Who Was Bellerophon? - Ancient Greek Hero Fact File

Bellerophon - Greek Hero Fact File

Name:

Bellerophon

Parents:

Poseidon (god of the ocean) and the mortal woman, Eurynome. Eurynome was married to a mortal man called Glaucus who loved and raised Bellerophon as his own son.

Known for:

Being the epic dude who managed to tame the winged horse Pegasus before flying around on his back like a boss. The team of Bellerophon and Pegasus were known for many heroic deeds including defeating the monstrous Chimera.

Pegasus - similar to a unicorn but without the pointy forehead bit!

Myths appeared in:

Primarily Homer's Iliad which records Bellerophon's adventures with Pegasus and the hero's eventual (and literal!) fall from grace.

Came to fame:

When he went to visit the King of Argos, King Proetus, to clear his name of a past crime (he accidently killed someone - oops!). Proetus pardoned him (so that's nice) and that would have been the end of a very boring story if Proetus' wife, Stheneboea, hadn't got involved.

Stheneboea fell in love with Bellerophon but Bellerophon rejected her romantic advances (and quite rightly, given that she was married to the man who just pardoned him for murder!). Unfortunately for Bellerophon, Stheneboea got pretty upset by this and went straight to her husband making up a story that Bellerophon had tried to woo her. As you'd expect, Proetus was mighty miffed but couldn't punish someone who was his guest (the gods wouldn't look kindly on that!).

Bellerophon meets King Iobates - Iobates wonders what happened to Bellerophon's clothes.

So King Proetus came up with a devious scheme; he sent Bellerophon away to deliver a private letter to King Iobates of Lycia. What Bellerophon didn't know was that this private letter told Iobates to kill the letter's deliverer! Now Bellerophon was in a mighty pickle - Iobates set a bunch of brutal and deadly tasks in the hope that Bellerophon would end up being killed whilst completing them.

Foes and monsters defeated:

In his many perilous quests for Iobates, Bellerophon fought numerous foes, including the savage Solymoi tribe, the steel-nerved Amazons and even a group of Iobates' best guards. In each encounter he emerged victorious.

But Bellerophon's most famous battle was against the Chimera; a fire-breathing hybrid monster with the head and body of a lion, the head of a goat on it's back, and a scaly tail that ended in the head of a snake. Pretty intense, I'm sure you'll agree.

The Chimera - part lion, part goat and part snake.

But Bellerophon showed no fear and rode Pegasus into battle against the fearsome creature. You see Bellerophon had used all his wits to come up with a cunning plan. He had tipped the head of his arrow with lead. With elite skill, he shot the arrow down the monster's throat where it's own fiery breath melted the lead, causing it to choke and die. Another rip-roaring success for the hero-horse team!

Bellerophon and Pegasus battle the chimera - can you spot all three of the monster's heads?

Downfall:

After succeeding in all the quests given to him by Iobates, the King could see the gods favoured Bellerophon. So instead of killing him, Iobates gifted the hero half his kingdom and his daughter's hand in marriage. Wow! What a turn of events!

Bellerophon hops on Pegasus' back and aims for Mount Olympus

This would have been a pretty cushty ending for Bellerophon, if all the fame and fortune hadn't gone to his head. In a fit of arrogance, Bellerophon decided he'd like to take a visit to the gods on Mount Olympus. He jumped on Pegasus' back and off they flew. But Zeus didn't look kindly on Bellerophon's big-headedness. He sent a gadfly to sting Pegasus who tossed and bucked in pain. Thrown from the horse's back, Bellerophon plummeted down to the earth far below. On landing, the hero was crippled and blinded. Despised by the gods and shunned by mortal people, he spent the rest of his life wandering the earth alone. Crikey - it's hard work being an Ancient Greek hero!

Fascinating fact:

After many unsuccessful attempts to tame Pegasus, Bellerophon took the advice of a seer who told him to spend the night in the temple of Athena.

Athena watches Bellerophon tame Pegasus with her gifted bridle

Whilst asleep there, the hero dreamt that the goddess offered him a magical horse's bridle. The following morning he woke to find the bridle from his dream placed neatly beside him. Using Athena's gift, Bellerophon found he had no further troubles taming and befriending his trusty winged-horse companion.