CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – PEGASUS

 

Born from Medusa's neck when she was beheaded by Perseus

Pegasus the immortal winged horse that was sired by Poseidon

It was a wild shining white horse until one night it was captured

While drinking at the spring of Peirene by the hero Bellerophon

 

Pegasus was captured with the aid of a magical Golden Bridle

That would tame even the wildest horse and given him by Athena

Then prince Bellerophon rode brave Pegasus in the land of Lycia

And victorious into battle against the three headed Chimaera

Then Bellerophon, so happy with himself for killing the monster

Decided to try and ride Pegasus to the top of Mount Olympus

Zeus was so enraged he struck down and crippled Bellerophon

And as a carrier of thunderbolts Zeus used the immortal Pegasus

CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – CHIMAERA

Prince Bellerophon traveled to distant Lycia

At King Proetus’s request to perform an errand

Arriving on his winged steed Pegasus he found

A pall had been cast over the once-joyful land

 

Each night, the Chimaera, a three headed monster

A combination of a lion, a goat and a serpent

Swept down and carried off terrified victims

Men, women, children, and livestock all went

 

The bones of the beasts many victims lay strewn

Along the valley and across the mountainside

The population were living in constant fear

And at night when possible they stayed inside

 

The errand for King Proetus was a letter delivery

And the letter was for Iobates of Lycia, the King

When he had read the letter the hero had delivered

He found that Proteus wished Bellerophon’s killing

 

Iobates was the father in law of King Proetus

And he accused Bellerophon of his wife’s seduction

In truth Proetus’ wife was in fact the guilty party

She falsely accused him after suffering rejection

 

Though he wanted to please his son-in-law,

He knew that he dare not risk an outright execution

As this would lead to war with the Corinthians

So he slyly set a challenge for young Bellerophon

 

Iobates set him the task of slaying the Chimaera

Almost certain that he would never return alive

Bellerophon had always longed for excitement

Fearless he rose to a challenge he may not survive

 

Iobates told him the monster was related to Cerberus

Watchdog of Hades and the many-headed Hydra

Even though the King described the beast in detail

He was not at all frightened of facing the Chimaera

 

So mounted upon his faithful winged Pegasus

Bellerophon set off to find the Chimeras lair

Believing a head on attack was too dangerous

He thought his only chance was from the air

 

Once they had the location of the hideous beast

Armed with his bow he rained arrows down below

The had the effect of unnerving the creature greatly

Pegasus just kept them out of reach of its fiery glow

 

Then Armed with a lance he charged the Chimaera

And the beast exhaled a plume of its horrible fire 

Pegasus darted backward to evade the burning breath

Then they had to strike before Pegasus began to tire

 

So they repeated the tactic for just one more time

This time before the Chimaera could breathe again,

Pegasus renewed its charge towards the great beast

And Bellerophon speared Chimaera's heart and brain

 

The next morning Pegasus and Bellerophon flew

Out of the dawn holding aloft the Chimaera’s head

There was great rejoicing though out the kingdom

And soon the news traveled that the beast was dead

 

With Chimaera dead Iobates knew he was unable

To fulfill King Proetus’s request to take the boys life

King Iobates embraced the young hero and then

Gave his willing daughter to Bellerophon as a wife

HEROIC BATTLES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY - CHIMAERA THE DRAKON

There was a dreadful union

Between the giant immortal Typhon

And the black fearful eyed Echidne,

Half serpent, half woman

The terrifying result of this

Unnatural union was the Chimaera

A great beast strong and swift footed

Who snorted raging fire

The creature’s front

Was that of a lion with tooth claw and nail

The hindquarters and middle

Of a goat and a serpent for a tail

Her heads numbered three,

One of a Lion, a goat and a snake

A fire breathing powerful drakon

She left death in her wake

The Drakon Chimaera was in love

With Orthrus her own brother

And spawned the deadly Sphinx

And the Nemean Lion together

She ravaged the herds

And despoiled the Lycian countryside

The bones of her victims

Lay strewn across the mountainside

The creature allegedly reared

By Ambassados plagued Lycia

And many a heroic figure

Tried to rid that land of Chimaera

Then King Iobates sent

The gallant Corinthian hero Bellerophon

Mounted upon winged Pegasus

To do battle with the Drakon

He rained arrows down

With the help of the goddess Athena

And with his lead tipped lance

Bellerophon killed Chimera

HERO’S OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – BELLEROPHON

Bellerophon was born the son of Eurynome and the God Poseidon

And was raised by King Glaucus who thought he was his own son

Bred in Corinth as the son of the most skilled horseman of the day

He was taught by his father from a young age the equestrian way

And as an equestrian student young Bellerophon was quite precocious

And from a young boy he had yearned to ride the magic horse Pegasus

Pegasus was the immortal offspring of the Gorgon Medusa and Poseidon

The winged horse was born when Perseus cut the head off the Gorgon

Like everyone else he’d been unable to so much as approach Pegasus

But undeterred Bellerophon sought the advice of the seer Polyeidus

It was suggested that he spend the night in the temple by Athena's idol

And in a dream, the goddess came to him and gave him a golden bridle

On the next morning he found Pegasus drinking at the spring of Peirene

And slipped the bridle over his head and tamed him without difficulty

 

After his success he went to King Pittheus to seek the hand of Aethra

And Bellerophon received permission from Pittheus to marry his daughter

But before the marriage could take place, he accidentally killed a man

His punishment was banishment from Corinth after his confession

The young Bellerophon traveled in order to be purified of his sins

And was in due course absolved by King Proetus in neighboring Tiryns

The King's wife made a pass at the young hero, and when he repulsed her

She told her husband that it was Bellerophon who had tried to seduce her

Greatly upset, King Proetus feigning goodwill cloaked his indignation

And not wishing to harm his guest and violate the sacred obligation

But he contrived his revenge by asking Bellerophon to deliver a letter

On King Proetus’s behalf to his father-in-law King Iobates of Lycia

Bellerophon agreed to deliver it while not knowing the letters content

The message urged King Iobates to kill the bearer of the document

But Iobates was bound by the same strictures of hospitality as Proetus

Unable to comply he had to feast the hero and the winged Pegasus

Iobates decided that the solution to getting rid of his guest was to ask

Bellerophon on Pegasus to undertake many a n heroic and deadly task

However, the young hero Bellerophon's courage and archery skill

Combined with the winged Pegasus as a mount allowed him to prevail

In addition to his immortal parentage and his persistent sacrifices

His many acts of honor brought him the favor of Gods and Goddesses

His first task was to kill the terrible three headed fiery Chimaera

After Succeeding here, it was the Solymi tribe he was sent to conquer

The neighboring Solymi tribe were King Iobates traditional enemy

Victorious he was sent to fight the Amazons and had another victory

In desperation King Iobates laid an ambush against Bellerophon

Using his entire army and the hero again triumphed killing everyone

After this defeat Iobates realized that the Gods favored the Corinthian

And that the Gods would not show such favor to a dishonorable man

Iobates made peace with him giving him half of his kingdom of Lycia

Including the most fertile land and the hand of Philonoe his daughter

Queen Stheneboea the wife of King Proetus and the attempted seducer

Was appalled on hearing that Bellerophon had married her sister

Knowing this meant her slander would be reveled she chose suicide

It appeared that our hero would live happily ever after with his bride

They were happily married and had two sons, Hippolochus and Isander

And two daughters, Laodameia and Deidameia in the kingdom of Lycia

As King his subjects loved him, and his glorious deeds were widely sung

But all this was not enough for our arrogant hero King Bellerophon

In his arrogance King Bellerophon decided that he could ride Pegasus

To visit with the Gods and Goddesses high upon Mount Olympus

But Zeus quickly put an end to his audacity by sending the gadfly

And it stung Pegasus sending both of them tumbling down from the sky

Athena spared his life by causing him to land on a soft patch of weed

He survived the fall but was crippled and there was no sign of his steed

He wandered the earth the rest of his life alone searching for Pegasus

No man would help him because of his offense to the Gods on Olympus

After many years of searching, the magical Pegasus was never seen again

Bellerophon died with no one to record his fate in some foreign domain