Bellerophon

Bellerophon and Pegasus

Bellerophon provides a lesson in the proper relationship between a mortal hero and the gods. When he
was young he honored the gods and won their favor, but eventually his pride got the better of him and
led to his downfall.

Bellerophon was the son of Poseidon and Eurynome, wife of Glaucus. He was raised by Glaucus who
thought Bellerophon was his own son. Considering that both Poseidon and Glaucus were interested in
horses, it is not surprising that Bellerophon quested after Pegasus. After many failures, he asked the seer
Polyeidus for help.

Following Polyeidus' instructions, he spent the night in a temple of Athena. There, he had a dream that
the goddess offered him a magical, golden bridle. He awoke and found the bridle he dreamt about in his
hands. He sensibly made a sacrifice to both Athena and Poseidon. Afterwards, he went to the meadow
Pegasus was grazing at, and was able to bridle and tame the horse without difficulty. Triumphant in his
success, he went to King Pittheus and received permission to marry his daughter Aethra. However,
before the marriage, he accidentally killed a man, possibly one of his brothers, and was banished.

He went to King Proetus to be excused for his crime. The king pardoned him, but during his stay at
Proetus's house, the King's wife, Stheneboea, attempted to seduce him. As an honorable man
Bellerophon rejected her advances. This infuriated Stheneboea who then falsely accused him of
attempting to seduce her.

Greatly upset, Proetus wanted to be rid of Bellerophon without having to accuse him publicly. He was
also concerned about harming a house guest, as this was an offence to the gods. So, he sent Bellerophon
to deliver a sealed message to his wife's father, King Iobates.

Arriving on Pegasus, Bellerophon was warmly received and settled in as Iobates' house guest. Iobates
unsealed and read the message thus learning of Stheneboea's accusations against Bellerophon. This left
Iobates in the same predicament of acting against a guest that had troubled Proetus.

Iobates' solution was to ask Bellerophon to undertake a series of heroic, but deadly tasks. However,
Bellerophon's courage and skill as an archer, combined with Pegasus' help, allowed him to prevail. In
addition, his parentage, his sacrifices, and his acts of honour gave him the favour of the gods. His first
task was to kill the terrible Chimera.

The Slaying Of The Chimera, Other Tasks and Marriage

When he arrived in Lycia, the Chimera was truly ferocious, and he could not harm the monster even
while riding on Pegasus. He felt the heat of the breath the Chimera expelled, and was struck with an
idea. He got a large block of lead and mounted it on his spear. Then he flew head-on towards the
Chimera, holding out the spear as far as he could. Before he broke off his attack, he managed to lodge
the block of lead inside the Chimera's throat. The beast's fire-breath melted the lead, and blocked its air
passage. The Chimera suffocated, and Bellerophon returned victorious to King Iobates.

Iobates, on Bellerophon's return, was unwilling to credit his story. A series of daunting further quests
ensued: he was sent against the warlike Solymi and then against the Amazons who fought like men,
whom Bellerophon vanquished by dropping boulders from his winged horse; when he was sent against a
Carian pirate, Cheirmarrhus, an ambush failed, when Bellerophon killed all sent to assassinate him; the
palace guards were sent against him, but Bellerophon called upon Poseidon, who flooded the plain of
Xanthus behind Bellerophon as he approached. In defense the palace women sent him and the flood in
retreat by rushing from the gates with their robes lifted high, offering themselves, to which the modest
hero replied by withdrawing.

In desperation, Iobates led an ambush against Bellerophon using his entire army; the army was killed to
the last man.

At this point, Iobates had the wisdom to notice that something was very wrong. He realized that the
gods favoured Bellerophon and that this favor would not have been given to a dishonorable house guest.
Iobates succeed in making amends by giving Bellerophon half his kingdom, including the best farmlands
and his daughter Philonoe in marriage.

Flight To Olympus
As Bellerophon's fame grew, so did his hubris. Bellerophon felt that because of his victory over the
Chimera, and because he thought he was a god he deserved to fly to Mount Olympus, the realm of the
gods. However, this presumption angered Zeus and he sent a gadfly to sting the horse, causing
Bellerophon to fall all the way back to Earth. Pegasus completed the flight to Olympus where Zeus used
him as a pack horse for his thunderbolts.

On the Plain of Aleion ("Wandering"), Bellerophon (who had fallen into a thorn bush) lived out his life in
misery as a blinded crippled hermit, grieving and shunning the haunts of men until he died.