

Unfortunately, Proteus’s wife also saw potential in Bellerophon. Proteus saw huge potential in the boy, and he decided to pardon his crime. When he was young, he committed a crime and was sent to King Proteus to be punished. Battle with Bellerophonįor years, the Chimera roamed the Lynean countryside unchallenged, since “not even a quantity of men could subdue it with ease, let alone one.” But her legend didn’t take the hero Bellerophon into account.īellerophon was a son of Poseidon and a beautiful mortal woman. Together, Typhon and Echidna spawned many of the most dangerous beasts in Greece, including the Lynean Hydra, the Sphinx, the Nemean Lion, Cerberus, and, of course, the Chimera. For a mate, he took the next most monstrous creature in Greece, a half-woman, half-serpent named Echidna. Typhon, the father, was an ancient and monstrous giant who was believed to be the most dangerous creature in all of Greece.

The Chimera was one of the offspring of a legendary pairing: Typhon and Echidna.

She often appeared before natural disasters, mostly volcanic eruptions. The Chimera was also seen as an omen, of sorts. The fire spewed out from the goat’s head and devastated any challengers who approached the beast. But this monster’s most unusual and deadly weapon, by far, was her ability to breathe fire. The Chimera was reputed to be “near invincible,” for she had the strength of a lion, the cunning of a goat, and the venom of a snake. She ransacked many villages, mostly killing cattle but sometimes destroying houses and slaughtering innocent people as well. She had a terrible temper and no civilized instincts. Like most chimeric creatures in Greek mythology, the Chimera was a nasty piece of work. Finally, the monster’s lion tail morphs into a snake, with a venomous serpentine head replacing the lion’s natural puff of fur. The goat’s head appears to be male, since it has horns and a beard. The creature also has a goat’s head, rising from between its shoulder blades. Exaggerated ears and breasts show that the creature is female, even though it does have a short, ragged mane.īut of course, there’s more to the Chimera than its lion features. It has a lion’s body, complete from head to tail.
