| Bellerophon | |
|---|---|
| Member of theCorinthian Royal Family | |
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| Other names | Hipponous |
| Predecessor | Iobates |
| Successor | Hippolochus |
| Abode | Potniae, laterArgos andLycia |
| Symbols | Cape,Spear |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | Poseidon andEurynome Glaucus andEurymede |
| Siblings | Deliades andseveral paternal half-siblings |
| Consort | Philonoe Asteria |
| Offspring | Isander,Hippolochus andLaodamia Hydissos |
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Bellerophon[1] orBellerophontes (Ancient Greek:Βελλεροφῶν;Βελλεροφόντης;lit. "slayer of Belleros") orHipponous (Ancient Greek:Ἱππόνοος;lit. "horse-knower"),[2] was adivineCorinthianhero ofGreek mythology, the son ofPoseidon andEurynome, and the foster son ofGlaukos. He was "the greatest hero and slayer of monsters, alongsideCadmus andPerseus, before the days ofHeracles".[3] Among his greatest feats was killing theChimera of theIliad, a monster thatHomer depicted with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail: "her breath came out in terrible blasts of burning flame."[4]
Bellerophon was also known for capturing and taming thewinged horsePegasus with the help ofAthena's charmed bridle, and earning the disfavour of the gods after attempting to ride Pegasus toMount Olympus.[5]
One possible etymology that has been suggested is:ΒελλεροφόντηςBellerophóntēs, from Ancient Greekβέλεμνονbélemnon,βελόνηbelóne orβέλοςbélos ("projectile, dart, javelin, needle, arrow") and-φόντης-phóntēs ("slayer") fromφονεύωphoneúō ("to slay").[a]
However,Geoffrey Kirk says that "Βελλεροφόντης means 'slayer of Belleros'".[8] According to theScholia of Homer, Bellerophon was named so after having slain a Corinthian citizen of that same name by accident, while practicing hisknife throwing,[9] which caused him to be exiled toLycia; this origin hypothesis would correspond to howHermes got his epithetArgeiphontes (lit. 'slayer of Argus') after slayingArgus.[10] According to some scholars, Belleros could have also been a local Lyciandaimon, as Bellerophon's name "invited all sorts of speculation".[8][b]
The only other authors to mention a Belleros killed by Bellerophon are two Byzantine scholars,John Tzetzes andEustathius of Thessalonica, who both seem to be following Bellerophon's own name-etymology.[12][AI-generated source?]
Robert Graves suggests a possible etymology viabeleēphoron, interpreted as "bearing darts".[13]Joseph T. Shipley glosses the nameBellerophon as "slayer of monsters".[14]
Bellerophon was the son of the mortalEurynome[15] (orEurymede[16]) andPoseidon; having been raised by his foster fatherGlaukos. He was the brother ofDeliades (also namedPeiren orAlcimenes).[17]
Bellerophon was the father ofIsander[18] (Peisander),[19]Hippolochus,[20] andLaodamia[21] (Deidamia[22] orHippodamia[23]) byPhilonoe,[24][AI-generated source?] daughter of KingIobates ofLycia. Philonoe was also known under several other names:Alkimedousa orCassandra,[25]Anticleia,[26] orPasandra.[27] In some accounts, Bellerophon also fatheredHydissos byAsteria, daughter ofHydeus.[28]
TheIliad vi.155–203 contains anembedded narrative told by Bellerophon's grandsonGlaucus (who was named after his great-grandfather), which recounts Bellerophon's myth. In this narrative, Bellerophon's father is Glaucus,[29] who is the King ofPotniae and son ofSisyphus; Bellerophon's grandsonsSarpedon and the younger Glaucus fight in theTrojan War.
InStephanus of Byzantium'sEthnica, a genealogy is given for a figure namedChrysaor ("of the golden sword"), which would make him a double of Bellerophon: he is called the son of Glaucus (son of Sisyphus). Chrysaor has no myth besides that of his birth: from the severed neck ofMedusa, who was with child by Poseidon, he andPegasus are both born at the moment of her death. "From this moment we hear no more of Chrysaor, the rest of the tale concerning the stallion only ... [who visited the spring ofPirene] perhaps also for his brother's sake, by whom in the end he let himself be caught, the immortal horse by his mortal brother."[30]
Bellerophon's brave journey begins in a familiar way,[31] with an exile: in one narrative he has murdered his brother, whose name is given as Deliades, Peiren or Alcimenes; a more precise narrative involves him slaying a Corinthian citizen or nobleman called "Belleros"[34] or "Belleron" by accident, while practicing knife-throwing with his friends, which causes the name change fromHipponous toBellerophon.
In atonement for this crime, he has to make a plea toProetus, a king inTiryns, one of theAchaean strongholds of theArgolid. Proetus, by virtue of his kingship, cleanses Bellerophon of his crime. But when the wife of king Proetus – whose name is eitherAnteia[35] orStheneboea[36] – tries to make advances on him, he rejects her, causing her to accuse Bellerophon of attempting to make advances on her instead.[37] Proetus dares not satisfy his anger by killing a guest (who is protected byxenia), causing him to finally exile Bellerophon to King Iobates, his father-in-law from the plain of the RiverXanthus inLycia, bearing a sealed letter in a folded tablet which reads: "Please remove this bearer from the world: he attempted to violate my wife, your daughter."[38]
Before opening the tablets, Iobates feasts with Bellerophon for nine days. On reading the tablet's message Iobates too feared the wrath of theErinyes if he murdered a guest; so he sends Bellerophon on a mission that he deems impossible to survive: to kill theChimera, living in neighboringCaria. The Chimera is a fire-breathing monster consisting of the body of a goat, the head of a lion and the tail of a serpent. This monster terrorized the nearby countryside.
On his way to Caria, he encounters the famousCorinthian fortune tellerPolyeidos, who gives him advice on his upcoming battle, telling Bellerophon that in order to emerge victorious, he would be in need of the mythicalPegasus.
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To obtain the services of the untamed winged horse, Polyeidos tells Bellerophon to sleep in the temple ofAthena. While Bellerophon sleeps, he dreams that Athena sets a golden bridle beside him, saying "Sleepest thou, prince of the house ofAiolos? Come, take this charm for the steed and show it to theTamer thy father as thou makest sacrifice to him of a white bull."[39] It is there when he awakes and he understands that he has to approach Pegasus while it is drinking from a well. When asked, Polyeidos tells him which well: the never-failingPirene on the citadel of Corinth, the city of Bellerophon's birth. Bellerophon mounts his steed and flies off, back to Lycia where the Chimera is said to dwell.
Other accounts say that Athena brings Pegasus already tamed and bridled, or that Poseidon the horse-tamer, secretly the father of Bellerophon, brings Pegasus, asPausanias understood.[40]
When Bellerophon arrives in Lycia to face the ferociousChimera, he cannot harm the monster even while riding Pegasus. But when he feels the Chimera's hot breath, he is struck with an idea. He gets a large block of lead and mounts it on his spear. He then flies head-on towards the Chimera, holding out the spear as far as he can. Before breaking off his attack, he lodges the block of lead inside the Chimera's throat. The beast's fire-breath melts the lead, which blocks its air passage, suffocating it.[41][AI-generated source?] Somered-figure pottery painters show Bellerophon wielding Poseidon's trident instead.[42]
When Bellerophon returns victorious to King Iobates,[43] the king is unwilling to believe his story. A series of dauntingquests ensues: Bellerophon is sent against the warlikeAmazons, who fight like men, but he vanquishes them by dropping boulders from his winged horse; in some narratives, this is preceded by Bellerophon facing off theSolymi.
When he is sent against a Carian pirate,Cheirmarrhus, Iobates' men try to ambush him, but fail when Bellerophon kills everyone sent to assassinate him. The palace guards then are sent against him, but Bellerophon calls upon his father Poseidon, who floods the plain ofXanthus behind Bellerophon as he approaches. To defend themselves, the palace women rush from the gates with their robes lifted high to expose themselves. Unwilling to confront them while they are undressed, Bellerophon withdraws.[44]
Iobates relents, produces the letter, and allowes Bellerophon to marry his daughter Philonoe, the younger sister ofAnteia, and shares with him half his kingdom,[46] with its fine vineyards and grain fields. The lady Philonoe bears him Isander (Peisander),[19][47] Hippolochus and Laodamia, who sleeps with Zeus the Counselor and bearsSarpedon, but is slain byArtemis.[48][49][50]
Bellerophon takes his vengeance on Stheneboea and Proetus as well. After returning to the royal couple following the Chimera's death, he pretends to reciprocate Stheneboea's love.[51] He promises to take her away toCaria, and she enthusiastically follows him on Pegasus. But while they are flying overMelos, Bellerophon throws her off the horse and she drowns in the waves below; fishermen find and return her body, and Bellerophon confesses his actions to Proetus, claiming that he has exacted appropriate justice from them both in the form of death for her and grief for him.[52]
As Bellerophon's fame grows, so does hishubris. Bellerophon feels that because of his victory over the Chimera, he deserves to fly toMount Olympus, the home of the gods. This act angersZeus and he sends agadfly to sting Pegasus, causing Bellerophon to fall back to Earth and die. Pegasus completes the flight to Olympus, where Zeus uses him as a pack horse for his thunderbolts.[53]
According to other narratives, on the Plain of Aleion ("Wandering") inCilicia, Bellerophon, who has been blinded after falling into a thorn bush, lives out his life in misery, "devouring his own soul", until he dies.[54][55]
Enough fragments ofEuripides' lost tragedyBellerophon remain (as about thirty quotations in surviving texts) to give scholars a basis for assessing its theme: the tragic outcome of his attempt to storm Olympus on Pegasus. An outspoken passage in which Bellerophon seems to doubt the gods' existence, due to the contrast between the wicked and impious, who live lives of ease, with the suffering of the good is apparently the basis forAristophanes' imputation of "atheism" to the poet.[56]
The replacement of Bellerophon by the more familiarculture heroPerseus was a development of Classical times that was standardized during theMiddle Ages and has been adopted by the European poets of theRenaissance and later.[57]
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Bellerophon, name given to Hipponous, son of Glaucus, king or Ephyre, as 'slayer of monsters'; he had killed the Chimaera.
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