Editing Hippocrene

{{Short description|Spring on Mount Helicon in Greek mythology}}
{{Other uses}}

[[File:Hippocrenesource.jpg|thumb|Hippocrene source on Mount Helicon]]

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Hippocrene''' {{IPAc-en|h|I|p|@|'|k|r|iː|n|iː}} ({{langx|grc|[[:wikt:ἵππου|Ἵππου]] [[:wikt:κρήνη|κρήνη]]<ref>"Hesiod": {{cite book|last = Most|first = Glenn W|authorlink = Glenn W. Most|title= Hesiod|publisher  = [[Harvard University Press]]|series = The Loeb Classical Library|volume= 1 |year = 2006 |location = Massachusetts |isbn = 0-674-99622-4|page = [https://archive.org/details/hesiod00hesi/page/2 2] |url = https://archive.org/details/hesiod00hesi/page/2}}</ref> or Ἱπποκρήνη or Ἱππουκρήνη<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:alphabetic+letter=H:entry+group=8:entry=hippocrene-harpers|title=Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), H, Hippăna, Hippocrēné|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|accessdate=Jan 1, 2023}}</ref>}}) is a [[Spring (hydrology)|spring]] on [[Mount Helicon]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Frazer, J. G.|authorlink=James George Frazer|chapter=Hippocrene|title=Pausanias, and Other Greek Sketches|page=[https://archive.org/details/pausaniasandoth00frazgoog/page/n369 358]|year=1900|publisher=Macmillan|location=London|url=https://archive.org/details/pausaniasandoth00frazgoog}}</ref> It was sacred to the [[Muses]] and was said to have formed when the winged horse [[Pegasus]] struck his hoof into the ground, whence its name which literally translates as "Steed/Horse's Fountain".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=helicon-harpers|title=Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Helĭcon|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|accessdate=Jan 1, 2023}}</ref> The water was supposed to bring forth poetic inspiration when imbibed.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref>[http://www.aolsvc.merriam-webster.aol.com/dictionary/hippocrene] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121129020408/http://www.aolsvc.merriam-webster.aol.com/dictionary/hippocrene |date=2012-11-29 }}</ref>

==Sources==
[[Hesiod]] refers to the horse's well on Helicon in his ''[[Theogony]]''.<ref>"Hesiod": {{cite book
  |last       = Most
  |first      = Glenn W
  |authorlink = Glenn W. Most
  |title      = Hesiod
  |publisher  = [[Harvard University Press]]
  |series     = The Loeb Classical Library
  |volume     = 1
  |year       = 2006
  |location   = Massachusetts
  |isbn       = 0-674-99622-4
  |page       = [https://archive.org/details/hesiod00hesi/page/3 3]
  |url        = https://archive.org/details/hesiod00hesi/page/3
  }}</ref>

<blockquote>
And after they have washed their tender skin in [[Permessus]] or '''''Hippocrene''''' or holy [[Olmeius|Olmeidus]], they perform choral dances on highest '''''Helicon''''', beautiful, lovely ones, and move nimbly with their feet.
</blockquote>

[[Petrarch]] refers to the fountain of Helicon in his epic poem ''[[Africa (Petrarch)|Africa]]'':

<blockquote>
Sisters who are my sweet care, <br />
If I sing to you of wonders, <br />
I pray that it be granted to me <br />
To drink again at the '''''fountain of Helicon'''''. <br /> 
</blockquote>

[[Camoens]] cites the fountain as a great source of poetic inspiration in his epic Portuguese poem ''[[The Lusiads]],''<ref>
{{cite book |last=Camoens 
|first=Luiz Vaz de 
|translator=John James Aubertin 
|title=The Lusiads 
|date=1884 |origyear=1572
|publisher=K. Paul, Trench & Company 
|location=Canto I, Stanza IV 
|page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lPMyAQAAIAAJ |access-date=23 February 2023 
|language=English |chapter=I}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book 
|last1=Camoens 
|first1=Luiz Vaz de 
|translator=Richard Francis Burton 
|editor1-last=Burton 
|editor1-first=Isabel 
|title=The Lusiads 
|date=1880 |origyear=1572
|publisher=Bernard Quaritch 
|location=London 
|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Lusiads_(tr._Burton)/Canto_I |language=English 
|chapter=Canto I}}
</ref> 
as translated:

<blockquote>
And you, my [[Tagus|Tagian]] [[Naiads|Nymphs]], oh, since my rhyme <br />
With ardent genius new you now inspire, <br />
If I was wont, well pleased, in former time <br />
To celebrate your stream with humble lyre, <br />
Oh, grant me now a lofty note sublime, <br />
A grand and glowing line of poet's fire, <br />
That of your waters [[Phoebus]] may ordain: <br />
They shall not envy those of '''''Hippocrene'''''. <br />
</blockquote>

[[John Keats]] refers to Hippocrene in his poem "[[Ode to a Nightingale]]".<ref>"Ode to a Nightingale": {{cite book |last= Keats |first= John |editor= Stephen Greenblatt |title= [[Norton Anthology of English Literature]] |publisher= [[W. W. Norton|Norton]] |year= 2006 |edition=Eighth |location= London}}</ref>

<blockquote>
O for a beaker full of the warm South<br />
Full of the true, the blushful '''''Hippocrene''''',<br />
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,<br />
And purple-stained mouth;<br />
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,<br />
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:<br />
</blockquote>

[[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] mentions the fountain in his poem "Goblet of Life":

<blockquote>
No purple flowers,—no garlands green, <br />
Conceal the goblet's shade or sheen, <br />
Nor maddening draughts of '''''Hippocrene''''', <br />
Like gleams of sunshine, flash between <br />
Thick leaves of mistletoe. <br />
</blockquote>

==See also==
*[[Aganippe]]
*[[Silverlock]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline}}
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Hippocrene|volume=13|page=519}}

[[Category:Locations in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Pegasus]]
[[Category:Springs of Greece]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek sacred springs]]


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