Bellerophon in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Bellerophon

10 passages from 8 ancient authors that tell of Bellerophon, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. 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... For the story in one place, read our article on Bellerophon.

Hesiod (2)

Hesiod, Theogony 305–334Echidna's offspring: Cerberus, the Hydra, the Chimaera and the Sphinx (305-334)Typhaon is joined in love to Echidna, and their offspring are Orthus, Cerberus, the Hydra and the Chimaera. The Hydra is nourished by Hera and killed by Heracles with Iolaus's help, and the Chimaera is killed by Pegasus and Bellerophon. Echidna and Orthus bear the Sphinx and the Nemean lion, which Hera rears, and the section ends with Ceto and Phorcys's youngest child, the serpent that guards the golden apples.
Hesiod, Fragments 1.1–13Deucalion, Hellen and their descendantsThe Catalogue of Women opens with the descendants of Deucalion and Hellen, saying that Deucalion was the son of Prometheus and Pronoea, that Hellen fathered Dorus, Xuthus and Aeolus, and that Thyia bore Magnes and Macedon to Zeus. The fragments then turn to the Aloiadae, Eurynome, Endymion, the sons of Actor and Molione, Periclymenus, and the sons of Neleus whom Heracles killed. Most are short quotations from later writers who cite Hesiod for a name or a descent.

Homer (1)

Homer, Iliad 6.119–236Diomedes and Glaucus exchange armourDiomedes and Glaucus meet between the armies, and Diomedes asks who he is, saying that he will not fight a god. Glaucus answers that the generations of men are like leaves, and tells how his forefather Bellerophon was sent to Lycia, where he overcame the Chimaera, the Solymi and the Amazons. Diomedes, learning that their grandfathers were guest-friends, plants his spear and they exchange armour, Zeus taking the wits of Glaucus so that he gives gold for bronze.

Apollodorus (1)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 2.3.1–2Bellerophon and the ChimaeraBellerophon, after killing a man by accident, is purified by Proetus, and Stheneboea falsely accuses him when he rejects her. Proetus sends him to Iobates in Lycia with a letter calling for his death, and Iobates sets him to kill the Chimaera, which he does from the air on the winged horse Pegasus. He then defeats the Solymi and the Amazons and kills the ambush set for him, after which Iobates gives him his daughter and the kingdom.

Pindar (1)

Pindar, Olympian Odes 13.1–115Olympian 13: for Xenophon — Corinth and BellerophonPindar praises Corinth and the house of Xenophon, victor in the foot-race and pentathlon, and asks who first invented the dithyramb and the bridle. He tells of the Corinthian heroes of the Argo and of Troy, and how Bellerophon slept at Athena's altar, was given the golden bridle and tamed Pegasus at the spring of Peirene. The ode ends with the list of the family's victories at the Isthmus and Nemea and a prayer to Zeus.

Euripides (1)

Euripides, Ion 184–225Parodos: the Chorus admires the temple sculpturesThe Chorus of Creusa's handmaids, who have come from Athens, says that there are fine temples in Athens but that here at Delphi too, the shrine of Loxias shines. They look at the sculptures on the temple, among them Heracles killing the water-snake, Iolaus holding a torch, Bellerophon on his winged horse killing a fire-breathing monster and the battle of the giants.

Aristophanes (1)

Aristophanes, The Acharnians 393–488Episode: Dicaeopolis borrows the rags of Telephus from EuripidesDicaeopolis resolves to plead for the enemy dressed as a beggar, and goes to Euripides' house, where a servant says that the poet is within and not within. Euripides, working aloft, lends him the rags of Telephus, then a Mysian cap, a staff, a basket, a tankard, a pitcher and some withered leaves. When Dicaeopolis asks for chervil as one last thing, Euripides loses patience and has the door shut.

Diodorus Siculus (1)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 6.2.1–6.9.1Book 6: other fragmentsThe fragments that follow take up the gods named after lands they conquered, the Titans Xanthus and Balius, crowns, Picus who was called Zeus, and the Dioscori. They go on to Salmoneus, who imitated Zeus's thunder, to Admetus, Alcestis and Melampus, and end with Bellerophon at the court of Proetus and the Chimaera.

Pausanias (2)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.4.1–7Corinth: Athena the Bridler, the kings of Corinth and the road up to Acro-CorinthNear the tomb of Medea’s children is the sanctuary of Athena the Bridler, which leads Pausanias to Bellerophon and Pegasus and to the lineage of Corinth’s kings from Sisyphus to the Dorian Aletes, the Bacchids and the tyrant Cypselus. He describes the theatre, the Daedalic Hercules, the spring Lerna and the temples of Zeus and Asclepius, and the shrines of Isis, Serapis, the Mother of the Gods, the Fates, Demeter and Bunaean Hera on the way up to Acro-Corinth.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.31.1–9Helicon: Arsinoe, the Horse's Fount, the works and death of Hesiod, and Narcissus' springPausanias describes further offerings on Helicon, including the statue of Arsinoe on a bronze ostrich, the old tripod of Hesiod and the Horse's Fount, said to have been made by Bellerophon's steed. He reports the conflicting views on which poems Hesiod wrote and on his death at the hands of Ctimenus and Antiphus. He also gives the Thespian story of Narcissus' spring and an alternative story of Narcissus and his twin sister.