Bellerophon and Pegasus
heroThe hero who tamed Pegasus and slew the Chimera but was destroyed by his own hubris when he tried to fly to Olympus.
The Myth
Bellerophon was a prince of Corinth, son of Poseidon (or Glaucus), falsely accused of assault by Stheneboea (or Anteia), wife of King Proetus of Tiryns. Proetus sent him to his father-in-law Iobates of Lycia with a sealed letter requesting his death. Iobates set Bellerophon impossible tasks: first to kill the Chimera, a fire-breathing monster with a lion's head, goat's body, and serpent's tail. Athena appeared to Bellerophon in a dream and gave him a golden bridle. With it he tamed Pegasus, the winged horse born from Medusa's blood when Perseus beheaded her. Mounted on Pegasus, Bellerophon killed the Chimera by thrusting a lead-tipped lance into its fire-breathing mouth — the lead melted and choked the beast. He defeated the Solymi and the Amazons. But then, maddened by success, he tried to fly Pegasus to Olympus. Zeus sent a gadfly that stung Pegasus, and Bellerophon fell to earth, lamed and blinded, wandering alone until death.
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Chimera — a monster combining lion, goat, and serpent — gave us the word "chimera" meaning any hybrid or impossible fantasy. In modern genetics, a chimera is an organism containing cells from two different individuals, named directly after Bellerophon's monster. CRISPR gene-editing has made biological chimeras a reality, and every ethics debate about hybrid organisms references the Greek original — the monster you create by mixing things that shouldn't be mixed.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
Bellerophon
heroThe hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus and used him to slay the monstrous Chimera. His story...
Amazons
heroThe Amazons were a legendary nation of all-female warriors who lived without men, governed...
Pegasus (Winged)
creaturePegasus was the immortal winged horse born from Medusa's blood whose hoof-strike created the...
Athena
godGoddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, born fully armored from the head of Zeus. Patron deity of...
Chimera
creatureA fire-breathing monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. The Chimera...
Corinth
placeCorinth was a wealthy trading city on the narrow isthmus connecting mainland Greece to the...
Pegasus
creatureThe immortal winged horse that sprang from the blood of Medusa when Perseus beheaded her. Pegasus...
Perseus
heroThe legendary hero who slew the Gorgon Medusa and rescued Andromeda from a sea monster. Perseus...
Perseus (Hero)
heroPerseus was the demigod son of Zeus and Danaë who slew Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and founded the...
Icarus
heroThe son of Daedalus who flew on wings of wax and feathers but ignored his father's warning not to...
Icarus (Myth)
heroIcarus was the son of Daedalus who escaped Crete on wings of wax and feathers but flew too high —...
Phaethon
heroPhaethon was the son of Helios who insisted on driving the chariot of the sun and lost control,...