INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world.
These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.
I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.
I hope you’re having a lovely May so far - and anyone in the UK will tell you that we’re having a great time with 3 out of 5 Mondays this month being bank holidays with the coronation. Sometimes there is a perk to being British, who knew?
DESCRIPTION:
Going off of that, we’re looking at a kingly myth monster this week, I say this only in their reputation and size - they don’t really have anything to do with kings realistically, but we’re staying underwater from last week and looking at the wonderful Hippocampus!
The Hippocampus is generally described as a seahorse adjacent beast of the depths - with blue or green skin, a horse-like head and upper body shape, and the tail of a fish instead of back legs. Its front legs are sometimes described as hooves, but most commonly as webbed. They have long flowing manes, and a long fin running from their torso to the end of their tail - very similarly to a traditional mermaid. They are also scaled and sometimes are depicted with wings, which they can also use underwater. They are horse-sized, rather than their aquatic namesake which are immensely small - and are known to be extremely strong and fast in the water. Hippocampus are immortal, god-favoured creatures with very few natural predators.
They are able to live in both fresh and saltwater, but are more likely to be in the ocean and larger bodies of water. They are said to keep to herds of around 10, with one lone stallion, mares and foals - and were considered social creatures. They do not need air, and are completely aquatic - they also only really eat algae and seaweed, and so would come to the surface if this was lacking under the waves.
In terms of powers, they are very strong and fast - but they are also able to control the water around them, including summoning huge waves to crash ships or propel them faster in the water. They could also in turn, control the weather around them - mostly by either calming or creating storms. There are debates on whether they could shapeshift into usual horses - but if they did, they are immensely clumsy whilst on land, definitely standing out amongst land horses.
They are completely benevolent and were known for rescuing stranded men out at sea, sea creatures or saving sailors from sea monsters and from drowning - having them mount their backs whilst they rode them back to shore. However, if you messed with them - they had a really powerful bite and could just leave you to drown I suppose. But they were trusted by sea-faring folk and the gods as messengers, mounts and rescuers.
Where did they come from though? Were they a godly blessing or are they mutated seahorses? It was truly believed that they were natural creatures as they were so firmly believed back in Ancient Greece - and were very much considered animals of the gods, because they were just so beautiful and kind. There was another theory though, that they were born of the crest of seawaves - which I think is pretty cool too.
ORIGIN:
For etymology, it’s a pretty good one this week. Hippocampus comes from the two Greek words hippos meaning horse and kampos meaning sea monster - making this a horse sea monster. However, in Greek the word all together means seahorse like the creature we all know and love.
There is an argument to be made about what the plural of Hippocampus is because it can be Hippocampus, but it can also be Hippocampi. The singular can also just be Hippocamp rather than Hippocampus - so just in case you’ve heard of them
In terms of their history - as we know, they’re pretty ancient as they are an ancient Greek monster, so we don’t have anything specific in terms of dates. What I can tell you is that the Ancient Greeks were around between the 12th and 9th century so they’re really really old. And although I can’t specify when and how they came into being I can tell you some ancient stories and myths behind them!
The Hippocampus were most famous for being mounts for the Gods - most favourably, Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. Poseidon loved these creatures, and used them as his chariot bearers across the seven seas and even sometimes across land. He even rode across Libya from the sea across the sands which I imagine must have been a pretty cool sight. It was even said that the legendary Orion, e.g. Orion’s belt - rode the chariot of Poseidon in the Argonautica written by Flaccus it said ‘Orion when grasping his father’s reins heaves the sea with the snorting of his two-hooved horses’ but bear in mind that Orion was one of Zeus’ children, not Poseidon. Poseidon though used to just cart himself and his wife Amphit rite and their children around in it.
Another character who had a Hippocampus was Thetis - who was an ocean Nereid or nymph, and the mother of the hero Achilles. We’ll cover Nymphs in another episode down the line, although they are verging on Gods - but they were lesser goddesses of nature and most had their own elements based on who birthed them. Thetis was a sea nymph, and one of the 50 Nereids born of the Greek sea titan Nereus and the Oceanid Doris. These creatures lived and worked alongside Poseidon when the Titans were overthrown, and Thetis was no different. She was married off to a mortal king, which really annoyed both Zeus and Poseidon, and eventually had Achilles. She was the one who dipped him in the River Styx to make him immortal all to his heel, yada yada yada you probably know this story.
Anyway, how does this relate to Hippocampus Erin, I hear you ask? Well Thetis got around on one because she was technically a lesser goddess, and when Achilles lost his love on the battlefield - Thetis screamed in grieving with her sisters, and in anger sent off her Hippocampus to Olympus to retrieve the armaments of Hephaestus - god of blacksmithing, to arm him up for revenge. This was actually a pretty pivotal point in the myth of Achilles, because these weapons made him a killing machine - so much so that even Zeus was scared of him. Thetis could not have gotten the armaments herself from Olympus, but the Hippocamp could pass between the worlds as they are considered godly mounts, whilst nymphs don’t really count as gods themselves. But I think it’s a nice nod to a respected and trusted monster.
That’s about it in terms of them being included in myth, but they have been massively used in heraldry since the Renaissance and within classic art, but they are most likely to be seen in modern times with their goatly-counterpart, Capricorn.
You’ll know this creature if you are born between December 22 and January 19th as your star sign, but the Capricorn is a mythical beast unto itself, being traditionally half-goat and half-fish. These two monsters are sometimes even interchanged, but they are two separate beings and we’ll cover the Capricorn in another episode down the line. Maybe I’ll even do a zodiac special, wouldn’t that be fun!
In terms of real life comparisons though, we can only really link this monster to its very clear counterpart - the seahorse. Seahorses are literally called hippocampus in Latin, and they are named so because of their equine appearance and are considered to be bony fish - as they don’t have scales, but bony, ringed plates over their skeleton. You can definitely immediately see the resemblance with this creature and our beloved seahorses - but the size difference is pretty massive, most seahorses are about 6 inches long and can only reach around 14 inches as a maximum - so to be able to ride these would be impossible.
Lastly, a fun fact about Hippocampus - you might have heard it before, but don’t know anything about this creature. Well this is because there is a section of human anatomy that is named after it - the hippocampus segment of all our brains. This part is one of the most integral to human culture, and it’s our memory bank - it’s right in the centre of both halves of our brains, and has a c-like shape, which is why it was given its name after the shape of the legendary water-beast, the Hippocampus.
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Now onto modern media, we actually have quite a few this week!
For art, I would really recommend looking at independent stuff this week - only because there are very few portraits of them, more just mosaics and pottery. There is also a fantastic sculpture of a Hippocampus made by Mardi Storm for Burning Man festival back in 2002 - and of course, the Trevi Fountain in Rome has a Hippocampus too.
In movies, we have; My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Rainbow Rocks, My Little Pony: The Movie, Aquaman, Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, The Little Mermaid & The Water Horse.
For TV, we have; Saint Seiya, Mermaid Melody: Pichi Pichi Pichi, Elena of Avalor, Mia and Me, My Little Pony, Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders & Terrytoons.
In video games, we have ones such as; World of Warcraft, La-Mulana, Shadowverse, Tiny Castle, Culdcept, Age of Mythology, Final Fantasy 3, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Flight Rising, God of War 3, Shin Megami Tensei, Valley of Unicorns, Magi Stream, Grandia, Farmville & ArcheAge.
My book recommendation this week is to look at
Mythical Creatures and Magical Beasts: An Illustrated Book of Monsters from Timeless Folktales, Folklore and Mythology Volume 1 and 2 by Zayden Stone - who wrote a collection of these books and I really recommend them for some monstrous facts.
DO I THINK THEY EXISTED?
Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?
Before I get into this - I need to say that I really love this monster, the idea of this amazing and trustworthy seamount is so cool. However, do I think it’s real - probably not I am sorry. And usually, I would give sea monsters the benefit of the doubt - but I think because this one is horse based and so close to an actual creature we have, it’s just not hitting the minimum criteria for belief for me.
I think it’s more a natural comparison with the seahorse itself - but also makes them more mythical. The idea of a normal sized horse in the sea able to give you lifts across the Atlantic would be a real dream, and because of how they compare to tiny seahorses and real land horses - you could totally see it. But horses, whilst they will swim - are not massively fond of water and wouldn’t survive long term within it without getting something like trench foot I guess.
I will say too that if you’re a World of Warcraft fan like me, there is a whole zone in the game called Vashj'ir, which is underwater - and they give you a hippocampus in game to ride on and it’s possibly one of the coolest mounts I have. This part of the game is from 2010 so it’s pretty old now - but it’s still one of my favourite places to level because it’s just so cool.
But what do you think? Did the Hippocampus roam the seas of Ancient Greece or even now? Let me know on Twitter!
OUTRO:
I’m so easy when it comes to my favourite monsters, as long as they’re Greek and water based - they’re pretty solid for me to enjoy at the least - I hope you have too!
Next week, we’re staying in Europe but coming over onto the west side in Belgium and Holland for the Bokkenrijders. Grab your goats and get riding through the sky next Thursday!
For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.
Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.
But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.