Bellerophon

Greek mythology's Bellerophon (also known as Bellerophontes) is the Corinthian hero who famously fought and slain the mythical Chimera monster, a terrifying fire-breathing hybrid of a lion, goat, and snake. Poseidon's son Bellerophon is renowned for taming the winged horse Pegasus, which he received as a gift.

Iobates, the king of Lycia, assigned him missions that included notable battles and triumphs over the warlike Solymoi, the Amazons, and Carian pirates. After pushing his luck too far, the hero died after falling to the ground while riding Pegasus high in the sky in a futile bid to join the gods on Mount Olympus.

Bellerophon was the grandson of Sisyphus, the king of Corinth who was punished by Zeus for his trickery and forced to endlessly roll a huge stone up a hill down in Hades, the Greek underworld. Bellerophon was the son of Poseidon in Greek mythology, though his real father is typically listed as Glaucus. Bellerophon received more divine favour than his grandpa, according to Homer (c. 750 BCE), since "the gods awarded him beauty and all that is lovely in manhood." The glorious gift of Pegasus, the winged horse that was created from the Gorgon Medusa's severed head after the hero Perseus destroyed her, was given to the son of the sea god. Some traditions state that Bellerophon discovered the horse at the holy spring of Pirene, which is close to Corinth. According to the Greek author Hesiod (c. 700 BCE), this fact explains how the name Pegasus, which is derived from the word "water" (pg), came to be. Bellerophon was able to soar and ride Pegasus after taming the horse with the aid of the goddess Athena; this ability would be useful in his later travels when he had to kill numerous strange animals.

A well-known conflict involving Bellerophon and the Chimera took place (Chimaera or Chimaira). This took place after Proitos, the king of Tiryns (also known as Proetus), lost patience with the hero after his wife Stheneboia (also known as Anteia in other versions) accused him of trying to rape her. She had developed feelings for our hero, but Bellerophon, who was a kind guest and didn't want to disgrace his host, refused to support her.Proitos, who had faith in his wife, appointed Bellerophon to serve the Lycian monarch Iobates, his father-in-law (or brother in other versions) (in modern Turkey). Even more, Proitos provided our hero a tablet to present to Isoabates, on which he was instructed to eliminate Bellerophon at any given chance. This letter written with a poison pen specifically stated:

Please ask God to take the bearer away from this earth because he tried to molest your daughter and my wife.

Iobates organised a round of feasts that lasted nine days in order to properly greet his guest. The king then demanded to see the tablet that belonged to his son-in-law. Iobates assigned our hero the impossible-to-completely-safe mission of killing the Chimera, a strange fire-breathing creature with a lion's body, a snake as a tail, and a goat's head protruding from its back after reading the nefarious instructions etched into the wax. In his Theogony, Hesiod provides the following description:

Chimaera was a terrifying, enormous, dexterous, and mighty being who exhaled unstoppable fire. She had three heads: a big dragon's, a serpent, a she-goat, and a lion with ferocious eyes.

This bizarre assemblage of creatures was thought to be the offspring of Echidna, the half-snake, half-woman monster who also gave birth to Cerberus, the three-headed hound that guarded the gates of Hades, and Typhon, the monster with 100 fire-breathing heads that made all the sounds of the animal kingdom. Other versions, most notably in Homer's Iliad, state that Amisodarus raised the Chimera.

Bellerophon was able to employ Pegasus, a horse with wings, and he was able to soar above the Chimera while using his bow to continuously shoot arrows into the creature's back. When Bellerophon put a chunk of lead to the tip of his spear and rammed it into the Chimera's jaws, the creature was finally dispatched. Lead was melted by the creature's fire breath, which flowed down its throat and crystallised in its internal organs.

It's probable that the Bellerophon tale was inspired by an actual historical figure. Flames from natural gas leaks still blaze on the Lycian slopes of Mount Olympus (the yanar in Turkish). Additionally, it's possible that a local hunter actually killed a bothersome lion and snake, giving rise to the mythology of a hero-killer who united the two beasts into one. The root word for fire in Semitic languages was chmr, according to Robin Lane Fox. Did this fire-being develop into a Chimera? The Holy Year was divided into three parts, each with its own symbol: a lion for spring, a goat for summer, and a snake for winter. Another idea holds that the Chimera represented an ancient goddess who herself embodied the Sacred Year. The historical conquest of the ancient Carian peoples, who worshipped a moon goddess whose calendar emblem was the Chimera, may also be symbolised by Bellerophon, who represents the Greeks. Finally, since the horse was a representation of this moon goddess, Bellerophon's taming of Pegasus may reveal another element of the same tale.

According to the mythology, Bellerophon was immediately ordered to go forth and battle the dreaded Solymoi (also known as Solymi), a notoriously warlike people, after making a triumphant return to Iobates. The hero was given permission by Pegasus to fly over his foes once more, and this time he threw huge stones at them. Bellerophon triumphantly arrived once more, but Iobates gave him still another seemingly impossible task: defeating the famed warrior ladies known as the Amazons who dwelt on the Black Sea coast. Unsurprisingly, the Greek hero, who was still atop Pegasus, prevailed by following the identical plan he had used to defeat the Solymoi. Bellerophon had to combat a group of Carian pirates led by Cheirmarrhus in the fourth mission.

The all-conquering hero was to be ambushed by his fighting troops, which was Iobates' ultimate test. With the aid of his father Poseidon flooding the Xanthian Plain, Bellerophon defeated the group. After seeing that the gods had actually benefited this young man and after coming to believe his version of the Stheneboia incident, the monarch finally gave in and appointed him as his heir. The hero also received enormous estates abundant in grapes and fertile land for cultivation, not to mention at least half the kingdom, when he wed Iobates' daughter Philonoe. Bellerophon raised Isandros, Hippolochos, and Laodameia as a result (mother of the hero warrior Sarpedon).

As a result of Bellerophon's arrogant belief that he could soar far enough on his winged mount to join the immortal gods on Mount Olympus, Pegasus threw him, and he crashed unceremoniously to Earth. A gadfly sent by Zeus biting Pegasus' behind caused the bird to become uneasy. The hero's death, which Homer now describes as being "hated by all the gods," served as a warning to humanity about the perils of hybridity (hubris). In some versions of the narrative, Bellerophon successfully arrives in southern Turkey's Cilicia region and founds the city of Tarsus. In a third variation, the hero is paralysed and spends his final days in wretched loneliness. When Pegasus finally arrived at Mount Olympus, he was given the responsibility of transporting Zeus' arsenal of thunderbolts. Eos, who was in charge of bringing Dawn across the sky each day, subsequently took care of Pegasus.