Bellerophon

In Greek mythology, a victim of slander who was sent against the monstrous chimera, which he killed with the help of Pegasus, a winged horse. After further trials, he ended his life as a beggar. His story was dramatized by Euripides.

Slander Born Hipponus, son of King Glaucus of Corinth, his name became Bellerophon after he killed Bellerus. While seeking ritual purification for the murder from Proetus, king of Argos, Bellerophon rejected the love of Antea, the king's wife, who then claimed that he had tried to seduce her. Proetus sent him to Iobates, king of Lycia, with sealed instructions for his execution, but Iobates, unwilling to kill the young man directly, gave him the seemingly impossible task of slaying the chimera.

Acquittal Athena, goddess of wisdom, took pity on Bellerophon, giving him a golden bridle with which to capture Pegasus. After the defeat of the chimera, Iobates sent Bellerophon against the Amazons, a race of female warriors, and dispatched a Lycian ambush to cut him down on his return. When Bellerophon appeared immune to all adversity, Iobates confronted him with Proetus' letter and, on learning the truth, gave the young hero his daughter Philonoe in marriage.

Ruin Accounts of Bellerophon's demise vary, but a later version records that he presumed to fly Pegasus to Olympus, home of the gods, whereupon Zeus sent a gadfly to sting the horse, causing his rider to be thrown to earth. Bellerophon, who landed in a thorn bush, was blinded, lamed, and ended his days in destitution, but Pegasus remained with the gods.