Chimera
Mythological Narrative
A fire-breathing hybrid monster with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a serpent. Slain by the hero Bellerophon while riding the winged horse Pegasus.
Scholarly Commentary & Evolution
## Lion, Goat, Serpent
Homer's Chimaira is a fire-breathing hybrid in Lycia, 'in front a lion, in the rear a serpent, in the middle a goat.' Bellerophon, riding Pegasus, kills her at the command of King Iobates. Hesiod makes her a child of Typhon and Echidna, kin to the Hydra.
The name later means any impossible compound; the Homeric beast is still a specific Lycian fire.
## Pegasus and the lead-tipped spear
In the *Iliad* (6.179-183) Glaucus tells the story of his grandfather Bellerophon: King Iobates set him impossible tasks, the first to kill the Chimera. Later tellings give him Pegasus, tamed with a golden bridle from Athena, and one version has him jam a lump of lead into the monster's mouth on his spear, so that its own fire melted the metal down its throat. The Chimaera of Arezzo, an Etruscan bronze of about 400 BCE, is the most famous ancient image.
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Chimera.
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