate in the funeral games in honour of the King of that city.
Perseus agreed to take part in the games, it was as a result of his badly thrown discuss that accidentally hit and killed his grandfather King Acrisius fulfilling the prophecy that he would die by the hand of his grandson.
Bellerophon hearing about the deeds of Perseus and the existence of the winged horse Pegasus, made his way to Mount Helicon where Pegasus had lived since his birth. He was determined to tame the horse in order to carry out his plan to fly to Olympus, the home of the Gods.
Bellerophon arrived on mount Helicon, and by cunning and guile managed to capture Pegasus and over a period a months managed to gain the trust of the horse and finally managed to ride him successfully.
Bellerophon made no secret of his intentions, however when the God Zeus learned of the plan he decided that this project should not come to fruition.
On the day that Bellerophon set out with Pegasus to ride all the way to Olympus the home of the Gods, Zeus, sent a horsefly to bite the rear of the horse. In pain, Pegasus reared up un-seating a startled Bellerophon, who fell back to earth landing with great force in a large bramble bush.
As a result of his injuries Bellerophon was blinded and made lame, doomed never to ride the horse again.
Although now riderless, Pegasus continued the journey finally arriving in Olympus to be receive by Zeus, who used Pegasus to transport thunderbolts forged for him by the Cyclops.
Zeus immortalised Pegasus by creating in the night sky a constellation bearing his name and is the seventh largest constellation in the sky.
Pegasus ridden by Bellerophon. Crest of the British Parachute regiment.
9 carat gold Pegasus tie tack / lapel badge.