B – Bellerophon

Ἰοβάτης δὲ ἀναγνοὺς ἐπέταξεν αὐτῷ Χίμαιραν κτεῖναι, νομίζων αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ θηρίου διαφθαρήσεσθαι: ἦν γὰρ οὐ μόνον ἑνὶ ἀλλὰ πολλοῖς οὐκ εὐάλωτον, εἶχε δὲ προτομὴν μὲν λέοντος, οὐρὰν δὲ δράκοντος, τρίτην δὲ κεφαλὴν μέσην αἰγός, δι᾽ ἧς πῦρ ἀνίει. καὶ τὴν χώραν διέφθειρε, καὶ τὰ βοσκήματα ἐλυμαίνετο: μία γὰρ φύσις τριῶν θηρίων εἶχε δύναμιν. λέγεται δὲ καὶ τὴν Χίμαιραν ταύτην τραφῆναι μὲν ὑπὸ Ἀμισωδάρου, καθάπερ εἴρηκε καὶ Ὅμηρος, γεννηθῆναι δὲ ἐκ Τυφῶνος καὶ Ἐχίδνης, καθὼς Ἡσίοδος ἱστορεῖ. [2] ἀναβιβάσας οὖν ἑαυτὸν ὁ Βελλεροφόντης ἐπὶ τὸν Πήγασον, ὃν εἶχεν ἵππον ἐκ Μεδούσης πτηνὸν γεγεννημένον καὶ Ποσειδῶνος, ἀρθεὶς εἰς ὕψος ἀπὸ τούτου κατετόξευσε τὴν Χίμαιραν.

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Compare the Library’s description of the Chimaera’s defeat with the images below. Why might the artists depict the myth differently than the written version?

Bronze sculpture. Etruscan. c. 400 BCE. National Archaeological Museum, Florence. Photograph by Sailko.
Bellerophon fighting the Chimera.
Bellerophon fighting the Chimera. Side A of an attic black-figured “overlap” Siana cup, ca. 575–550 BC. Found in Camiros, Rhodes. Louvre A 478.
Bellerophon, with Pegasus, killing the Chimaera.
Bellerophon, with Pegasus, killing the Chimaera. Kylix, ca. 570 BC – ca. 565 BC, Attributed to the Boread Painter, The J. Paul Getty Museum, 85.AE.121,
Bellerophon, Pegasus & Chimeara
Terracotta relief plaque (‘Melian relief’) with Bellerophon and the Chimaera, 490BC-470BC, , The British Museum, 1842,0728.1135,