Mythical Beasts: Mythical Creatures with Wings

Mythical Beasts: Mythical Creatures with Wings — page 3
CHIMERA FIRE BREATHING MONSTER The Chimera's name means she goat She was a hybrid monster made up of three different animals She had the head and foreparts of a huge lion the body of a goat and the hindquarters of a dragon or snake Some descriptions say there was a goat's head too and that at the end of her tail was a snake's head Some poets said the heads could breathe fire In later years the Chimera was sometimes shown with the wings of a dragon Although her head has the mane of a male lion the Chimera is usually referred to as being female THE SLAYING OF THE CHIMERA The Chimera lived in a cave in the kingdom of Lycia and she destroyed the countryside burning crops and terrifying the people The king Iobates gave the hero Bellerophon the task of slaying or killing it Even though many men had tried and failed to kill the monster Bellerophon felt there must be a way to succeed and he prayed to the goddess Athena to help him She appeared to him in a dream and told him to catch the winged horse Pegasus so that he could attack the Chimera from the air Bellerophon caught the horse and flew to the Chimera's lair From above he threw a leadtipped leadtipped spear at the creature aiming it straight into her fiery mouth The lead quickly melted and the Chimera suffocated and died 4