Bellerophon (redirected from Letters of Bellerophon)

Bellerophon (bəlĕr`əfŏn, –fən), in Greek mythology, son of Glaucus; originally called Hipponoüs. He changed his name after he murdered a countryman and was forced to flee to exile. He became a suppliant at the court of King Proetus of Argos, whose wife Anteia falsely accused him of trying to seduce her. Proetus sent him to Iobates, king of Lycia, with a sealed message requesting the death of its bearer. Iobates gave Bellerophon the seemingly impossible task of killing the Chimera, a beast that was part lion, part goat, part dragon. Bellerophon, however, with the aid of the flying horse Pegasus, killed the monster. Iobates sent him on other difficult missions, but finally decided that Bellerophon was favored by the gods and gave him his daughter in marriage. At the height of his prosperity, however, Bellerophon tried to ride Pegasus to the throne of the gods atop Mt. Olympus, and Zeus in anger caused Pegasus to throw him to the ground. Bellerophon then wandered alone, crippled, blind, and humiliated, until he died.

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Bellerophon

Legendary Greek hero. The son of Glaucus and grandson of Sisyphus, as a youth in Corinth he tamed and rode the winged horse Pegasus. The wife of King Proteus of Argos fell in love with him, and when he rejected her, she falsely accused him of attempted rape. Proteus sent him to the king of Lycia with a message asking that he be killed. The king instead ordered him to kill the monster Chimera, and with the aid of Pegasus he succeeded. He married the king's daughter but later lost the favour of the gods and became an unhappy wanderer. Another version of the legend holds that he tried to fly up to heaven and was thrown from Pegasus and lamed.

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Bellerophon

rider of Pegasus; conquered monsters and Amazons. [Gk. Myth.: Parrinder, 42; Kravitz, 43]

See : Heroism