page_title: Hippocampus (mythology)
section_title: Medieval, Renaissance, and modern
hierarchical_section_title: Hippocampus (mythology) / Mythology / Medieval, Renaissance, and modern
caption_attribution_description: Hippocampus, Dublin
context_page_description: The hippocampus or hippocamp, also hippokampos, often called a sea-horse in English, is a mythological creature shared by Phoenician, Etruscan, Pictish, Roman and Greek mythology, though its name has a Greek origin. The hippocampus has typically been depicted as having the upper body of a horse with the lower body of a fish.
context_section_description: The mythic hippocampus has been used as a heraldic charge, particularly since the Renaissance, most often in the armorial bearings of people and places with maritime associations.  However, in a blazon, the terms hippocamp and hippocampus now refer to the real animal called a seahorse, and the terms seahorse and sea-horse refer to the mythological creature.  The above-mentioned fish hybrids are seen less frequently.
  In appearance, the heraldic sea-horse is depicted as having the head and neck of a horse, the tail of a fish and webbed paws replacing its front hooves. Its mane may be that of a horse or it may be replaced with an additional fin. Sea-horses may be depicted with wings, but this motif does not appear to be present within any officially sanctioned arms.
  The sea-horse is also a common image in Renaissance and post-renaissance art, for example, in the Trevi fountain, dating to 1732.
  A winged hippocampus has been used as a symbol for Air France since its establishment in 1933 (inherited from its predecessor Air Orient); it appears today on the engine nacelles of Air France aircraft.
  Bronze hippocampi appear in Dublin, Leinster, Ireland on lampposts next to a statue of Henry Grattan and on Grattan Bridge.
caption: Hippocampi in Dublin, Ireland.
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