Chimera (mythology)

Chimera (mythology)

According to Greek mythology, the Chimera was a special creature from stories. It had parts from many different animals. Most often, it looks like a lion with a goat’s head on its back and a tail that ends in a snake’s head. Some pictures also show it with wings.

The Chimera was said to be the child of two other story creatures, Typhon and Echidna. It had other famous relatives like Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra. Today, we use the word "chimera" to describe any made-up creature with parts from many animals.

Mythology

According to Hesiod, the Chimera was the child of two powerful monsters. Some stories say its mother was Echidna and its father was Typhon.

Homer described the Chimera in the Iliad. It had three heads: a lion in front, a fire-breathing goat in the middle, and a serpent at the back.

In one story, the hero Bellerophon was asked to defeat the Chimera. He succeeded with the help of his winged horse, Pegasus. He flew high and brought the Chimera down.

Iconography

The Chimera was a monster from old stories. It appeared a lot in Greek art, even though people said it lived in a faraway place called Lycia. Artists started drawing the Chimera very early. It became one of the first myth characters to show up in pictures made by Greek artists. Over time, how it was drawn changed a little. But it became a popular design used by many artists. Some special artists were even named after it, like the Bellerophon Painter and the Chimaera Painter, because they drew the Chimera so often.

Similar creatures

In Ancient Egypt, a lioness that breathed fire was an important symbol, linked to gods who protected the land. In Etruscan civilization, the Chimera appeared in paintings from long ago. Far away in the Indus Valley Civilisation, people also made images of creatures like the Chimera using animals from their part of the world, the Indian subcontinent. These were called the Harappan Chimera.

Classical sources

The stories about the Chimera appear in several old books and poems. You can find them in the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, the Iliad by Homer, the Fabulae by Hyginus, the Metamorphoses by Ovid, and the Theogony by Hesiod.

The poet Virgil used the name Chimaera in the Aeneid to describe a big ship in a race.

Hypothesis about origin

Main article: Mount Chimaera

Pliny the Elder thought the story of the Chimera may have come from a real place. There are spots in Turkey where fires burn naturally. These fires come from gas coming out of the ground and have been there a long time. People used these fires to help guide ships.

A very old stone statue from Carchemish, made around 850–750 BC, shows a creature like the Chimera. This statue is now in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. It looks different from the Greek story, with a lioness that has wings and a human head on its shoulders.

Use for Chinese mythological creatures

Some scholars who study Chinese art, starting with Victor Segalen, use the word "chimera" to describe special winged animals or animals with four legs that are mixed together. These include creatures like the bixie, the tianlu, and the qilin.

In popular culture

In many popular stories and books, the Chimera is used in different ways. In Heraldry, the Chimera has a lion's head and front legs, a goat's head on its back, a goat's middle body, a dragon's back body, and a tail ending in a snake's head. You can find creatures like this in fantasy and science fiction stories today.