HIPPOCRENE (the "fountain of the horse," [Greek: he hippou krene]), the
spring on Mt Helicon, in Boeotia, which, like the other spring there,
Aganippe, was sacred to the Muses and Apollo, and hence taken as the
source of poetic inspiration. The spring, surrounded by an ancient wall,
is now known as _Kryopegadi_ or the cold spring. According to the
legend, it was produced by the stamping of the hoof of Bellerophon's
horse Pegasus. The same story accounts for the Hippocrene in Troezen and
the spring Peirene at Corinth.
HIPPODAMUS, of Miletus, a Greek architect of the 5th century B.C. It was
he who introduced order and regularity into the planning of cities, in
place of the previous intricacy and confusion. For Pericles he planned
the arrangement of the harbour-town Peiraeus at Athens. When the
Athenians founded Thurii in Italy he accompanied the colony as
architect, and afterwards, in 408 B.C., he superintended the building of
the new city of Rhodes. His schemes consisted of series of broad,
straight streets, cutting one another at right angles.
HIPPODROME (Gr. [Greek: hippodromos], from [Greek: hippos], horse, and
[Greek: dromos], racecourse), the course provided by the Greeks for
horse and chariot racing; it corresponded to the Roman _circus_, except
that in the latter only four chariots ran at a time, whereas ten or more
contended in the Greek games, so that the width was far greater, being
about 400 ft., the course being 600 to 700 ft. long. The Greek
hippodrome was usually set out on the slope of a hill, and the ground
taken from one side served to form the embankment on the other side. One
end of the hippodrome was semicircular, and the other end square with an
extensive portico, in front of which, at a lower level, were the stalls
for the horses and chariots. The modern hippodrome is more for
equestrian and other displays than for horse racing. The Hippodrome in
Paris somewhat resembles the Roman amphitheatre, being open in the
centre to the sky, with seats round on rising levels.
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