The mythology of the world encompasses in it various creatures in it. These creatures are completely different from those we see in normal life. However, one animal which is found most in the ancient world history is the “Horse”. Horses have been the most important part of various mythologies whether it is Chinese or Greek or Turkish or Asian. Various forms of horse have loaded the pages of history. Here is the list of few famous mythical horses in the world:
1. Unicorn
Unicorn is one of the most important creatures of the mythical stories. The unicorn can be describes a horse which has a horn on his head, a goat’s beard and cloven hooves. The unicorn was amongst the creatures which were friendly to humans and posed no harm to them. It was also said the unicorn’s horn has magical effect of neutralising the effect of poison. Unicorns first appeared in the descriptions of Indus valley civilisations.
2. Bucephalus
The horse is famous because of its master, Alexander the Great. Since Alexander was no ordinary man, how could he ride something so ordinary, so Bucephalus was the horse for him? The horse was the off spring of the most powerful horse in that area. The horse was so wild and ferocious that it could be handled just by Alexander. The horse has resemblance to an ox as it bears two horns. Also the horse was a man eating monster.
3. Chollima
Korean mythology gave rise to this famous mythical horse in China’s ancient history. The literal meaning of Chollima is “thousand ri horses”. Here “ri” was a unit of measurement which was equivalent to 311 miles or approx. 500 kms. The horse could travel such a long distance and thus very fast and swift. It was so fast that it could not be ridden by any mortal human being. It was analogous to the western Pegasus version. It is also the name of the national football team of Korea.
4. Kelpies
Kelpies were one amongst the beautiful breathtaking horses of mythological times. The horse had magical powers of changing shapes and was haunting the rivers and other water bodies of Scotland. They were not known to be friendly to humans, more specifically they were man-eaters, and they lured small kids and later ate them. They used to mate with the other mortal horses and their off springs had hooves of golden colour. These off springs hid deep inside the waters when they sensed any sort of danger.
5. Tulpar
Tulpar is also one of the most important mythological horses in the ancient history. Tulpar has its origin in the ancient turkey mythology. They have also appeared in some Asian mythological stories. According to one Asian legend a Tuvan hero used the Tulpar’s remains to invent the fiddle. The creature has horse’s body and bird’s wing which are symbolic of hunting in Central Asia. Kazakhstan and Mongolia have Tulpar on their state emblems. Tulpar is said to be analogous to Pegasus of the western mythology.
6. Hippogriff
Hippogriff is an amalgamation of eagle’s face and wings and horse’s body. This magical creature has two giant front paws like those of an eagle and back legs as that of a horse. These creatures were said to be very short tempered and nobody dared to tease them as it could be the last thing they could do. However they were known to be loyal to their masters who earned their trust. They were the feeders of small insects and bugs. Hippogriffs also have their names in the famous “Harry Potter”.
7. Kanthaka
Kanthaka is a mythical horse of the Buddhist mythology. This horse was most dear to Gautama Siddhartha, world widely known as “Buddha, the great”. The reason behind this was that this very horse helped Gautama Siddhartha to elope from his family and choose the road of saints. The horse died as he could not stay away from his master. The horse, Kanthaka is said to be reborn as a Brahmin scholar who later went to for his enlightenment.
8. Pegasus
One of the most important names in the list of mythical horses, Pegasus is horse in the Greek mythology. Pegasus was a beautiful winged white horse and the son of the Poseidon. There are different stories catering to the birth of this horse in different documents in history. One which is specifically famous is that Chimera was offered his own constellation after being defeated by the Zeus. It was a great inspiration for poems, movies, songs, books and paintings.
9. Apocalypse’s four horses
The four horses of apocalypse find their origin in the Christian mythology in the book of Revelation. Each horse is symbolic of something namely war, conquest, death and feminine. These horses were symbolic of the apocalypse’s forthcoming. Even each was of different colour- white, red, yellow and green. These horses have dominated the Christian mythology for over a millennium. Each horse has distinctive characteristics from other and was very superior to the normal horses.
10. Widow maker
It is also famous with the name of “Lightening”. The story of widow maker is an essential part of campfires in the West. The horse is so named because he killed the wife of his master Pico, a cowboy thus making him a widow. Also the horse could be only controlled by Pico. The horse is also famous for his choice of food, the dynamite which is something not for feeding horses.
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