In Greek mythology, the spring created when Pegasus struck Mount Helicon with his hoof was Hippocrene.
According to Greek myth, Hippocrene sprang from Mount Helicon after the winged horse Pegasus struck the mountain. Its name comes from Greek words meaning “horse” and “spring.” The water was associated with poetic inspiration, making the spring especially important to the Muses and to poets.
Mount Helicon was regarded as a sacred mountain of the Muses in Boeotia. Ancient writers connected Hippocrene with the power of poetry, and later European literature often treated drinking from a poetic spring as a symbol of inspiration.
Hippocrene is sometimes confused with Castalia, another famous sacred spring linked to Apollo and the Muses at Delphi. Arethusa and Pirene were also celebrated springs in Greek mythology, but neither was created by Pegasus on Mount Helicon. The story also helps explain why Pegasus became an enduring emblem of poetry and artistic imagination.