View source for Social:Chimera (mythology)

{{Short description|Mythical or fictional creature with parts taken from various animals}}
<!-- Please do not add a hatnote linking to the Chimera disambiguation page. Please read Wikipedia's guidelines about disambiguating article names that are not ambiguous if you would like further information. -->
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| image = Chimera Apulia Louvre K362.jpg
| caption = The Chimera on a red-figure Apulian plate, {{circa|350–340}} BC (Musée du Louvre)
| siblings = [[Unsolved:Lernaean Hydra|Lernaean Hydra]], [[Unsolved:Orthrus|Orthrus]], Cerberus {{efn|Both Hesiod and Pseudo-Apollodorus agree that these were the Chimera's siblings. However, the latter states, in his ''Bibliotheca'', that her other siblings are the [[Unsolved:Sphinx#Greece|Sphinx]], Nemean Lion, Crommyonian Sow, Ladon, Caucasian Eagle.}}
| name = Chimera
| offspring = Nemean Lion, [[Unsolved:Sphinx#Greece|Sphinx]]{{efn|name=Hesiod}}
| consort = [[Unsolved:Orthrus|Orthrus]]{{efn|name=Hesiod|According to [[Biography:Hesiod|Hesiod]]'s ''[[Religion:Theogony|Theogony]]''.}}
| abode = [[Biology:Lycia|Lycia]]
| parents = Typhon and Echidna
}}

According to [[Religion:Greek mythology|Greek mythology]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Becchio|first1=Bruno |last2=Schadé|first2=Johannes P. |title=Encyclopedia of World Religions |date=2006 |publisher=Foreign Media Group |isbn=9781601360007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XRkfKdho-5cC&q=Chimera+greek+mythology&pg=PP195 |access-date=27 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref> the '''Chimera''', '''Chimaera''', or '''Chimæra''' ({{IPAc-en|k|aɪ|ˈ|m|ɪər|ə|,_|k|ɪ|-}} {{respell|ky|MEER|ə|,_|kih|-}}; {{lang-grc|Xίμαιρα|Chímaira|she-goat}})<ref>{{Cite book|last=Graves|first=Robert|title=The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |year=2017 |isbn=9780241983386 |page=11}}</ref> was a monstrous [[Unsolved:Fire-breathing monster|fire-breathing]] hybrid creature from [[Biology:Lycia|Lycia]], [[Earth:Anatolia|Asia Minor]], composed of different animal parts. It is usually depicted as a [[Biology:Lion|lion]], with the head of a goat protruding from its back, and a tail that might end with a [[Biology:Snake|snake]]'s head.<ref>Peck, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=chimaera-harpers "Chimaera"].</ref> It was an offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of monsters like Cerberus and the [[Unsolved:Lernaean Hydra|Lernaean Hydra]].

The term "chimera" has come to describe any mythical or fictional creature with parts taken from various animals, to describe anything composed of disparate parts or perceived as wildly imaginative, implausible, or dazzling.

==Family==
[[Image:Chimera d'arezzo, fi, 04.JPG|thumb|upright|left|"Chimera of Arezzo": an Etruscan bronze]]
According to [[Biography:Hesiod|Hesiod]], the Chimera's mother was a certain ambiguous "she", which may refer to Echidna, in which case the father would presumably be Typhon, though possibly (unlikely) the [[Unsolved:Lernaean Hydra|Hydra]] or even Ceto was meant instead.<ref>The referent of "she" in ''[[Religion:Theogony|Theogony]]'' [https://www-loebclassics-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.29.xml 319] is uncertain, see  Clay, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2etBN0w0NGUC&pg=PA159 p. 159, with n. 34];  Gantz, p. 22 ("Echidna ... the Hydra ... or even less probably Keto"); Most, [https://www-loebclassics-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.29.xml p. 29 n. 18] ("probably Echidna"); Caldwell, p. 47 lines 319-325 ("probably Echidna, not Hydra"); West, pp. 254&ndash;255 line 319 '''ἡ δὲ''' ("Echidna or Hydra?").</ref> However, the mythographers Apollodorus (citing Hesiod as his source) and Hyginus both make the Chimera the offspring of Echidna and Typhon.<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' Theogony 39, 151; Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.3.1 2.3.1].</ref> Hesiod also has the [[Unsolved:Sphinx|Sphinx]] and the [[Unsolved:Nemean lion|Nemean lion]] as the offspring of Orthus, and another ambiguous "she", often understood as probably referring to the Chimera, although possibly instead to Echidna, or again even Ceto.<ref>The referent of "she" at [[Biography:Hesiod|Hesiod]], ''Theogony'' [https://www-loebclassics-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.29.xml 326] is uncertain, see Clay, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2etBN0w0NGUC&pg=PA159 pp. 159&ndash;160, with n. 34]; Most, [https://www-loebclassics-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.29.xml p. 29 n. 20] ("Probably Chimaera"); Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA63 p. 63] ("Chimaira (or conceivably with his mother Echidna)"); Gantz, p. 23 ("[Chimera] ... or just possibly Echidna"); Caldwell, p. 47 lines 326 ("either Echidna or Chimaira"); West 1966, p. 356 line 326 '''ἡ δ' ἄρα''' ("much more likely ... Chimaera" than Echidna).</ref>

==Description==
[[File:Romanité museum 052 mosaïque Bellérophon2.jpg|thumb|upright|A Roman mosaic of Bellerophon riding Pegasus and slaying the Chimera, 2nd to 3rd centuries AD, Musée de la Romanité]]
Homer described the Chimera in the ''[[Religion:Iliad|Iliad]]'', saying that "she was of divine stock not of men, in the fore part a lion, in the hinder a serpent, and in the midst a goat, breathing forth in terrible wise the might of blazing fire."<ref>[[Biography:Homer|Homer]], ''[[Religion:Iliad|Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D6%3Acard%3D156 6.180–182]</ref> Hesiod and Apollo Dorus gave similar descriptions: a three-headed creature with a lion in front, a [[Unsolved:Fire-breathing monster|fire-breathing goat]] in the middle, and a serpent in the rear.<ref>Hesiod ''Theogony'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+319 319–324 (Evelyn-White)]: "a creature fearful, great, swift-footed and strong, who had three heads, one of a grim-eyed [[Biology:Lion|lion]]; in her hinderpart, a [[Unsolved:Dragon|dragon]]; and in her middle, a goat, breathing forth a fearful blast of blazing fire."; Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.3.1 2.3.1]: it had the fore part of a lion, the tail of a dragon, and its third head, the middle one, was that of a goat, through which it belched fire ... a single creature with the power of three beasts".</ref>

==Killed by Bellerophon==
[[Image:Bellerophon killing Chimaera (mosaic from Rhodes).jpg|thumb|upright|A Hellenistic Greek pebble mosaic depicting Bellerophon riding Pegasus while killing the Chimera, Archaeological Museum of Rhodes, dated 300–270 BC]]
[[File:Bellerophon riding Pegasus and killing the Chimera, Roman mosaic, the Rolin Museum in Autun, France, 2nd to 3rd century AD.jpg|thumb|upright|Bellerophon riding Pegasus and slaying the Chimera, central medallion of a Roman mosaic from Autun, Musée Rolin, 2nd to 3rd century AD]]

According to Homer, the Chimera, who was reared by Araisodarus (the father of Atymnius and Maris, Trojan warriors killed by Nestor's sons Antilochus and Trasymedes), was "a bane to many men".<ref>[[Biography:Homer|Homer]], ''[[Religion:Iliad|Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:16.306-16.350 16.317&ndash;329]; compare with Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.3.1 2.3.1].</ref> As told in the ''[[Religion:Iliad|Iliad]]'', the hero [[Biology:Bellerophon|Bellerophon]] was ordered by the king of [[Biology:Lycia|Lycia]] to slay the Chimera (hoping the monster would kill Bellerophon). Still, the hero, "trusting in the signs of the gods", succeeded in killing the Chimera.<ref>[[Biography:Homer|Homer]], ''[[Religion:Iliad|Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:6.156-6.190 6.160&ndash;183].</ref> [[Biography:Hesiod|Hesiod]] adds that Bellerophon had help in killing the Chimera, saying, "her did [[Social:Pegasus|Pegasus]] and noble Bellerophon slay".<ref>[[Biography:Hesiod|Hesiod]], ''[[Religion:Theogony|Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:304-336 325], so also Pindar, ''Olympian'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg001.perseus-eng1:13 13.84&ndash;90].</ref> 

Apollo Dorus gave a more complete account of the story. [[Biology:Iobates|Iobates]], the king of [[Biology:Lycia|Lycia]], had ordered Bellerophon to kill the Chimera (who had been killing cattle and had "devastated the country") since he thought that the Chimera would instead kill Bellerophon, "for it was more than a match for many, let alone one".<ref>Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.3.1 2.3.1].</ref> But the hero mounted his winged horse [[Social:Pegasus|Pegasus]] (which had sprung from the blood of the [[Unsolved:Medusa|Medusa]])<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pegasus {{!}} Greek mythology {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pegasus-Greek-mythology |access-date=2022-12-10 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> "and soaring on high shot down the Chimera from the height."<ref>Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.3.2 2.3.2]; compare with Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 57.</ref>

==Iconography==
[[Image:Chimera on vase at Athens' Archaeological Museum.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Chimera depicted on an Attic vase]]
Although the Chimera was, according to Homer, situated in foreign Lycia,<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+16.327 16.328&ndash;329], links her breeding to the non-Trojan ally Amisodarus of Lycia, as a plague for humans.</ref> her representation in the arts was wholly Greek.<ref>Anne Roes "The Representation of the Chimaera" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''54'''.1 (1934), pp. 21–25, adduces Ancient Near Eastern conventions of winged animals whose wings end in animal heads.</ref> An autonomous tradition that did not rely on the written word was represented in the visual repertory of the Greek vase painters. The Chimera first appeared early in the repertory of the proto-Corinthian pottery painters, providing some of the earliest identifiable mythological scenes that may be recognized in Greek art. After some early hesitation, the Corinthian type was fixed in the 670s BC; the variations in the pictorial representations suggest multiple origins to Marilyn Low Schmitt.<ref>This outline of Chimera motifs follows Marilyn Low Schmitt, "Bellerophon and the Chimaera in Archaic Greek Art" ''American Journal of Archaeology'' '''70'''.4 (October 1966), pp. 341–347.</ref> The fascination with the monstrous devolved by the end of the seventh century into a decorative Chimera motif in Corinth,<ref>Later coins struck at Sicyon, near Corinth, bear the chimera-motif. (Schmitt 1966:344 note.</ref> while the motif of Bellerophon on Pegasus took on a separate existence alone. A separate Attic tradition, where the goats breathe fire and the animal's rear is serpentine, begins with the  confidence that Marilyn Low Schmitt is convinced that there must be unrecognized or undiscovered local precursors.<ref>Schmitt 1966.</ref> Two vase painters employed the motif so consistently they were given the pseudonyms the Bellerophon Painter and the Chimaera Painter.

==Similar creatures==
[[Image:Pegasus reel Louvre Bj1887.jpg|thumb|upright|Gold reel, possibly an ear-stud, with a [[Social:Pegasus|winged Pegasus]] (outer band) and the Chimera (inner band), Magna Graecia or Etruria, fourth century BC (Louvre)]]

A fire-breathing lioness was one of the earliest solar and war deities in Ancient Egypt (representations from 3000 years prior to the Greeks), and influences are feasible. The lioness represented the war goddess and protector of both cultures that would unite as Ancient Egypt. [[Unsolved:Sekhmet|Sekhmet]] was one of the dominant deities in upper Egypt and [[Unsolved:Bastet|Bast]] in lower Egypt. As the [[Religion:Mother goddess|divine mother]], and more especially as protector, for Lower Egypt, Bast became strongly associated with Wadjet, the patron goddess of Lower Egypt.{{fact|date=April 2021}}

In [[Place:Etruscan civilization|Etruscan civilization]], the Chimera appears in the Orientalizing period that precedes Etruscan Archaic art. The Chimera appears in Etruscan wall paintings of the fourth century BC.{{fact|date=April 2021}}

In Indus civilization are pictures of the Chimera in many seals. There are different kinds of Chimera composed of animals from the [[Earth:Indian subcontinent|Indian subcontinent]]. It is not known what the Indus people called the Chimera. {{Citation needed|date=December 2022}}

Although the Chimera of antiquity was forgotten in Medieval art, chimerical figures appear as embodiments of the deceptive, even [[Biography:Satan|satan]]ic forces of raw nature. They were depicted with a human face and a scaly tail, as in [[Biography:Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s vision of [[Unsolved:Geryon|Geryon]] in ''[[Unsolved:Divine Comedy|Inferno]]'' xvii.7–17, 25–27, hybrid monsters, more akin to the [[Unsolved:Manticore|Manticore]] of Pliny's ''Natural History'' (viii.90), provided iconic representations of hypocrisy and fraud well into the seventeenth century through a symbolic representation in Cesare Ripa's ''Iconological''.<ref>John F. Moffitt, "An Exemplary Humanist Hybrid: Vasari's 'Fraude' with Reference to Bronzino's 'Sphinx'" ''Renaissance Quarterly'' '''49'''.2 (Summer  1996), pp. 303–333, traces the chimeric image of Fraud backward from Bronzino.</ref>

==Classical sources==
The myths of the Chimera may be found in the ''Bibliotheca'' of Pseudo-Apollodorus (book 1), the ''[[Religion:Iliad|Iliad]]'' (book 16) by [[Biography:Homer|Homer]], the ''Fabulae'' 57 and 151 by [[Biography:Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], the ''Metamorphoses'' (book VI 339 by Ovid; IX 648), and the ''[[Religion:Theogony|Theogony]]'' 319ff by [[Biography:Hesiod|Hesiod]].

Virgil, in the ''Aeneid'' (book 5) employs ''Chimaera'' for the name of a gigantic ship of Gyas in the ship-race, with possible allegorical significance in contemporary Roman politics.<ref>W.S.M. Nicoll, "Chasing Chimaeras" ''The Classical Quarterly'' New Series, '''35'''.1 (1985), pp. 134–139.</ref>

== Hypothesis about origin ==
{{Main|Earth:Mount Chimaera}}
[[Image:FiresChimera2.jpg|thumb|upright|The eternal fires of [[Earth:Mount Chimaera|Chimera]] in Lycia, modern-day Turkey, where the myth takes place]]

Pliny the Elder cited Ctesias and quoted [[Biography:Photios I of Constantinople|Photius]] identifying the Chimera with an area of permanent gas vents that still may be found by hikers on the Lycian Way in southwest [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]]. Called in Turkish, ''Yanartaş'' (flaming rock), the area contains some two dozen vents in the ground, grouped in two patches on the hillside above the Temple of [[Biology:Hephaestus|Hephaestus]] approximately 3&nbsp;km north of Çıralı, near ancient Olympos, in [[Biology:Lycia|Lycia]]. The vents emit burning [[Chemistry:Methane|methane]] thought to be of [[Earth:Metamorphic rock|metamorphic]] origin. The fires of these were landmarks in ancient times and were used for navigation by sailors.

[[Image:Museum of Anatolian Civilizations080.jpg|thumb|upright|Neo-Hittite Chimera from Karkemish, at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations]]
The Neo-Hittite Chimera from Carchemish, dated 850&ndash;750&nbsp;BC, which is now housed in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, is believed to be a basis for the Greek legend. It differs, however, from the Greek version in that a winged body of a lioness also has a human head rising from her shoulders.<!--the image displays the typical tufted tail that distinguishes lionesses from other large cats-->

==Use for Chinese mythological creatures==
Some western scholars of Chinese art, starting with Victor Segalen, use the word "chimera" generically to refer to winged leonine or mixed species quadrupeds, such as ''[[Unsolved:Pixiu|bixie]]'', ''[[Unsolved:Pixiu|tianlu]]'', and even ''qilin''.<ref>{{citation|jstor=3250032
|title=Some Observations on Stone Winged Chimeras at Ancient Chinese Tomb Sites
|author=Barry Till
|journal=Artibus Asiae
|volume=42|issue=4|year=1980|pages=261–281|doi=10.2307/3250032
}}</ref>

==In popular culture==

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}} 
* Grotesque (architecture)
* [[Unsolved:Anzû|Anzû]] (older reading: Zû) – a Mesopotamian monster
* The [[Unsolved:The Beast (Revelation)|Beast]] in Christian eschatology
* Chimera of Arezzo
* ''[[Biology:Chimaera (genus)|Chimaera]]'' – genus of fish named after the mythical creature
* [[Religion:Beast of the Earth|Dābbat al-Arḍ]] in Islamic eschatology
* [[Unsolved:Dragon|Dragon]] – a reptilian monster sharing similar hybrid, flying and fire-breathing traits
* [[Unsolved:Garuda|Garuda]] – a mythical creature and Demigod from Indian sub-continent
* Griffin, a.k.a. griffon or gryphon – a lion/eagle hybrid
* Hybrid creatures in mythology

* Kotobuki – a Japanese Chimera with the parts of the animals on the Chinese Zodiac
* [[Unsolved:Lamassu|Lamassu]] – an Assyrian deity described to be bull/lion/eagle/human hybrid
* List of hybrid creatures in folklore
* [[Biology:Hippocampus|Hippocampus]]- a mythical creature depicted as having the upper body of a horse with the lower body of a fish.

* [[Unsolved:Manticore|Manticore]] – a mythical creature with a human head, a lion body, a scorpion tail, spines like a porcupine, and bat wings in some iterations
* Nue – a Japanese Chimera with the head of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the legs of a tiger, and a snake-headed tail
* [[Social:Pegasus|Pegasus]] – a winged stallion in Greek mythology
* [[Unsolved:Pixiu|Pixiu]] or Pi Yao – Chinese mythical creature
* [[Unsolved:Snallygaster|Snallygaster]] – a mythical creature with metal beak, reptilian body, bird-like wings and octopus tentacles
* [[Unsolved:Sphinx#Greece|Sphinx]] – a mythical creature with a woman's head and breasts, lion's body and eagle's wings
* [[Unsolved:Simurgh|Simurgh]] – an Iranian mythical flying creature
* Ziz – a giant griffin-like bird in Jewish mythology
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}
{{Reflist|2}}

==References==
* Apollodorus, ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Caldwell, Richard, ''Hesiod's Theogony'', Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987). {{ISBN|978-0-941051-00-2}}.
* Clay, Jenny Strauss, ''Hesiod's Cosmos'',  Cambridge University Press, 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-521-82392-0}}.
* Gantz, Timothy, ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5360-9}} (Vol. 1), {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5362-3}} (Vol. 2).
* Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004, {{ISBN|9780415186360}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC Google Books].
* [[Biography:Hesiod|Hesiod]], ''[[Religion:Theogony|Theogony]]'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Biography:Homer|Homer]], ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1-1.32 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Biography:Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus, Gaius Julius]], ''Fabulae'' in ''Apollodorus' ''Library'' and Hyginus' ''Fabulae'': Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma'', Hackett Publishing Company,  2007. {{ISBN|978-0-87220-821-6}}.
* Most, G.W., ''Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia,'' Edited and translated by Glenn W. Most, Loeb Classical Library No. 57, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2018. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99720-2}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL057/2018/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* Peck, Harry Thurston, 1898. ''Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities'': [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=chimaera-harpers "Chimaera"]
* West, M. L., ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press.

==External links==
*[http://www.theoi.com/Ther/Khimaira.html Theoi Project: Khimaira]
*[https://www.harappa.com/content/harappan-chimaeras-%E2%80%98symbolic-hypertexts%E2%80%99-some-thoughts-plato-chimaera-and-indus-civilization Harappan Chimaeras as 'Symbolic Hypertexts'. Some Thoughts on Plato, Chimaera and the Indus Civilization]


[[Category:Pegasus]]

{{Sourceattribution|Chimera (mythology)}}