Editing Balius and Xanthus

{{Short description|Pair of immortal horses in Greek mythology}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=March 2013}}
[[File:Regnault, Henri - Automedon with the Horses of Achilles - 1868 (2).jpg|thumb|Balius and Xanthus]]
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'''Balius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|eɪ|l|i|ə|s}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Βάλιος, ''Balios'', possibly "dappled") and '''Xanthus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|z|æ|n|θ|ə|s}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Ξάνθος, ''Xanthos'', "blonde") were, according to [[Greek mythology]], two immortal horses, the offspring of the [[harpy]] [[Podarge]] and the West wind, [[Zephyrus]]. In other traditions, [[Poseidon]] is the father of Xanthus along with another horse named [[Cyllarus]] to an unnamed mother.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Iles Johnston|first=Sarah|date=1992|title=Xanthus, Hera and the Erinyes (Iliad 19.400-418)|journal=Transactions of the American Philological Association|volume=122|pages=85–98|doi=10.2307/284366 |jstor=284366}}</ref> It is possible that Xanthus's ability to speak prophetically may be related to [[Arion (mythology)|Arion]], another mythical horse reported to have saved [[Adrastus of Argos|Adrastus]] from the war of the [[Seven against Thebes]] with his prophetic abilities in [[Statius|Statius's]] [[Thebaid (Latin poem)|''Thebaid'']].<ref name=":0" />

== Mythology ==
Poseidon gave the two horses to King [[Peleus]] of Phthia, as a wedding gift when Peleus married the Ocean goddess, [[Thetis]]. Peleus later gave the horses to his son [[Achilles]] who took them to draw his chariot during the [[Trojan War]].

Book 16 of the ''[[Iliad]]'' tells us that Achilles had a third horse, [[Pedasus|Pedasos]] (maybe "Jumper", maybe "Captive"), which was yoked as a trace horse, along with Xanthus and Balios. Achilles had captured Pedasos when he took the city of Eetion. Pedasos was mortal, but he could keep up with the divine horses. [[Sarpedon (Trojan War hero)|Sarpedon]], prince of [[Lycia]] and ally of Troy, killed Pedasos when his spear missed [[Patroclus]]. Achilles' comrade-in-arms Patroclus used to feed and groom these horses. In the ''Iliad'', it was told how, when Patroclus was killed in battle, Xanthus and Balius stood motionless on the field of battle and wept.
[[File:Triumphant Achilles in Achilleion levelled.jpg|left|thumb|Late 19th-century fresco by Franz von Matsch (1861–1952) in the Aquileon: the chariot of Achilles drags the body of Hector.]]
At ''Iliad'' 17.474-8, [[Automedon]], Achilles' charioteer, states that only Patroclus was able to fully control these horses. When Xanthus was rebuked by the grieving Achilles for allowing Patroclus to be slain, [[Hera]] granted Xanthus human speech allowing the horse to say that a god had killed Patroclus and that a god would soon kill Achilles too. After this, the [[Erinyes]] struck the horse dumb.

Based on fragments from [[Alcman]] and [[Stesichorus]], an alternative story of the horses can be derived.<ref name=":0" /> The horses, named Xanthus and Cyllarus, are the sons of Poseidon, who gave them to Hera as a gift. The latter bestowed them onto the [[Castor and Pollux|Dioscuri]] to use as their horses in battle, and Xanthus retains his ability to speak with Castor.<ref name=":0" />

==See also==
* [[List of fictional horses]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*Homer. ''[[Iliad]]''. XVI, 149, 467; XIX, 400.

==Further reading==
* [[Apostolos Athanassakis|Athanassakis, Apostolos N.]], "Akhilleus's Horse Balios: Old and New Etymologies". In: ''Glotta'' 78, no. 1/4 (2002): 1–11. {{JSTOR|40267134}}.

==External links==
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{{Characters in the Iliad}}

[[Category:Characters in the Iliad]]
[[Category:Mythological horses]]
[[Category:Children of the Harpies]]


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