Chimeras and Gadflies – Of Hubris Fallen

In the Antalya Province of southwestern Turkey, there is a natural phenomenon situated along the hiking trail called Lycian Way in the Olympos National Park. There, the yanartaş (or, flaming rock, in Turkish) occur. The area is marked by some two dozen vents of methane gas emissions group into two separate patches.  The fires never go out. This area has been cited as the possible location of the ancient Mount Chimaera, in what was once Lycia. It is also supposed to be the birth of the Chimera myth.

Chimera by artist Andy Park

In ancient time, the chimera was a horrendous monster which was reputedly a combination of several creatures.  The great poet Homer depicted her as having the head of a lioness, with the head of a goat protruding from her back and her tail being a deadly serpent. Now that, my friends, is a nasty creature.  Add to this lovely depiction the fact that the chimera, like a dragon, breathed vicious gouts of lethal fire.

In previous columns, here at The Green Room, I’ve spoken about how all notable demigods seems to be born into lives of dangerous adventure or downright terrible fates. Well, you will happy to note that today is no exception.

Bellerophon was the son of King Glaucus and the grandson of Sisyphus (a clever and dangerous man in his own right who will grace the halls of The Green Room shortly). Back to the hero of our tale: Bellerophon.

Bellerophon was described in the Iliad as “the greatest hero and slayer of monsters, alongside of Cadmus and Perseus, before the days of Heracles.” His story begins as many do in the old words: with a banishment.

It’s never clearly stated as to what the exact crime committed by Bellerophon was; he either killed his brother or a sneaky enemy.  Regardless, his actions got him exiled from Corinth, his hometown, and sent to King Proteus of Tiryns. King Proteus, by virtue of his position, wiped the slate clean for our young hero. Soon thereafter – we all know how darned sexy these heroes were! – the wife of the king, Anteia, grew to fancy the strapping young lad. Bellerophon, for whatever reason, blew off the queen to his own detriment. She was upset at being ignored by our hero and claimed, to the king, that he had ravished her nonetheless.

Now, King Proteus was like most folks of that day and age: superstitious. He feared angering the Kindly Ones (the Erinyes, vengeful creatures born of the droplets of blood from the castrated genitalia of Uranus as it was tossed into the sea by the titan Cronus) by killing a welcomed guest. After much contemplation, he sent Bellerophon to the plains of the river Xanthus in Lycia with a closed, folded tablet to King Iobates (Proteus father-in-law).

King Iobates welcomed the young messenger and feasted with him for nine days prior to opening the tablet.  When he did, he was stunned at the message: “Pray remove the bearer from this world: he attempted to violate my wife, your daughter.” On reading this, the king was also fearful of angering the Erinyes, and so sent Bellerophon on what he considered a fatal task: kill the Chimera, which resided in nearby Caria.

There was a seer in Lycia, named Polyeidos, who forewarned Bellerophon that he would need to capture the Pegasus in

Bellerophon vs. the Chimera

order to defeat the Chimera. The seer told Bellerophon that, in order to secure the services of the winged horse, he should sleep in the temple of Athena.  Therein, our hero dreamt of Athena. In the dream, Athena admired the youth’s struggles and presented him with a golden bridle, telling him that he should use it to tame the Pegasus. When he awoke, Bellerophon found the bridle lying next to him.

Our hero knew that he would need to approach the Pegasus as it drank from a well (described to him by Polyeidos), the Pirene, on the citadel of Corinth, the city of Bellerophon’s birth. He performed the task well and mounted his new steed, flying off to face the Chimera.

Upon facing the Chimera, Bellerophon quickly saw that this was a fierce and terrible creature and he could not defeat it, even upon Pegasus. The hot flame breath of the Chimera prevented him from getting close enough to do any real damage. Then our hero got an idea. He got a large block of lead and affixed it to the tip of his spear.  He then charged the Chimera head-on.  Just before he was forced to break off his attack, Bellerophon managed to shoved the spear into the Chimera’s throat, lodging it there.  The ferocious heat of the animal’s breath caused the lead to melt and block its esophagus, suffocating the beast.

Bellerophon returned in victory to Lycia; however, King Iobates refused to credit the hero’s tale.  A further series of dangerous and daunting tasks followed, until Iobates was forced to admit the courage and abilities of the young hero. He allowed Bellerophon to take his daughter’s (the younger sister of Anteia) hand in marriage.

One would think that “they all lived happily ever after” would be a fitting end to this tale, but we are still speaking of demigods, are we not? Rarely do such “heroes” achieve such tranquility in their lives.

With Bellerophon’s fame came a growing hubris within the man. He came to believe he should be able to fly to Mount Olympus, the realm of the gods. Needless to say, Zeus was less than thrilled with this man’s arrogant presumptuousness. So, as Bellerophon attempted to fly high up to Mount Olympus, Zeus sent a gadfly to sting the flying horse, who threw his rider in reaction. Bellerophon flailed and fell back to the earth, as Pegasus continued his flight to Olympus.  (Pegasus was then used by Zeus as a pack horse for his thunderbolts.)

Bellerophon, who had fallen into a thicket of thorn bushes, barely survived and lived out the remainder of his life in misery as a blind and crippled man, on the Plain of Aleion (“wandering”), grieving for his lost life of fame and comfort, never straying near any of man’s gathering places.

While gathering the information on Bellerophon and his defeat of the Chimera, I came across some interesting little facts:

• Bellerophon is a computer program used by geneticists and molecular biologists to detect invalid “chimera” genetic sequences.
• A fictional drug in Mission: Impossible II is named Bellerophon and is the only cure for the Chimera virus.
• Bellerophon astride Pegasus, as the first “Airborne” warrior, is the traditional symbol of British Airborne forces.
• Bellerophon is the name of one of the planets in the “verse” in one of my favorite  science fiction TV series ever: Firefly. (Long live Joss Whedon!)

Stealing Girls – A Demigod Tale

I remember when I was young; I never got into so much trouble as when I was running with my best bud.  Double trouble! That seems to have been the case with a couple of guys in Greek mythology, as well.

Pirithous was the son of Zeus and was the King of the Lapiths in Thessaly. Pirithous one day heard of some rumblings about this other guy, Theseus, who was supposedly so brave and strong in battle.

Kings were not usually known for their humility or peaceful manners. Pirithous was no different. He set out to rustle (steal) Theseus’ herd of cattle from Marathon, and did so successfully. Of course, Theseus set out after the thief. Eventually, the two met face to face and took to battling one another.  The fight was fierce and awesome. The two fought until they were both so impressed with one another that they took up a lifelong oath of friendship. (How many of us guys have encountered similar situations?)

So, remember when I mentioned that I always got into more trouble when running with a buddy?  Well, our two heroes came up with a wacky pledge to steal away with daughters of Zeus.  Hey, if you’re going to do something, you might as well go big, right? Theseus set his sights on the most beautiful woman known at the time, which was none other than Helen of Sparta – you know, “the face that launched a thousand ships?”

Together they set off and kidnapped Helen who, mind you, was only thirteen years old at the time.  Theseus planned to keep her until she became of age. The two left Helen with Theseus’ mother, Aethra, and set off to garner their next prize: Persephone. Pirithous had one-upped his friend by choosing not only a beautiful demigoddess, but also a married woman. The dangerous bit was that Persephone was married to none other than Hades, the lord of the Underworld.

The men set out for the underworld. There they encountered Hades, himself, who pretended to offer them hospitality and invited them to a great feast. However, as soon as the pair sat down, snakes coiled around their feet and the stones upon which they sat grew and attached themselves to their thighs. They were trapped.

Hades

You just don’t mess with Hades. Even though the greatest demigod hero ever, Heracles, managed to free Theseus from the stone, when he attempted to free Pirithous, the earth itself began to shake and shudder. The man had simply committed too great a crime, trying to steal the wife of one of the great gods for his own bride.

In addition to the eternal captivity of his friend, when Theseus managed to make it back to Athens, Helen’s twin brothers, Castor and Pollux (otherwise known as the Dioscuri) had come and taken Helen back to Sparta. The brothers had also kidnapped Aethra, as well as Pirithous’ sister Physadeia. The two women became handmaidens to Helen and eventually followed her to Troy (but that is a tale for another day).

So, what was the most dangerous thing you ever did while running with your best friend?

Werewolves and Stars

We’ve seen how dark and tragic the tales of demigods can be in Greek mythology. Alas, today’s tale is no different. (Surprise!)

It seems that pretty much all of the demigods born of divine unions are destined to live difficult if not tragic lives. One would think that the offspring of the ruler of the gods, Zeus, would have it a bit easier.  Nope.  Take this tale for instance.

Artemis is one of the most widely revered of all of the Greek goddesses; in fact, some believe that she even predates the original Greek mythos. She was the virgin twin sister of Apollo, and served as the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, virginity and young girls. Like her brother she was unmatched her abilities with a bow and arrow. Her retinue consisted mostly of fauna and nymphs.

One of these nymphs was named Callisto, and she was a hottie, indeed. I suppose nymph is only a partially appropriate title, as Callisto was a princess. She was the daughter of Lycaon, the King of Arcadia (we’ll get to him shortly), and she took a vow of chastity upon joining Artemis’ retinue. But, all that begins well does not end well in the mythos of the Greeks.

Zeus lusted after Callisto and realizing he could not have her as himself, he disguised himself as Artemis, gained Callisto’s trust and then seduced (some say forcibly took) the girl. The result was two-fold: Callisto gave birth to a son named Arcas, and Hera (Zeus’ wife) and Artemis were so enraged (misplaced though it may have been, that they turned Callisto into a bear.

Hera would have done the same to Arcas, but Zeus stole the child away and hid him in the area of Greece ruled over by the boy’s maternal grandfather, Lycaon. Lycaon was not a particularly sane individual.  Arcas lived in safety until his grandfather, one day, placed him upon the burning alter as a sacrifice to the gods.  He railed at Zeus, “If you think you are so clever, make your son whole and unharmed.”

Needless to say, Zeus was pissed.  He did, indeed, make Arcas whole and safe again and then turned his anger upon Lycaon, turning him into the first werewolf.

After this event, Arcas became the new king of the land now called Arcadia in his honor. He, like his mother, became a great and revered hunter in the land.  One day he was out hunting and encountered  his mother (in bear form), who immediately recognized him and moved to embrace him. Arcas, of course, had no idea that this bear was hi mother and he moved to kill her with his bow and arrow.

Zeus, seeing this, took pity upon the two, preventing Arcas from killing his mother. He decided to place them together forever, in the heavens, where they remain today, as the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the big and little bears.

Werewolves and stars, the tale of a demigod.