Pegasus in popular culture

Bellerophon on Pegasus spears the Chimera, on an Attic red-figure epinetron 425–420 BC

The winged, divine horse Pegasus has been a prominent figure in modern popular culture.

Art

Bellerophon riding Pegasus (1914)

• Pegasus, an 1888 sculpture that depicts the creature being tamed by Bellerophon, is the most famous work of French sculptor Émile Louis Picault, of which only 800 were made.^[1]
• There are also various origami models of Pegasus.

Corporate and commercial uses

• The Pegasus logo has been used for over 29 years by Courier Company Pegasus Express Ltd, and is seen on all vehicles and trailers, and depots in Scotland and England.
• Pegasus has been the symbol of the Mobil brand of gas and oil, marketed by the Exxon Mobil Corporation, since the 1930s and, more recently, FBR Capital Markets, an investment bank based in Arlington, Virginia.^[2] As such, it has also been a symbol of Dallas, Texas, gracing its skyline atop the Magnolia building and in Pegasus Plaza.
• Pegasus appears prominently in the logo of UB Group, an Indian business conglomerate.
• Pegasus is the name of an air-launched vehicle that carries satellites to orbit.
• Pegaso was a Spanish maker of trucks, buses and sport cars, active in 1946–1993.
• The Poetry Foundation also uses Pegasus as its logo; the Buell Motorcycle Company uses Pegasus as a visual branding element. The former Pegaso truck maker from Spain derived its name and logo from Pegasus, although the logo portrayed a merely fast, wingless horse silhouette. Reader's Digest also has a Pegasus logo.
• A Pegasus is the emblem of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, which names its bar the Pegasus. Pegasus is the University of Exeter's Classics and Ancient History Departmental journal. It has had many entries from notable Classicists as well as two articles from J. K. Rowling, a former student of the University's Classics and Ancient History Department.^[3]
• It was featured in the cover of Fleetwood Mac's single "Family Man".
• The Taiwanese company Asustek (manufacturer of the Asus brand computer, networking and consumer products) took its name from the creature, omitting the first three letters in order for the company to appear first in telephone listings. Likewise, its former fabrication subsidiary Pegatron took the first four letters from the name of the creature.
• Mascot of the Kentucky Derby Festival, a community celebration leading up to the Run for the Roses (aka: the Kentucky Derby) in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
• Turkish Pegasus Airlines uses the emblem of Pegasus, and Pegasus also appears in the turbines of all Air France aircraft.
• PEGASYS (Hoffmann–La Roche) for the treatment of hepatitis C, is a once-a-week injection that works to reduce the amount of hepatitis C virus in the body.
• Pegasus is the mascot of TriStar Pictures.
• Pegasus is the name of a medevac helicopter based at the University of Virginia Medical Center. Pegasus^[4] transports critically injured patients within 120 NM (220 km; 140 mi) of Charlottesville, Virginia. The name was chosen because it was different from most other medevac programs, and there are stories of Pegasus carrying wounded soldiers from battle.^[5]
• Pegasus is also featured on the coat of arms of Robinson College, part of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow Scotland, uses an online service called PEGASUS (Portal Engine Giving Access To Strathclyde University Systems) to provide its students with crucial information. Pegasus was chosen for the academic seal of the University of Central Florida, in 1963, by its first president, Dr. Charles Millican, who co-designed it.
• Nike Inc. has produced a brand of running shoe named the Air Pegasus.
• Pegasus Mail is the name of an email client.
• A pegasus was used as the Pontiac Fiero's emblem.
• Middle Tennessee State University's Mascot "Lightning" is based on Pegasus.

Films

A Pegasus is used in the 1932 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon The Winged Horse.

Pegasus has appeared in several films, including the animated films Fantasia, Hercules, and Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus along with the stop motion film, Clash of the Titans, Clash of the Titans the remake version and, as a name only, in Johnny English and its sequel Johnny English Reborn.

In Disney's Fantasia Pegasi are featured during the visualized "Pastoral Symphony" segment, along with other mythical creatures including unicorns and centaurs and in Hercules he is the winged horse sidekick and friend to Hercules, the main character. In Clash of the Titans, Pegasus is captured by Perseus before Perseus visits and kills Medusa the Gorgon. This version, changes the method of Pegasus' birth - although no further details are given, save a comment from Zeus that Pegasus is the sole surviving winged horse from a herd of the creatures, the rest killed by Thetis' son, Calibos. In Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus, Pegasus is the winged horse who helps Princess Annika.. In the film Johnny English, starring Rowan Atkinson, Pegasus, played by Tim Pigott-Smith, is the codename of the head of MI7; in the sequel, Johnny English Reborn, the head of the organisation is now a woman, played by Gillian Anderson, who also uses the codename Pegasus (possibly in a nod to the James Bond film series, in which M was traditionally played by a man but was then played by Judi Dench). A pegasus can be seen on the TriStar logo.

Television

• In the anime and manga series One Piece, during the Skypiea arc, Pierre, a bird of Gan Fall could transform into a horse and a horse bird hybrid due to eating a devil fruit, which give the users of devil fruits enormous power but also a prime weakness to water and an element that opposes their fruit's element like a lightning fruit could be weak against a rubber fruit as rubber is an insulator of lightning.
• Pegasus has been featured in Stargate Atlantis as a galaxy.
• Both versions of Battlestar Galactica included the Battlestar Pegasus, which survived the fall of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol.
• It was a starship, the USS Pegasus, in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• In the Japanese anime Digimon Adventure 02, Patamon can digivolve into Pegasusmon using the Digi-Egg of Hope.
• In the anime Beyblade: Metal Fusion, the hero Ginga Hagane uses the powerful bit-beast Pegasus.
• In the anime series Gundam, one of the main spaceships, White Base, is a Pegasus-class battle ship.
• In Sailor Moon SuperS, the spirit of Helios, the keeper of the Golden Crystal, disguises himself as a pegasus. Drawing on the metaphor of inspiration, he flees to live in a particular character's 'dream mirror', a literal reflection of a character's dreams and goals.
• In the anime Yu-Gi-Oh!, the main antagonist of the first season (and creator of the card game Duel Monsters) is a man named Maximillion Pegasus.
• In Dengeki Sentai Changeman, Yuma Ozora's motiff is a pegasus.
• Pegasus frequently appears in the 1960s cartoon The Mighty Hercules, as the winged steed of the titular character.
• In Fate/Stay Night, Pegasus is the Mythical Beast that is used by the Servant Rider when she uses one of her Noble Phantasms, Bellerophon. As a further reference to the original myth where it was born from the blood of the decapitated Medusa, Rider (whose true identity was Medusa) first summoned the Pegasus by stabbing herself through the neck.
• The Hasbro owned toy line My Little Pony includes ponies that are based on Pegasus. In the first animated special Rescue at Midnight Castle the pony Firefly is a pegasus pony. In the animated TV series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, pegasus ponies are one of three distinct species of ponies featured (unicorns and earth ponies being the other two). Two of the main characters Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are pegasus ponies.
• The Pegasus is a recurring motif in the manga and anime Saint Seiya. In this series, the main character, Seiya, becomes the Pegasus Saint. Also, the show's theme song is titled "Pegasus Fantasy" by the Japanese group Make-Up.
• The titular character and protagonist of the 2000 Kamen Rider Series, Kamen Rider Kuuga can use a green-colored form known as "Pegasus Form".

Theatre

• In the Broadway production of Xanadu, protagonist Kira rides on Pegasus to Mount Olympus during the number "Suspended in Time."

Written works

• Authors include Julia Golding, in her Companions Quartet, including Secret of the Sirens, The Gorgon's Gaze, Mines of the Minotaur and The Chimera's Curse; and Anne McCaffrey, who wrote a series of books, To Ride Pegasus, Pegasus in Flight, and Pegasus in Space.
• In the anime/manga of Yu-Gi-Oh!, the creator of the Duel Monsters card game was named Pegasus J. Crawford (Maximillion Pegasus in the dub and English manga). Also, there is a Duel Monster called Firewing Pegasus, and another called Sapphire Pegasus. In the classic anime/manga Saint Seiya, the Pegasus is the title character's destined constellation, and Seiya dons an ancient Greek armor in the form of the winged horse.
• Pegasus is the title character in the Pegasus book series written by Kate O'Hearn.
• Frequently mentioned in Rick Riordan Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus series, Pegasus finally appears in the final book, The Blood of Olympus, as the father of pegasi, among them Percy Jackson's friend, Blackjack.
• A pegasus is depicted living with Wonder Woman aboard the 0Wonderdome, and would make recurring appearances aiding her in her battle against the Gorgons and the Underworld.

Video games

• In the video game God of War II, the protagonist Kratos is bidden by Gaia (mother of earth), the mother of the Titans, to find the Sisters of Fate in order to change his past. She gives Kratos the aid of a Fire Pegasus to traverse the distance to the Island of Creation, where the Fates' temple is located.
• Pegasus is the Poseidon captured victim in Heracles: Battle With The Gods on the Nintendo DS. Pegasus is freed and reunited with Heracles after Poseidon's defeat.
• In multiple games in the Fire Emblem series, pegasi are mounted by knights and called Pegasus knights, or Falcon Knights in their upgraded form. In Awakening, the class Dark Flier, which certain characters ride on a black Pegasus, is introduced.
• In the computer game Age of Mythology, Pegasus appears in game as a flying scout unit.
• Pegasus appears in the final scene of the 2600 game, No Escape.
• Heroes of Might and Magic 3 features Pegasi as recruitable troops from the Rampart town.
• In the video game Kingdom Hearts II, the protagonist, Sora, duels the Hydra from the back of Pegasus.
• In Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire the Hero has to obtain some Pegasus Feathers for the main quest.
• In the video game Mega Man Star Force, one of the three versions, as well as the featured "Satellite Admin" that the player fights, and obtains the power of, in the game, is named, and resembles a, Pegasus.
• The time machine in the Journeyman Project series is called the Pegasus Temporal Catapult, or simply the Pegasus Device.
• In Inazuma Eleven, one of the hissatsu technique is called "Pegasus Shot" and involves summoning a blue Pegasus. A combination version involving three users is called "Tri-Pegasus", where a large white Pegasus is summoned.
• Inazuma Eleven's follow up,Inazuma Eleven GO, and its two sequels, features protagonist Matsukaze Tenma whose personality is based on Pegasus. His keshin; a magical deity which can be summoned by its user, is a "Majin Pegasus", and the evolved version of his soul; an ability that let's the user transform into an animal, is Pegasus. The name "Tenma" when written in Kanji translates to "heavenly horse".

Popular music

The mythical creature has influenced much music and is eponymous to many band names, records and songs: The Japanese jazz fusion band, Casiopea created an offshoot band under the name. The New Zealand indie rock band The Phoenix Foundation named their 2005 album after the creature. Italian electronic music musician Mauro Picotto also named an album named after it in 2000.

A few of the eponymous songs and bands:

• "Pegasus" by The Allman Brothers Band.
• "Pegasus" by System F.
• "Pegasus" California based rock band 1977–1986 with Tedd Armstrong, Steve Caton, James Bender
• "Pegasus" by The Hollies.
• "Pegasus" by Ulrich Roth.
• "I am Pegasus" by Ross Ryan.
• "Neon Pegasus" by Parry Gripp.

The guitar pickup company Seymour Duncan released in May 2013 a series of pickups for 7- and 8-string guitars, one of which is called the Pegasus, a bridge pickup designed with metal and progressive players in mind. Other pickups released that year by the company include the Nazgul bridge pickup and the Sentient neck pickup, compatible with either of them.^[6]

Sport

• "Wild Pegasus" was the ring named used by professional wrestler Chris Benoit during his time wrestling in Japan. Benoit won the Super J Cup whilst competing under this name.
• Fusaichi Pegasus, a racehorse won the 2000 Kentucky Derby.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pegasus.