Termessos and Bellerophon - Mythology

What armies could not do was possible for the great hero Bellerophon, who, like Heracles, was one of the great heroes of Greek mythology.

His story is - how can it be different - quite dramatic. According to legend, after taming Pegasus' winged horse, Bellerophon "accidentally" killed his brother Deliades. Such misfortunes happened more often at that time ... not just in Termessos and the surrounding area.

Bellerophon had to leave Corinth and was granted asylum by King Proitos in Argos (supposedly the oldest city in Europe). Bellerophon could have been saved already if there wasn´t appearing a problem with the king's wife who stupidly fell in love with him. The entangled Bellerophon was, however, of little interest to the wife of Proitos, which, as we know, can lead to dangerous intrigues in history, as it does today. The king's wife saved her honour by claiming Bellerophon raped her. Anyone can imagine that King Proitos wasn't happy to hear this. Proitos wanted to kill Bellerophon and later made a plan because he didn't want to get his hands bloody.

Unsolvable tasks for King Iobates' Bellerophon

The king arranged a visit to King Iobates of Lycia for Bellerophon, who was Proitos' father. He gave him a telegram containing the contents of killing the bearer of the message, which was a popular game in ancient times. But Iobates struggled, presumably a simple murder was too boring as story. Instead, he presented Bellerophon with an almost impossible task.

Bellerophon was supposed to kill a monster first. It was the dreaded chimera, a fire-breathing hybrid with three heads. (Olympos). Then he had to eliminate the Solymer people (the inhabitants of Termessos) and finally he should go to the battlefield against the belligerent Amazons. The hero, how should it be otherwise, did all the tasks with flying colours and received praise and recognition from Iobates. As a gift, Bellerophon received the king's daughter and half of the empire.

Pegasus and Bellerophon

Finally, Bellerophon was shown the letter about the written text to his death sentence. He too swore vengeance and made a plan against the wife of Proitos, to whom he owed the whole mess. He took his winged horse Pegasus and rode to her. The legend tells that the lady fell in love with Bellerophon again and then left her husband, which was a painful mistake because the horse pushed her down the cliffs on the way back.

Years later, something similar happened to Bellerophon, thanks to his high spirits. He decided to ride Pegasus to join the other gods, which Zeus didn't like at all. The father of the gods sent a small, inconspicuous mosquito to the insane megalomaniac that stung his rear when he rode, whereupon Pegasus threw off his rider and the latter fell. Bellerophon had survived the fall, but remained paralyzed from head to toe ...

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