Know Your Mythology Creatures ! [ Chimera ]

Hey guys ! In this post I'll be posting about the mythology creatures, mainly from the Greek. 

In every creatures that the ancient Greek believed, there must be a great story behind it. I mean where is Hydra derived from...or the Cerberus. 

Well, swerve your path here to learn about the ancient creatures, at the same time edifying your knowledge about the world !

Myth 1 : Chimera

The Chimera or Chimaera was, according to Greek mythology, a monstrous fire-breathing female creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of multiple animals: upon the body of a lioness with a tail that ended in a snake's head, the head of a goat arose on her back at the center of her spine. 

Homer's brief description in the Iliad is the earliest surviving literary reference: "a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire".

The Chimera finally was defeated by Bellerophon, with the help of Pegasus, at the command of King Iobates of Lycia. Since Pegasus could fly, Bellerophon shot the Chimera from the air, safe from her heads and breath. A scholiast to Homer adds that he finished her off by equipping his spear with a lump of lead that melted when exposed to the Chimera's fiery breath and consequently killed her, an image drawn from metalworking.

Origin

The chimera of Greek myth is the offspring of Echinda and Typhon.  It has many other monstrous brothers and sisters.

 The eternal fires of Chimera in Lycia where the myth takes place

Pliny the Elder cited Ctesias and quoted Photius identifying the Chimaera with an area of permanent gas vents which still can be found today by hikers on the Lycian Way in southwest Turkey. 

Called in Turkish Yanartaş (flaming rock), it consists of some two dozen vents in the ground, grouped in two patches on the hillside above the Temple of Hephaestus about 3 km north of Çıralı, near ancient Olympos, in Lycia.

 The vents emit burning methane thought to be of metamorphic origin, which in ancient times were landmarks by which sailors could navigate.

                                                                                                               

Well now you know about Chimera ^^"