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Chimera
Lycia
Danger Level: 8/10
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.
Abilities
Fire BreathTriple Beast StrengthVenomous Tail
Lore & Legend
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.
Primary Sources
“A thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire.”