Belerophon

Son of Glaucus, and grandson of Sisyphus, he fled from Corinth after the murder of his brother and went to the court of Proetus, King of Argos, who purified him. But there, the wife of P roetus, became enamoured of him, and because he rejected her advances, she falsely accused him of attempting to violate her. Thereupon Proetus expelled him and sent him to his father-in-law with a letter in wihich were given instructions for his death. But Iobates did not slay him, and instead commanded him to perform certain heroic deeds. Bellerophon succeeded in overcoming t hem all. Among t hese tasks were the taming of the winged steed Pegasus and the slaying of the Chimaera, a m ythical moster w ith three heads, a lion, a go at, and a dragon. Fnally Iobates sent him against the fierce tribe of Solymi and the Amazons, ater which he set an ambush to kill him. However, Bellerophon was victorious everywhere, and Iobates, despairing of killing h im, gave him his da ghter Philonoe as wife. But wishing to defy the gods by riding on Pegasus to the heavenly abo de of Olympus, he was punished for his ins lence by Zeus who made Pegasus t hrow him. Acc or ding to one variation of the myth, the rest of his life he remained a cripple from his waist down by the fall from Pegasus, and yet a o ther version says that he was blind. [pp. 60-61]

[Kyriazis, Constantine D. Eternal Greece. Translated by Harry T. Hionides. A Chat Publication.]

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