Featuring Mythologies: The Chimaera

 In mythologies, there aren’t only deities, but creatures that create the stories the deities thrive in. There are creatures that are the ones responsible for your nightmares, but others that fuel your dreams. Then there are the ones, you’ve never heard of, let alone imagine.

  In ancient Greek times, there was a creature, known for her ferociousness and nightmare fueling features. The Chimaera or Chimera.  The Chimaera is one of the most famous female monsters and has her own aura of mystery surrounding her. Her name often has the meaning of a genetic puzzle. This name is quite fitting as the Chimaera is a true genetic puzzle. All Greek writers agree that she has the head of a fire-breathing lion, with a goat head arising from her back, and her tail ends with the head of a serpent. The Chimaera’s various fearsome animals, make her a strong and intimidating creature. The head of the lion gave her strength, the head of the goat gave her intelligence and the head of the serpent gave her cunningness

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                                   Origin

  Though some aspects of the Chimaera are agreed upon by the Greeks, but the topic of her origin is constantly disputed and there is no real consensus of her true origin. In one legend, Homer wrote about her and the great warrior Amisodorus in the Iliad. He claimed that Amisodorus raised her, and later Amisodorus had several strong sons who became great warriors. In another legend, Hesiod claimed that Chimaera was the product of Echidna and Typhon. Echidna was half woman and half monster, and she lived alone in a cave for a while. She ended up mating with Typhon, who was the last child of Gaea and Tartarus, and had a hundred dragon heads. He was eventually sent to the underworld by Zeus. Echidna and Typhon had various Greek monsters together; Orthrus, a dog with two heads, Cerberus a three headed dog that guards the gates of the underworld, Lernean Hydra, a snake with multiple heads, and eventually the Chimaera.

                            Hangout & Habits

   The Chimaera was notorious for appearing before sailors right before aterrible accident would occur. Often times when a sailor saw her a shipwreck, terrible storm, or other natural disasters would occur thereafter. This resulted in sailors calling the sighting of her a bad omen.  Another place, the Chimaera inhabited was Lycia in Asia Minor, but she had moved there later. Lycia was known for seismic activity beneath the ground which would cause eruptions of fire across the land. However, Greeks at this point in time didn’t understand seismic activity and presumed the fires were a cause of the Chimaera breathing fire across the land of Lycia.

                                  Chimaera’s Children

 It was not unheard of for siblings to mate in Greek mythology. In fact, some of the main gods of Greek mythology were the result of the mating of twins Kronos and Rhea. So, it isn’t a surprise that the Chimaera mated with her brother Orthrus. She had two kids, the Nemean Lion and the Sphinx. The Nemean Lion terrorized the land of Nemea, but was later slayed by the Greek hero Heracles. The Sphinx had similar attributes to the Chimaera.  It had the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a bird.

                                   The Chimaera’s Demise   

     The Chimaera has a fearsome reputation as a monster and known for terrorizing the Kingdom of Lycia. No one had ever succeeded in killing the Chimaera, because she would use her fire laden breath to attack potential killers from a great distance on the ground. This was true until Greek exile, Bellerophon,  visited Lycia. After meeting the king of Lycia, Lobates, he was sent on a quest to kill the Chimaera. However, the true intent of the quest was to cause the death of Bellerophon, because the king of Tiryns had requested that Lobates kill Bellerophon, and rather than kill him directly Lobates sent him on what seemed an impossible quest which would result in his death. Fortunately for Bellerophon that is not how things worked out.  He gained an ally in Pegasus, a beautiful winged horse, in his quest to kill the Chimaera, however, it is disputed on how he gained this ally. In one legend, Bellerophon gained favor from Athena, and that’s how he captured Pegasus. In another, he gained wisdom from a wise man and following his advice he sought Athena’s help. After a dream, he awoke to find a brittle, which he later used to harness Pegasus. Considering attacks from the ground hadn’t been successful in the past, Bellerophon flew above with a lump of lead on the end of his spear. He waited until the Chimaera opened her mouth to incinerate him, and once she did threw the spear down her throat. She suffocated and perished on the melting lead.