One of the oldest monstrous images that Greek mythology gave the world - Chimera. A creature with three heads is not so often found in the legends of the Ancient World, however, like the sphinx, legends about it made a significant contribution to the art of the Middle Ages, and then of the New Age and modern times.
You will not confuse this with anyone
What did the Chimera look like? The mythology of Greece contains at least two versions of the appearance of the monster. According to Homer, in whose writings the description of the Chimera occurs for the first time, her head was a lion, her tail was a snake, and the middle part of her body was a goat.
A slightly different monster appears in the treatise of Hesiod. He describes the Chimera as a huge creature with three heads: a lion, a snake and a goat - capable of spewing flames. A similar image can be seen in the bronze sculpture of the V century BC. e., attributable to the culture of the Etruscans. The chimera from Arezzo is a creature with the head of a lion. Approximately in the middle of the ridge, the head of a goat grows in it, and the tail is crowned with the head of a snake.
Origin
According to ancient mythology, the Chimera is of divine origin. There are several versions of who gave birth to it. The mother of the Chimera is most often called Echidna, a creature with the upper body of a woman and the rest of the body of a snake. Typhon, a powerful giant, the embodiment of the fiery forces of the earth, is considered to be the father. The chimera had two brothers. Cerberus, like a sister with three heads, guarded the kingdom of Hades. Orth, a dog with two heads, a herd of Herion.
There is another version of the answer to the question of where the Chimera came from. Greek mythology, according to some sources, has a plot in which Hydra is called the mother of the Chimera, and Orth is called the father.
Other explanations
There is an interpretation according to which folk art is filled with metaphorical images of significant events, as a result of which mythology is formed. Chimera, from this point of view, could be the embodiment of, for example, natural disaster. Servius Honoratus, commenting on the sixth song of the "Aeneid", gives his view on the origin of the monster. In his opinion, the prototype of him was a volcano in Lycia. At the foot of the fire-breathing mountains there were abundant snakes, its slopes were covered with pastures - goats lived here. At the top of the volcano was the lion's den. It is possible that such an interpretation of the image is not far from the truth, especially since Lycia is the country where the Chimera lived. Mythology is full of indications of this.
The legend of the death of a monster
In Greek myths, for every monster there is always a hero. The chimera was no exception to this rule. Bellerophon defeated her. The fate of the hero is sad. His family did not enjoy the love of the gods. Bellerophon killed his own brother and fled to the kingdom of Pret. Althea’s wife, after the youth’s refusal, slandered him, accusing him of seduction. Bellerophon was exiled to the kingdom of Iobath, in Lycia. Pret asked the king to kill the hated youth. Iobat did not dare to fulfill his plan himself, but sent him to fight the Chimera, which was ravaging Lycia. Bellerophon, who managed to fall in love with the tsar’s daughter Filonoy, left with a heavy heart. However, the gods came to his aid. Bellofont acquired the winged Pegasus as his assistant and defeated the monster with the help of arrows and spears.
Many more tests fell on the hero. But in the end, Iobat gave him as a wife Philo. However, misadventures did not end there. Bellerophon decided to take revenge on Altea. He raised it high above the ocean in Pegasus and threw it into the waves, for which he was severely punished by the gods. According to another version, being proud, he decided to fly to Olympus, but the winged horse threw him into the ocean. Bellerophon became lame and blind and wandered until the end of his days on the earth, finding no help from either people or gods.
Chimera: mythology, the meaning of the image
In the art of the Middle Ages, Chimera served as a symbol of satanic forces. It can be found on mosaics, shields and capitals. Bellerophon, who defeated the monster, became the prototype of George the Victorious, fighting the dragon.
According to some reports, the Chimera, like Hydra, Medusa Gorgon, Echidna and the Sphinx, embodied the negative features of the Great Goddess, revered in matriarchal religions. The monster devouring people may have embodied the ritual of sacrifice characteristic of this cult. The Bellerophon myth reflects the struggle of the new patriarchal beliefs with the outdated matriarchy and the victory of the first.
Modern sound image
In mythology, a chimera was a creature consisting of three different and unable to coexist animals. This feature is reflected in the symbolic meaning that the monster most often carries today. In psychology, the image of the Chimera is used to denote the "dark" part of the subconscious mind that the male self is struggling with. In psychoanalysis, a chimera personifies the extreme degree of splitting of the human psyche.
In the ordinary sense, a chimera is a pipe dream, a fantasy that cannot be realized. In architecture, the name of the Greek monster is called a sculpture depicting a creature in whose body parts of various animals are collected. The most famous chimeras adorn the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris.
Being one of the creatures that Greek mythology gave birth to, light, the Chimera has ancient roots. Over time, her image changed somewhat, but retained its main significance. Today, a chimera in psychology, architecture and literature is a symbol of the whole, assembled from incompatible parts and, in fact, incapable of life, and therefore hostile to it. False idea, empty fiction - this is the definition of a chimera given by dictionaries today.