Greek PantheonCreature
Chimera
- Fire Breath
- Triple Beast Strength
- Venomous Tail
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.
About Chimera
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.
Quick answers about Chimera
- What is Chimera?
- 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.
- Where does Chimera live?
- The atlas lists Chimera's habitat as Lycia.
- What abilities does Chimera have?
- The atlas lists these abilities for Chimera: Fire Breath, Triple Beast Strength, and Venomous Tail.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Homer, Iliad 6
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
The danger rating is an editorial shorthand for how the myths portray the creature, not a claim made by the sources.
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