BELLEROPHON, THE SLAYER OF THE CHIMERA - #BLOGCHATTERA2Z2026
Bellerophon Vanquishing the Chimera -
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Bellerophon was the divine Corinthian hero best known as the one who tamed the winged horse, Pegasus, and slew the dreadful Chimera. He was second only to the mighty Hercules.
Born to the sea god, Poseidon, and Euronome, Bellerophon
was also considered a demigod. While practising knife throwing with his
friends, he killed his brother, Deliades, by mistake. To atone for fratricide,
he made a plea to King Proetus, whose wife, Queen Anteia tried to seduce him.
When he rejected her advances, she turned the tables on him, and accused him of
having tried to seduce her instead.
Proetus was aware that he could not harm Bellerophon as
he was a guest. Hence, he exiled him to his father-in-law, King Iobates’
kingdom, along with a sealed letter in a tablet in which he asked him to kill
Bellerophon for his misdemeanour.
King Iobates took care of Bellerophon for many days
before he opened the letter. Since he too did not want to harm a guest, he
instead sent Bellerophon away to Caria, to vanquish the mighty Chimera, a
monster depicted with a lion’s head, a goat’s body and a serpent’s tail. The Chimera’s
breath came out in intense blasts of burning flame.
On his way to Caria, Bellerophon met a soothsayer,
Polyeidos, who warned him that he would need the help of the untamed winged
horse, Pegasus, to overpower the Chimera. Polyeidos told him to sleep in the
temple of Athena that night. In the middle of the night, Bellerophon dreamt of
Athena’s golden bridle being placed next to him. When he awoke, the bridle was,
indeed, next to him. The soothsayer had also given him the location of the
fountain Peirene from which Pegasus would drink water. Bellerophon approached
the winged horse, slipped the golden bridle over its neck, and lo, the spirited
steed became docile.
The Myth of Bellerophon and Pegasus
Greek Myths - Greek Mythology
Seated on Pegasus, Bellerophon made his way to Lycia, the
abode of the fearsome Chimera. Aware that the monster had immense strength,
Bellerophon mounted a huge block of lead at the end of his spear. Charging at
the monster, he speared it, lodging the lead in its throat. The fiery breath of
the Chimera melted the lead, thereby blocking its air passage and suffocating it,
which led to the end of the so-called invincible monster.
When Bellerophon returned to Iobates’ kingdom, the king relented and allowed him to marry his younger daughter, Philonoe, the sister of Queen Anteia. However, Bellerophon had not forgotten the insult. He pretended to accept Anteia’s advances, persuading her to fly with him on Pegasus over the vast ocean. He threw her in the middle of the expanse of water where she drowned, an act of revenge for the humiliation she had caused him in the past.
However, hubris and false pride blinded Bellerophon, the
slayer of the mighty Chimera. He believed that he deserved to fly to Mount
Olympus, the abode of the gods. An irate Zeus, the King of the gods, sent a
gadfly to sting Pegasus, which caused the horse to swerve, knocking Bellerophon
off its back, and he plummeted down to earth and lived, forever crippled and blinded, a tragic end for a hero
who dared to overstep his mortal limits. This is a premise seen often in Greek
mythology, the combat between the gods and the mortals.
Pegasus continued his flight to Olympus where he was
chosen by Zeus as a pack horse for his powerful thunderbolts.
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