Hippocamp
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{{dablink|This article is about the mythological animal. <br />For the genus ''Hippocampus'', see [[Seahorse]]. For the part of the brain, see [[Hippocampus]].}}
[[Image:Hippokampos, Nordisk familjebok.png|right|frame|Hippocampus drawn from a fresco in [[Pompeii]].]]
The '''hippocamp''' or '''hippocampus''' (plural: hippocampi; [[Greek language|Greek]]: ἵπποκαμπος, from ἵππος, "horse" and κάμπος , "monster"<ref>Compare the nameless monster [[Campe|Kampe]]</ref>), often called a '''sea-horse'''<ref>The hyphen distinguishes from the [[seahorse]], a real [[fish]].</ref> in [[English language|English]], is a mythological creature shared by [[Phoenicia]]n<ref>Coins minted at [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] show the patron god [[Melqart]] riding on a winged hippocamp: see the fourth century BCE [http://www.antiquities.org.il/hoards_eng.asp Yizre'el Valley silver hoard].</ref> and [[Greek mythology]], though the name by which it is recognized is purely Greek; it became part of [[Etruscan mythology]]. It has typically been depicted as a horse in its forepart with a coiling, scaly, fishlike [[hindquarter]].
==Mythology==
[[Homer]] described [[Poseidon]], who was god of horses (''Poseidon Hippios'') as well as of the sea, drawn by "[[brass|brazen]]-hoofed" horses over the sea's surface, and [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], being consciously archaic in ''[[Argonautica]]'' (iv.1353ff), describes the horse of Poseidon emerging from the sea and galloping away across the [[Libya]]n sands.<ref>Compare the specifically "two-hoofed" hippocamps of [[Valerius Flaccus]] in his ''Argonautica'': "[[Orion (mythology)|Orion]] when grasping his father’s reins he heaves the sea with the snorting of his two-hooved horses." (Valerius Flaccus, ''Argonautica'' 2.507).</ref> In [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic]] and [[Roman Empire|Roman]] imagery, however, Poseidon (or Roman [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]]) often drives a sea-[[chariot]] drawn by hippocamps. Thus hippocamps sport with this god in both ancient depictions and much more modern ones, such as in the waters of the eighteenth-century [[Trevi Fountain]] in Rome surveyed by Neptune from his [[niche (architecture)|niche]] above. (''illustration, left below'')
[[Image:Trevi - Tritone a Trevi.JPG|thumb|left|[[Triton (mythology)|Triton]]s and ''winged'' hippocamps in the [[Trevi Fountain]], Rome]]
The appearance of hippocamps in both [[freshwater]] and [[saltwater]] is counter-intuitive to a modern audience, though not to an ancient one. The Greek picture of the natural [[hydrological cycle]] did not take account of the condensation of atmospheric water as rain to replenish the [[water table]], but imagined the refreshening of the waters of the sea oozing back landwards through vast underground [[cavern]]s and [[aquifer]]s, rising replenished and freshened in springs.<ref>This made credible the mythic undersea passage of the fountain nymph [[Arethusa (mythology)|Arethusa]] from Greece to [[Sicily]]. The summary given of the ancients' view of the hydrological cycle is taken from the Roman Epicurean [[Lucretius]]' ''[[On the Nature of Things|De rerum natura]]'' (vi.631-38).</ref>
Thus it was natural for a temple at [[Helike]] in the coastal plain of [[Achaea]] to be dedicated to ''Poseidon Helikonios'', (the Poseidon of Helicon), the sacred spring of [[Mount Helicon|Boeotian Helikon]]. <ref>[[Strabo]]: "The sea was raised by an earthquake and it submerged [[Helike]] and also the temple of Poseidon Helikonios..." (''Geography'' 8.7.2).</ref> When an earthquake suddenly submerged the city, the temple's bronze Poseidon accompanied by hippocamps continued to snag fishermen's nets.<ref>According to [[Eratosthenes]], noted by Strabo (''loc. cit.'').</ref>
Likewise, the hippocamp was considered an appropriate decoration for [[mosaics]] in Roman [[thermae]] or public baths, as at [[Aquae Sulis]] modern day [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] in Britannia (''illustration, below'').
[[Image:Roman Baths, Bath - Sea Horse Mosaic.jpg|thumb|Hippocamp in Roman mosaic in the [[thermae]] at [[Aquae Sulis]] ([[Bath, Somerset|Bath]]).]]
Poseidon's horses, which were included in the elaborate sculptural program of gilt-bronze and [[ivory]], added by a Roman client to the temple of Poseidon at [[Corinth]], are likely to have been hippocamps; the Romanized Greek [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] described the rich ensemble in the later second century CE (''Geography of Greece'' ii.1.7-.8):
:"Within the sanctuary of the god stand on the one side portrait statues of [[sportsperson|athlete]]s who have won victories at the [[Isthmian games]], on the other side pine trees growing in a row, the greater number of them rising up straight. On the temple, which is not very large, stand bronze [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]]s. In the fore-temple are images, two of Poseidon, a third of [[Amphitrite]], and a Sea, which also is of bronze. The offerings inside were dedicated in our time by [[Herodes Atticus]], four horses, gilded except for the hoofs, which are of ivory, and two gold [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]]s beside the horses, with the parts below the waist of ivory. On the car stand Amphitrite and Poseidon, and there is the boy [[Palaemon]] upright upon a [[dolphin]]. These too are made of ivory and gold. On the middle of the base on which the car is has been wrought a Sea holding up the young [[Aphrodite]], and on either side are the nymphs called [[Nereids]].
[[Image:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Arion on a Sea Horse (1855).jpg|thumb|left|[[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]], ''Arion on a Sea Horse'' (1855).]]
Hippocamps appear with the first Orientalizing phase of [[Etruscan civilization]]: they remain a theme in Etruscan tomb wall-paintings and reliefs, where they are sometimes provided with wings, as they are in the Trevi fountain. Katharine Shepard found in the theme an Etruscan belief in a sea-voyage to the other world<ref>Her self-published thesis ''The Fish-Tailed Monster in Greek and Etruscan Art'', 1940, pp 25ff discusses hippocamps; the thesis was, exceptionally, reviewed (by G.W. Elderkin) in ''American Journal of Archaeology'' '''45'''.2 (April 1941), pp. 307-308: available on-line through JSTOR. Etruscan sea creatures, including a range of hippocamps, are set in cultural context and ordered by typology in Monika Boosen, ''Etruskische Meeresmischwesen: Untersuchungen zur Typologie u. Bedeutung'' (''Archaeologica'' 59) (Rome:Bretschneider) 1986.</ref>
[[Image:Sea-monster Terme di Nettuno Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|thumb|A sea-lion mosaic in the Baths of Neptune, [[Ostia Antica]].]]
Aside from ''aigikampoi'', the fish-tailed [[goat]]s representing [[Capricorn]] or [[Aegeus]] ("goat-man")<ref>Canonical figures, most of which were not themselves [[cult image]]s, and coins of the [[Caria]]n goddess associated with [[Aphrodite]] as the ''[[Aphrodisias|Aphrodite of Aphrodisias]]'' through ''[[interpretatio graeca]]'', show the goddess riding on a sea-goat. Imhoof-Blümer, ''Kleinasiatische Müntzen'' plate IV, no 14, noted in Elderkin 1941:3o7; Lisa R. Brody, under the direction of Christopher Ratté, [http://www.geocities.com/lisa_brody/diss.htm "The Iconography and Cult of the Aphrodite of Aphrodisias"]</ref> other fish-tailed animals rarely appearing in Greek art but more characteristic of the Etruscans included ''leokampoi'' (fish-tailed [[lion]]s), ''taurokampoi'' (fish-tailed [[cattle|bull]]s) or ''pardalokampoi'' (fish-tailed [[leopard]]s).<ref>[http://www.theoi.com/Ther/Hippokampoi.html''Ippokampoi''] at Theoi Project; see also Booson 1986.</ref>
The mythic hippocamp has been used as a [[Charge (heraldry)|heraldic charge]], particularly since the Renaissance, most often in the [[armorial bearings]] of people and places with maritime associations. However, in a [[blazon]], the terms ''hippocamp'' and ''hippocampus'' now refer to the real animal called a ''seahorse'', and the terms ''seahorse'' and ''sea-horse'' refer to the mythological creature. The above-mentioned fish hybrids are seen less frequently.<ref>Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles. ''Complete Guide to Heraldry'', 1978 edition.</ref>
==Modern fantasy==
In [[modern fantasy]], this creature is a part of various milieus, including the stories of [[Harry Potter]] and the many [[fictional world]]s of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. In both these examples, the [[Latin language|Latin]] ''hippocampus'' is the form of the name which is used.<ref>[http://gothlupin.tripod.com/h.html Hippocampus] [[Harry Potter]]'s [[Grimoire]]</ref><ref name="D&D">[http://www.planetadnd.com/interactive_books/mm00159.php Dungeons and Dragons reference] PlanetADND.com</ref>
The Dungeons & Dragons context provides the following specific description:
<blockquote>
The hippocampus is the most prized of the marine steeds, a creature that combines features of a horse and a fish. The hippocampus has the head, forelegs, and torso of a horse. The equine section is covered with short hair. The mane is made of long, flexible fins. The front hooves are replaced by webbed fins that fold up as the leg moves forward, then fan out as the leg strokes back. Past the rib cage the body becomes fish-like. The tail tapers 14 feet into a wide horizontal fin. A dorsal fin is located on the rump. Coloration is that of seawater. Typical colors include ivory, pale green, pale blue, aqua, deep blue, and deep green."<ref name="D&D"/>
</blockquote>
The videogame [[Age of Mythology]] also uses the Hippocamp as a player controlled unit used for the exploration of the sea, available only to players who chose to worship Poseidon.
==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}
==References==
*Classical references: Homer, ''[[Iliad]]'' xlii. 24, 29; Euripides, ''Andromache'' 1012; Virgil ''Georgics'' iv. 389; Philostratus ''Imagines'' i. 8; Statius ''[[Thebaid]]'' ii. 45 and ''Achilleid'' 1.25.
*{{Smith}}
==External links==
{{Commonscat|Hippocampus (mythology)}}
*[http://www.theoi.com/Ther/Hippokampoi.html Theoi Project - Hippokampoi]
*[http://www.about-turkey.com/karun/ A gold fibula, part of the "Lydian treasures" found in the former Lydian kingdom, made in the second half of the sixth century BCE].
[[Category:Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Greek legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Mythological horses]]
[[Category:Mythological hybrids]]
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