Seahorse

Seahorse is the title given to 54 species of marine fish in the genus Hippocampus. „Hippocampus” comes from the Ancient Greek hippos meaning „horse” and kampos meaning „sea monster”. The Seahorse is truly a mythological and beautiful creature. Perhaps that is why it is shared by Phoenician and Greek mythology, though the name by which it is recognized is purely Greek. It was also adopted into Etruscan and Roman mythology. It has typically been depicted as a horse in its forepart with a scaly, fish-like hindquarter. The Seahorse shows up in numerous places, both in art, literature and mythology. Some of the most famous is probably Poseidon’s seahorses. In Hellenistic and Roman imagery Poseidon (Roman: Neptune) often drives a sea-chariot drawn by hippocampi. In the Homer, Iliad, Homer describes Poseidon, who was a god of horses, earthquakes, and the sea, drawn by „brazen-hoofed” horses over the sea’s surface, emerging from the sea and galloping away. The mythical seahorse has been used countless times as a symbol right up to our time, most often in the armorial bearings of people and places with maritime associations. The sea-horse is also often seen in Renaissance and post-Renaissance art, for example in the waters of the 18th-century Trevi Fountain in Rome surveyed by Neptune from his niche above. A winged hippocamp has been used as a symbol for Air France since its creation in 1933 (inherited from its predecessor Air Orient) and can be seen today on the engine room on Air France flights.