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Lot Essay
The hippalektryon is a hybrid of a horse and a rooster, combining equine foreparts with the body, legs and tail of a cock. It is one of many composite mythological creatures, like the centaur or the siren, that appear on vases and sculpture in the Archaic period.
This subject's popularity began during the second quarter of the 6th century and continued through the end of the century. Little is known about its origin or history. While most mythical beasts that appear in Greek art originate in the East, there is no prototype for the hippalektryon in Egyptian or Near Eastern art, nor is there any surviving information from Greek mythology or history. The only mentions of it by Greek writers are in a now-lost play by Aeschylus, and in one by Aristophanes from the late 5th century, who mentioned that the average Athenian would not know what a hippalektryon was. For more on the subject and for an eye-cup depicting a youth riding a hippalektron, see no. 64 in H.A. Shapiro, Art, Myth, and Culture: Greek Vases from Southern Collections.
This subject's popularity began during the second quarter of the 6th century and continued through the end of the century. Little is known about its origin or history. While most mythical beasts that appear in Greek art originate in the East, there is no prototype for the hippalektryon in Egyptian or Near Eastern art, nor is there any surviving information from Greek mythology or history. The only mentions of it by Greek writers are in a now-lost play by Aeschylus, and in one by Aristophanes from the late 5th century, who mentioned that the average Athenian would not know what a hippalektryon was. For more on the subject and for an eye-cup depicting a youth riding a hippalektron, see no. 64 in H.A. Shapiro, Art, Myth, and Culture: Greek Vases from Southern Collections.