Bellerophon
Bellerophon had a luckless beginning. He murdered a fellow townsman named
Bellerus, and by accident he killed his brother. Bellerophon went into exile and
arrived at the court of King Proetus. The wife of Proetus fell in love with the young
man, but when he rejected her love she told her husband that Bellerophon had tried
to rape her. Proetus did not what to kill his guest, fearing the punishment of Zeus,
sent the young men to his father-in-law King Iobates. When he arrived at the court
of King Iobates he was well received and entertained. King Iobates also did not want
to kill Bellerophon, so he sent him on dangerous mission that might finish him off.
Bellerophon had one passion, to possess the winged horse, Pegasus, which had
sprung from the blood of Medusa. From advice he had taken, he slept in the Temple
of Athena and when he woke, he found a golden bridle. He went outside and found
the winged horse and immediately mounted the horse with no problem.
His first task was to kill the Chimaera. This monster had the front of a lion,
the body of a goat, and the tail of a serpent. To kill the monster Bellerophon took a
lump of lead and forced it in the mouth of the beast. The fire in its throat melted the
lead and it ran into the belly and killed the beast. Iobates also sent Bellerophon
against his enemies, the Solymi and the Amazons. Neither was a match for the young
man and his flying horse.
Bellerophon lived in prosperity for several years . Then he decided that he
should live on Olympus for his famous deeds. He mounted Pegasus and began to fly
up the mountain. Zeus grew angry of this mortal's presumption and sent a gadfly to
sting Pegasus. When this was done the horse flung Bellerophon off and he fell to the
ground, and from then on he wondered the Earth like a fugitive. Zeus took Pegasus
into his own stables and has the winged horse carry his lightning bolts.
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