![]() Instead, the king sent Bellerophon away to the city of his father-in-law, King Iobates of Lycia. ![]() The murder of a guest, even one who had committed an offense in your home, was forbidden by Zeus’s laws of hospitality. Proetus wanted to kill Bellerophon for this, but was prevented by one of the highest laws of the Greek gods. She told her husband that Bellerophon had attempted to assault her. Stheneboea was infuriated at the rejection and devised a lie to get back at Bellerophon. As a noble man, however, Bellerophon rejected the queen’s affections. Stheneboea, or Anteia as she was named in other sources, made several romantic advances toward her husband’s guest. While there, however, the young man attracted the attention of the king’s wife. Proetus welcomed Bellerophon into his home as a guest. As a king, Proetus had the authority to absolve the prince of his crime. In either case, the killer would be exiled from their city until they could be ritually absolved of their crime.īellerophon presented himself to King Proetus of Tiryns. Greek law made little distinction between intentional murder and accidentally causing a death. According to some sources he had murdered a stranger, while others said that he had accidentally killed his own brother. The lineage of both the terrible line of Sisyphus and the nobility of Eurynome set the stage for a character that would be exceptionally heroic, but also deeply flawed.īellerophon’s story began with exile. Eurynome was a wise and virtuous woman who had learned weaving from Athena herself. Such an ancestry may seem unlikely for a great hero, but writers found a basis for his goodness in his mother. The elder Glaucus, the son of the notorious Sisyphus, had been known for feeding his horses the flesh of men to win chariot races. Homer’s Glaucus was the grandson of the Corinthian prince Bellerophon, who himself was one of the sons of the infamous King Glaucus. In Homer’s Iliad, one of the allies of the Trojan army tells an embedded story of his famous grandfather. The earliest, and most complete, story of the hero Bellerophon comes from a source that is usually associated with other heroes of a later age. Keep reading to fill in the blanks and learn all about Bellerophon, the forgotten hero with a famous quest! Prince Bellerophon in Exile Even if you were unaware of his name, though, you have almost certainly heard parts of his legend. With such a famous legend, why is Bellerophon’s name not remembered as fondly as those of his fellow heroes? One reason is his decidedly unheroic end, in which hubris and ambition overcame his deference to the gods.īellerophon is rarely mentioned in surviving literature and often forgotten even in art. Among these is Bellerophon, whose name is rarely listed among those of the legendary heroes even if his exploits are remembered well.īellerophon’s most famous adventure was the slaying of the great monster Chimera, which he accomplished by being the first man to tame and ride the famous winged horse Pegasus. Names like Heracles, Perseus, and Jason are remembered thousands of years after their stories were first told.Ī few heroes seem to have been largely forgotten, however. Greek mythology is known for its great heroes.
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