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Hippalektryon
(161 words)

[German version]

(Ἱππαλεκτρυών; Hippalektryṓn, ‘horse rooster’). Fantastic  monster, a combination of cock and horse. The earliest literary record is Aesch. Myrmidones fr. 134 Radt. The references in Aristophanes (Pax 1177; Av. 800; Ran. 932, as in Aesch. with the epithet xouthós, ‘golden, yellow’) are parodies of tragedies. In Hesychius and Photius s.v. and in the scholia to Aristophanes, the creature has a bird's head - this is the exact opposite of the archaeological findings (a cock's hindquarters with two cock's legs, front of a …

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Scherf, Johannes (Tübingen), “Hippalektryon”, in: Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry. Consulted online on 28 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e513860>
First published online: 2006
First print edition: 9789004122598, 20110510



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