Bellerophon

Bellerophon was a Corinthian hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus and, riding it, killed the fire-breathing Chimaera in Lycia. In Homer he is the grandson of Sisyphus; he rose to be son-in-law and partner of the Lycian king, but in the end he fell out of favour with the gods and died or wandered in misery.

Bellerophon's Family

Homer makes Bellerophon the son of Glaucus, who was the son of Sisyphus of Ephyra, the old name of Corinth (Homer, Iliad 6.152–155; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.3). In the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women his mother is Eurynome, daughter of Nisus, who lay with Poseidon and bore Bellerophon in the house of Glaucus; in that tradition Bellerophon is Poseidon’s son, raised by Glaucus, and his father gave him Pegasus when he began to roam. Apollodorus names his mother Eurymede (Library 1.9.3).

Bellerophon tames Pegasus

Pegasus was the offspring of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa (Hesiod, Theogony 278–286; Apollodorus, Library 2.3.2). Pindar tells how Bellerophon longed to yoke him and suffered much around the springs of Pirene until Athena brought him a bridle with a golden band. She appeared to him in a dream as he slept on her altar, told him to take the charm for horses and sacrifice a white bull to Poseidon the Tamer, and when he leapt up the bridle was lying beside him. He took it to the seer Polyeidus, son of Coeranus, on whose advice he had slept at the goddess’s altar; Polyeidus told him to obey the dream at once and, when he sacrificed the bull to Poseidon, to build an altar to Athena Hippia. Then Bellerophon slipped the gentle charm around the horse’s jaw and caught the winged horse (Pindar, Olympian 13.63–86). At Corinth Athena was worshipped as Athena Chalinitis, the Bridler, because she was said to have given Pegasus to Bellerophon already bridled (Pausanias 2.4.1).

Bellerophon banished

Apollodorus says Bellerophon accidentally killed his brother, called Deliades, Piren or Alcimenes in different accounts, and came to Proetus to be purified (Library 2.3.1). Pausanias adds that Bellerophon had come to Troezen to ask King Pittheus for his daughter Aethra in marriage, but was banished from Corinth before the wedding could take place (Pausanias 2.31.9).

Bellerophon and Stheneboea

Proetus was king of Argos. His wife – named Anteia in Homer and Stheneboea in Apollodorus – fell in love with Bellerophon and, when he refused her, told her husband that he had tried to seduce her (Iliad 6.160–165; Apollodorus, Library 2.3.1). Homer adds that Bellerophon refused because he had a sound mind.

Bellerophon and King Iobates

Proetus would not kill a guest. He sent Bellerophon to Lycia with a folded tablet bearing deadly signs, meant for his father-in-law, so that the recipient would put the bearer to death (Iliad 6.166–170). The Lycian king entertained Bellerophon for nine days and slaughtered nine oxen, and on the tenth morning asked to see the token from his son-in-law. Iobates is named only in later sources, including Apollodorus; Homer calls him simply the lord of Lycia (Iliad 6.171–178).

Bellerophon Heroic tasks

Having read the message, Iobates set Bellerophon one dangerous task after another. According to Homer, he first sent him against the Chimaera, a creature of divine descent, lion in front, serpent behind and goat in the middle, breathing a terrible blast of fire. Bellerophon killed it, trusting the signs of the gods (Iliad 6.179–183). Hesiod says that Pegasus and Bellerophon slew it (Theogony 319–325). Apollodorus says he shot it down from the air while riding Pegasus (Library 2.3.2).

Bellerophon, Chimaera and the Amazons

The second task was a battle against the Solymi, which Bellerophon called the hardest fight he had ever entered. The third was the Amazons. When he came back, Iobates set an ambush of the best men in Lycia; Bellerophon killed them all and none returned home (Iliad 6.184–190). Pindar also credits him with shooting the Amazons from the air on Pegasus, and with killing the Chimaera and the Solymi (Olympian 13.87–90).

Bellerophon marries Philonoe

When Iobates recognised that Bellerophon was a child of a god, he kept him in Lycia, gave him his daughter and half of his royal honour, and the Lycians cut out for him a fine estate of orchard and ploughland (Iliad 6.191–195). Apollodorus names the daughter Philonoe and says Iobates showed Bellerophon the letter and left him the kingdom at his death (Library 2.3.2).

Stheneboea's punishment

Homer does not say what became of Anteia, and Apollodorus’ account of Stheneboea ends with her false accusation. In Hyginus’ version of the story the queen is called Antia, daughter of Iobates; he adds that some said she never accused Bellerophon at all, and that he simply left Argos to escape her pleas (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.18).

Bellerophon's Children

In Homer, the daughter of the Lycian king bore Bellerophon three children: Isander, Hippolochus and Laodameia. Zeus lay with Laodameia and she bore Sarpedon; Artemis in anger killed her. Isander was killed by Ares as he fought the Solymi. Hippolochus was the father of Glaucus, the Lycian ally of the Trojans who tells this story to Diomedes (Iliad 6.196–206). Diodorus gives Bellerophon a daughter Deidameia, who married Euandrus, king of Lycia, and bore a Sarpedon (Library of History 5.79.3). Bellerophon’s descendants therefore ruled in Lycia.

Bellerophon's Arrogance

Homer says only that Bellerophon came to be hated by all the gods, and wandered alone over the Aleian plain, eating his heart and avoiding the paths of men (Iliad 6.200–202). Pindar explains the cause: Pegasus threw his master when Bellerophon wanted to enter the dwellings of heaven and join the company of Zeus (Isthmian 7.44–48). Hyginus records a version in which he fell to earth in fear and died there, while Pegasus flew on and was placed among the stars by Zeus (Astronomica 2.18). Pindar says Pegasus himself was received in the ancient stables of Zeus on Olympus (Olympian 13.92).

Bellerophon Sources

Homer, Iliad 6.152–211; Hesiod, Theogony 278–286, 319–325; Hesiodic Catalogue of Women (papyrus fragment on Eurynome, Poseidon and Bellerophon); Pindar, Olympian 13.60–92 and Isthmian 7.44–48; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.3, 2.3.1–2; Pausanias 2.4.1, 2.31.9; Diodorus Siculus 5.79.3; Hyginus, Astronomica 2.18.

See Also: Pegasus, Poseidon, Athena, Chimaera, Sisyphus, Proetus, Amazons, Sarpedon