Chimera

Chimera

by Micha F. Lindemans

In Greek mythology, the Chimera is a monster, depicted as an animal with the head of a lion, the body of a she-goat, and the tail of a dragon (sometimes it has multiple heads). It is a child of Typhon and Echidna. It terrorized Lycia (in Asia Minor), but was eventually killed by the Corinthian hero Bellerophon.

Chimera (creature)


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.




For other uses of this word, see Chimera (disambiguation).
"Chimera from Arezzo."
An Etruscan bronze sculpture.



In Greek Mythology, Chimera (Greek Χιμαιρα, Khimaira; Latin Chimæra) was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. Descriptions vary – some say she had the body of a goat, the hindquarters of a snake or dragon and the head of a lion, though others say she had heads of both the goat and lion, with a snake for a tail. All descriptions, however, agree that she breathed fire from one or more of her heads.
While there are different genealogies, in one version she mated with her brother Orthros and mothered the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion.
Chimera was finally defeated by Bellerophon with the help of Pegasus, the winged horse, at the command of King Iobates of Lycia. There are varying descriptions of her death – some say merely that Bellerophon ran her through on his spear, whereas others say that he fitted his spear point with lead that melted when exposed to Chimera's fiery breath and consequently killed her.
The myths of the Chimera can be found in Apollodorous' Library (book 1), Virgil's Aeneid (book 6), Homer's Iliad (book 6), Ovid's Metamorphoses (book 4) and Hesiod's Theogony.
The word Χιμαιρα is Greek for billygoat. Behind the myth may be a real battle against a war-leader or bandit whose name or title or symbol was 'Billygoat'.[edit]


See also

• Nue, a creature from Japanese folklore that is similar in appearance.