Difference between revisions of "Chimera (mythology)" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
({{Contracted}})
 
(21 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
 
[[Category:Politics and social sciences]]
 
[[Category:Politics and social sciences]]
 
[[Category:Anthropology]]
 
[[Category:Anthropology]]
{{Claimed}}{{Started}}{{Contracted}}
+
[[Category:Mythical creatures]]
 +
{{Submitted}}{{Images OK}}{{Approved}}{{Paid}}{{copyedited}}
 
[[Image:Chimera Apulia Louvre K362.jpg|thumb|200px|Chimera on a red-figure [[Apulia]]n plate, ca 350-340 B.C.E. ([[Musée du Louvre]])]]
 
[[Image:Chimera Apulia Louvre K362.jpg|thumb|200px|Chimera on a red-figure [[Apulia]]n plate, ca 350-340 B.C.E. ([[Musée du Louvre]])]]
In [[Greek mythology]], the '''Chimera''' ([[Greek language|Greek]] ''[[:el:Χίμαιρα (μυθολογία)|Χίμαιρα]]'' (Chímaira); [[Latin]] ''Chimaera'') is a monstrous creature of [[Lycia]] in [[Asia Minor]], which was  made of the parts of multiple animals. Chimera was one of the offspring of [[Typhon]] and [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]] and sister of such monsters as [[Cerberus]] and the [[Lernaean Hydra]].
+
In [[Greek mythology]], the '''Chimera''' is a monstrous creature that was composed of several different animals. The chimera is only one of several famous [[mythology|mythological]] [[hybrid]]s. As with all [[mythical creature]]s, there is the question of its origin. In some traditions, the Chimera was one of the offspring of [[Typhon]] and [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]] and sister of such monsters as [[Cerberus]] and the [[Lernaean Hydra]]. However, the chimera does not appear to have an existence in physical reality, save for the individual animals from which it is composed.
 +
{{toc}}
 +
While minor in [[literature]], the chimera was nonetheless exceedingly popular in ancient [[art]], and is featured in many depictions of epic scale. In pop culture, a chimera may refer to any creation that is a hybrid, or a single entity composed of two or more distinct entities. It is often used in [[television]] shows and [[role-playing games]], usually as an obstacle for players to overcome. Thus, the chimera represents the most dangerous beast that the human imagination can conjure, taking those attributes of existing creatures to develop a new creation that is more difficult to overcome. The role of such creatures has thus been to challenge the [[hero]] to use bravery and strength in order to achieve victory.
 +
 
 +
==Etymology==
 +
The word '''chimera''' comes from the [[Greek language|Greek]] ''[[:el:Χίμαιρα (μυθολογία)|Χίμαιρα]],'' which translates as "she-goat or monster."<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'' (Oxford University Press, 1971). ISBN 019861117X</ref> Through the [[Latin language|Latin]] ''Chimaera'' comes the [[English language|English]] version, which has a second definition, according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary,'' as being "An unreal creature of the imagination, a mere fancy; an un-found conception." Along with these two meanings are a host of variants on the root word: '''Chimeric''' is something that is "fanciful or imaginary"; '''Chimerical''' is something "of the nature of the chimera; vainly or fantastically conceived"; and '''Chimerize''' is the act of indulging "in chimeras, indulge and foster wild and unfounded fancies."
  
 
==Description==
 
==Description==
[[Homer]]'s brief description in the ''[[Iliad]]''<ref>''Iliad'' VI. 179-182</ref> is the earliest literary reference: "a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle,<ref> ''Chimaira'' designated a young goat that had seen but one winter. (Kerenyi 1959:82.</ref> and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire".<ref>In [[Richmond Lattimore]]'s translation.</ref> [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'' follows the Homeric description: he makes the Chimera the issue of [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]]: ''"She was the mother of Chimaera who breathed raging fire, a creature fearful, great, swift-footed and strong, who had three heads, one of a grim-eyed lion; in her hinderpart, a dragon; and in her middle, a goat, breathing forth a fearful blast of blazing fire. Her did Pegasus and noble Bellerophon slay"''<ref>Hesiod ''Theogony'' 319ff in [[Hugh Evelyn-White]]'s translation.</ref> The author of ''[[Bibliotheke]]'' concurs:<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheke''ii.3.2: "it had the fore part of a lion, the tail of a dragon, and its third head, the middle one, was that of a goat, through which it belched fire. And it devastated the country and harried the cattle; for it was a single creature with the power of three beasts. It is said, too, that this Chimera was bred by Amisodarus, as Homer also affirms,3 and that it was begotten by Typhon on Echidna, as Hesiod relates"</ref> descriptions agree that it breathed [[fire]]. The Chimera is generally considered to have been female (see the quotation from Hesiod above) despite the mane adorning its lion's head. Sighting the chimera{{Fact|date=February 2007}} was an omen of [[storms]], [[shipwrecks]], and [[natural disasters]] (particularly [[volcano]]es).
+
The most common description of the chimera comes from [[Homer]]'s ''[[Illiad]],'' in which the creature is said to have the head of a [[lion]], the body of a [[goat]], and tail of a [[snake]]. It is also believed to breath fire and be [[female]], despite the mane adorning the lions head.<ref>Homer, ''The Iliad.''</ref> The chimera was said to be incredibly vicious and powerful, especially since as one single creature, it possessed the abilities of three separate animals.
[[Image:Bellerophon Chimaera BM D205.jpg|thumb|left|200 px|Bellerophon and the Chimaera]]
 
While there are different [[genealogies]], in one version it mated with its brother [[Orthrus]] and mothered the [[Sphinx]] and the [[Nemean Lion]].
 
  
The Chimera was finally defeated by [[Bellerophon]] with the help of [[Pegasus]] at the command of [[Iobates|King Iobates]] of [[Lycia]]. He shot the Chimera from the air, safe from her heads and breath, since Pegasus could fly;<ref>So Pindar: ''Olympian odes'', 13,87; pseudo-[[Apollodorus]] 2, 3,2;  [[Hesiod]], [[Theogony]] 319 ff.</ref> a [[scholiast]] to Homer adds that he finished her off putting a lump of lead on his spear that melted when exposed to Chimera's fiery breath and consequently killed it, an image drawn from metalworking.<ref>Graves, section 75, note </ref>
+
==Origin==
 +
[[File:FiresChimera2.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Fires of Chimera, Çıralı, Turkey. Some say this [[geothermic]]ally active region was the inspiration for the myth.]]  
 +
The chimera is only one of several famous [[mythology|mythological]] [[hybrid]]s: [[Pegasus]], [[Gorgon|Medusa]], the [[Minotaur]], and the [[Griffin]] are all examples of creatures that are composites of real animals. The combination of attributes often represented something to the people who created such myths. One possibility is that the chimera could actually be a representation of the land where the creature was attributed to be living in [[Lycia]], [[Asia Minor]].<ref>Harry Thurston Peck, [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0062%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DC%3Aentry+group%3D13%3Aentry%3Dchimaera-harpers Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities: Chimaera.] Retrieved August 15, 2014.</ref>  
  
==The Chimera motif==
+
[[Ctesias]] identified the Chimaera with an area of permanent gas vents which can still be found today by hikers on the [[Lycian Way]], in southwest [[Turkey]]. Called in Turkish, ''Yanartaş'' (flaming rock), it consists of some two dozen vents in the ground, grouped in two patches on the hillside above the Temple of [[Hephaestus]], about 3 km north of [[Çıralı]], near ancient [[Olympos]], in [[Lycia]]. The vents emit burning [[methane]] thought to be of [[Metamorphic rock|metamorphic]] origin, which in ancient times sailors could navigate by, and which today the custodian uses to brew [[tea]]. The place name is attested by [[Isidore of Seville]] and [[Servius]], the commentator on the ''[[Aeneid]].'' Isidore wrote that Mount Chimaera was on fire here, had lions and goats there, and was full of snakes over there. Servius goes so far as to arrange these with the lions on the peak of the mountain, pastures full of goats in the middle, and serpents all about the base, thus imitating [[Homer]]'s description of the chimera exactly.  
The Chimera was placed in foreign Lycia,<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' xvi.328, links its breeding to the Trojan ally Amisodarus of Lycia, as a plague for men.</ref> but its representations in the arts was wholly Greek.<ref>Anne Roes "The Representation of the Chimaera" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''54'''.1 (1934), pp. 21-25, adduces Ancient Near Eastern conventions of winged animals who wings end in animal heads.</ref> An autonomous tradition, one that did not rely on the written word, was represented in the visual repertory of the Greek vase-painters. The Chimera first appears at an early stage in the proto-Corinthian pottery-painters' repertory, providing some of the earliest identifiable mythological scenes that can be recognized in [[Art of Ancient Greece|Greek art]]. The Corinthian type is fixed, after some early hesitation, in the 670s B.C.E.; the variations in the pictorial representations suggest to Marilyn Low Schmitt<ref>This outline of the Chimera motif follows Marilyn Low Schmitt, "Bellerophon and the Chimaera in Archaic Greek Art" ''American Journal of Archaeology'' '''70'''.4 (October 1966), pp. 341-347.</ref>a multiple origin. The fascination with the monstrous devolved by the end of the seventh century into a decorative Chimera-motif in Corinth,<ref>Later coins struck at [[Sicyon]], near Corinth, bear the chimera-motif. (Schmitt 1966:344 note.</ref> while the motif of Bellerophon on Pegasus took on a separate existence alone. A separate Attic tradition, where the goats breathe fire and the animal's rear is serpent-like, begins with such confidence that Marilyn Low Schmitt is convinced there must be unrecognized earlier local prototypes. Two vase-painters employed the motif so consistently they are given the pseudonyms the Bellerophon Painter and the Chimaera Painter.  
 
  
In [[Etruscan civilization]], the Chimera appears in the "Orientalizing" period that precedes Etruscan Archaic art; that is to say, very early indeed.  The Chimera appears in Etruscan wall-paintings of the fourth century B.C.E..
+
In some traditions, the Chimera was one of the offspring of [[Typhon]] and [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]] and sister of such monsters as [[Cerberus]] and the [[Lernaean Hydra]]. There are several different [[genealogies]]—in one version, it mated with its brother, [[Orthrus]], and mothered the [[Sphinx]] and the [[Nemean Lion]].
  
[[Robert Graves]] suggests<ref>Graves 1960:sect.34.2.</ref> that "the Chimaera was, apparently, a calendar-symbol of the tripartite year, of which the seasonal emblems were lion, goat and serpent."
+
==Chimera and Bellerophon==
 
+
[[Image:Bellerophon Chimaera BM D205.jpg|thumb|left|200 px|Bellerophon and the Chimaera]]
In [[Medieval]] art, though the chimera of Antiquity was forgotten, chimerical figures appear as embodiments of the deceptive, even [[Satan|Satanic]] forces of raw nature. Provided with a human face and a scaly tail, as in [[Dante]]'s vision of [[Geryon]] in ''[[Inferno]]'' xvii.7-17, 25-27, hybrid monsters, actually more akin to the [[Manticore]] of [[Pliny's Natural History]] (viii.90), provided iconic representations of hypocrisy and fraud well into the seventeenth century, through an emblemmatic representation in [[Cesare Ripa]]'s ''Iconologia''.<ref>John F. Moffitt, "An Exemplary Humanist Hybrid: Vasari's "Fraude" with Reference to Bronzino's 'Sphinx'" ''Renaissance Quarterly'' '''49'''.2 (Summer  1996), pp. 303-333, traces the chimeric image of Fraud backwards from [[Bronzino]].</ref>
+
The Chimera has a small appearance in [[Greek mythology]]. The hero [[Bellerophon]] had an affair with [[Anteia]], but broke it off suddenly and would have no further contact with her. Enraged, Anteia turned to her husband, [[King Proetus]], telling him that their guest had dishonored her and deserved to die. The King, however, was unwilling to kill Bellerophon, so he sent him to the King of Lycia in Asia, secretly requesting that he kill Bellerophon. The King of Lycia was just as hesitant, for Bellerophon had been his guest for over a week and [[Zeus]] looked poorly on those who broke the sacred bond between guest and host. In the kingdom lived the chimera, which no one was able to kill, and thus the King of Lycia sent Bellerophon on a mission to kill the beast, knowing full well that he would perish in the act. Bellerophon had an advantage over all others who had faced the chimera, however, in the form of [[Pegasus]] the winged horse. With great ease, Bellerophon flew high above the chimera, away from its fiery breath, and shot the creature full of arrows until it died.<ref>Edith Hamilton, ''Mythology'' (1942). ISBN 0316341142</ref>
 
 
Over time, the Chimera has also been lifted from mythology to represent not only the fantastic, but that which cannot be—a concept originating from the quixotic physical representations of the Chimera as impossible amalgam. In this way its usage was extended by classically-educated botanists (see [[Chimera (plant)]], [[Chimera (genetics)]]).
 
[[Image:Museo archeologico di Firenze, La chimera d'arezzo 08.JPG|thumb|left|280px|"[[Chimera of Arezzo]]:" an [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] bronze]]
 
  
==Classical sources==
+
==Artistic representations==
The myths of the Chimera can be found in [[Library of Apollodorous|Apollodorous' Library]] (book 1), [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' (book 6); Hyginus ''[[Fabulae]]'' 57; [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'' (book VI 339; IX 648) and [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'' 319ff.
+
[[Image:Bellerophon Khimaira Louvre A478.jpg|right|thumb|250 px|Bellerophon fighting the Chimera. Side A of an attic black-figured “double-decker” Siana cup, ca. 575–550 B.C.E. Found in Camiros (Rhodes).]]
 +
The Chimera was placed in foreign Lycia in [[mythology]], but its representation in the [[art]]s was wholly Greek.<ref>Anne Roes, "The Representation of the Chimaera," ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' 54, No. 1 (1934): 21-25.</ref> The Chimera first appears at an early stage in the proto-Corinthian [[pottery]]-painters' repertory, providing some of the earliest identifiable mythological scenes that can be recognized in [[Art of Ancient Greece|Greek art]]. The Corinthian type is fixed, after some early hesitation, in the 670s B.C.E. The fascination with the monstrous devolved by the end of the seventh century into a decorative Chimera-motif in Corinth, while the motif of Bellerophon on Pegasus took on a separate existence alone. A separate Attic tradition exists, where the goats breathe fire and the animal's rear is serpent-like. Two vase-painters employed the motif so consistently they are given the pseudonyms, the Bellerophon Painter and the Chimera Painter.
 +
[[Image:Museo archeologico di Firenze, La chimera d'arezzo 08.JPG|thumb|right|250px|"[[Chimera of Arezzo]]" an [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] bronze]]
 +
In [[Etruscan civilization]], the Chimera appears in the "Orientalizing" period that precedes Etruscan Archaic art; that is to say, very early indeed. The Chimera appears in Etruscan wall-paintings of the fourth century B.C.E..
  
[[Virgil]], in the ''[[Aeneid]]'' (book 5) employs ''Chimaera'' for the name of [[Gyas]]' gigantic ship in the ship-race, with possible allegorical significance in contemporary Roman politics.<ref>W.S.M. Nicoll, "Chasing Chimaeras" ''The Classical Quarterly'' New Series, '''35'''.1 (1985), pp. 134-139.</ref>  
+
In [[Medieval]] art, though the chimera of antiquity was forgotten, chimerical figures appear as embodiments of the deceptive, even [[Satan]]ic forces of raw nature. Provided with a human face and a scaly tail, as in [[Dante]]'s vision of [[Geryon]] in ''[[Inferno]]'' (xvii.7-17, 25-27), hybrid monsters, actually more akin to the [[Manticore]] of [[Pliny]]'s ''Natural History'' (viii.90), provided iconic representations of hypocrisy and [[fraud]] well into the seventeenth century, through an emblematic representation in [[Cesare Ripa]]'s ''Iconologia.''<ref>John F. Moffitt, "An Exemplary Humanist Hybrid: Vasari's "Fraude" with Reference to Bronzino's 'Sphinx'," ''Renaissance Quarterly'' 49, No. 2 (Summer 1996): 303-333.</ref>
  
== Theory about origin ==
+
==Pop Culture==
+
To differing degrees, the chimera appears throughout pop culture. With many of the classical creatures, the chimera shows up in such [[role-playing games]] as the ''Dungeons and Dragons'' series, as well as the popular [[video-game]] series ''Final Fantasy,'' often as obstacles for the players to overcome. Many of the most successful products in the [[Science Fiction]] genre, ''Star Wars,'' ''Star Trek,'' and ''The X-Files,'' employ chimeras, often building upon the scientific usage of the term to describe [[biology|biological]] and [[genetics|genetic]] hybrids, sometimes monstrous creatures or [[virus]]es that science has created.
[[Image:Chimaera-Yanartas,_SW_Turkey,_8_Aug_2005.JPG|thumb|200px|right|Some say this [[geothermic]]ally active region was the inspiration for the myth]]
 
"Even in antiquity the Chimaera was regarded as a symbol of the volcanic character of the Lycian soil," Harry Thurston Peck noted. (Peck 1898). [[Ctesias]] (as cited by [[Pliny the Elder]] and quoted by [[Photius]]) identified the Chimaera with an area of permanent gas vents which can still be found today by hikers on the [[Lycian Way]] in southwest [[Turkey]]. Called in Turkish ''Yanartaş'' (flaming rock), it consists of some two dozen vents in the ground, grouped in two patches on the hillside above the Temple of [[Hephaestus]] about 3 km north of [[Çıralı]], near ancient [[Olympos]], in [[Lycia]]. The vents emit burning [[methane]] thought to be of [[Metamorphic rock|metamorphic]] origin, which in ancient times sailors could navigate by, and which today the custodian uses to brew [[tea]].  
 
 
 
[[Image:FiresChimera2.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The fires of Chimera at night.]]
 
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
Line 40: Line 41:
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
*[[Robert Graves|Graves, Robert]], (1955) 1960. ''The Greek Myths'' (Baltimore: Penguin), section 75.b, pp 252-56
+
* Graves, Robert. ''The Greek Myths.'' Baltimore: Penguin, 1960.
*[[Karl Kerenyi|Kerenyi, Karl]], 1959. ''The Heroes of the Greeks''. (London and New York:Thames and Hudson)
+
* Hamilton, Edith. ''Mythology.'' Boston: Back Bay Books, 1942. ISBN 0316341142
*Peck, Harry Thurston, 1898. ''Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities'': "Chimaera"  ([http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0062%3Aid%3Dchimaera On-line text])
+
* ''Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities.'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0062%3Aid%3Dchimaera Chimaera.] Retrieved June 25, 2007.
 
+
* Kerenyi, Karl. ''The Heroes of the Greeks.'' London: Thames and Hudson, 1959.
 +
* Peck, Harry Thurston. ''Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities''. 1898.
  
 
{{Credits|Chimera_(mythology)|132729169|}}
 
{{Credits|Chimera_(mythology)|132729169|}}

Latest revision as of 21:03, 15 August 2014


Chimera on a red-figure Apulian plate, ca 350-340 B.C.E. (Musée du Louvre)

In Greek mythology, the Chimera is a monstrous creature that was composed of several different animals. The chimera is only one of several famous mythological hybrids. As with all mythical creatures, there is the question of its origin. In some traditions, the Chimera was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna and sister of such monsters as Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra. However, the chimera does not appear to have an existence in physical reality, save for the individual animals from which it is composed.

While minor in literature, the chimera was nonetheless exceedingly popular in ancient art, and is featured in many depictions of epic scale. In pop culture, a chimera may refer to any creation that is a hybrid, or a single entity composed of two or more distinct entities. It is often used in television shows and role-playing games, usually as an obstacle for players to overcome. Thus, the chimera represents the most dangerous beast that the human imagination can conjure, taking those attributes of existing creatures to develop a new creation that is more difficult to overcome. The role of such creatures has thus been to challenge the hero to use bravery and strength in order to achieve victory.

Etymology

The word chimera comes from the Greek Χίμαιρα, which translates as "she-goat or monster."[1] Through the Latin Chimaera comes the English version, which has a second definition, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, as being "An unreal creature of the imagination, a mere fancy; an un-found conception." Along with these two meanings are a host of variants on the root word: Chimeric is something that is "fanciful or imaginary"; Chimerical is something "of the nature of the chimera; vainly or fantastically conceived"; and Chimerize is the act of indulging "in chimeras, indulge and foster wild and unfounded fancies."

Description

The most common description of the chimera comes from Homer's Illiad, in which the creature is said to have the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and tail of a snake. It is also believed to breath fire and be female, despite the mane adorning the lions head.[2] The chimera was said to be incredibly vicious and powerful, especially since as one single creature, it possessed the abilities of three separate animals.

Origin

Fires of Chimera, Çıralı, Turkey. Some say this geothermically active region was the inspiration for the myth.

The chimera is only one of several famous mythological hybrids: Pegasus, Medusa, the Minotaur, and the Griffin are all examples of creatures that are composites of real animals. The combination of attributes often represented something to the people who created such myths. One possibility is that the chimera could actually be a representation of the land where the creature was attributed to be living in Lycia, Asia Minor.[3]

Ctesias identified the Chimaera with an area of permanent gas vents which can still be found today by hikers on the Lycian Way, in southwest Turkey. Called in Turkish, Yanartaş (flaming rock), it consists of some two dozen vents in the ground, grouped in two patches on the hillside above the Temple of Hephaestus, about 3 km north of Çıralı, near ancient Olympos, in Lycia. The vents emit burning methane thought to be of metamorphic origin, which in ancient times sailors could navigate by, and which today the custodian uses to brew tea. The place name is attested by Isidore of Seville and Servius, the commentator on the Aeneid. Isidore wrote that Mount Chimaera was on fire here, had lions and goats there, and was full of snakes over there. Servius goes so far as to arrange these with the lions on the peak of the mountain, pastures full of goats in the middle, and serpents all about the base, thus imitating Homer's description of the chimera exactly.

In some traditions, the Chimera was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna and sister of such monsters as Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra. There are several different genealogies—in one version, it mated with its brother, Orthrus, and mothered the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion.

Chimera and Bellerophon

Bellerophon and the Chimaera

The Chimera has a small appearance in Greek mythology. The hero Bellerophon had an affair with Anteia, but broke it off suddenly and would have no further contact with her. Enraged, Anteia turned to her husband, King Proetus, telling him that their guest had dishonored her and deserved to die. The King, however, was unwilling to kill Bellerophon, so he sent him to the King of Lycia in Asia, secretly requesting that he kill Bellerophon. The King of Lycia was just as hesitant, for Bellerophon had been his guest for over a week and Zeus looked poorly on those who broke the sacred bond between guest and host. In the kingdom lived the chimera, which no one was able to kill, and thus the King of Lycia sent Bellerophon on a mission to kill the beast, knowing full well that he would perish in the act. Bellerophon had an advantage over all others who had faced the chimera, however, in the form of Pegasus the winged horse. With great ease, Bellerophon flew high above the chimera, away from its fiery breath, and shot the creature full of arrows until it died.[4]

Artistic representations

Bellerophon fighting the Chimera. Side A of an attic black-figured “double-decker” Siana cup, ca. 575–550 B.C.E. Found in Camiros (Rhodes).

The Chimera was placed in foreign Lycia in mythology, but its representation in the arts was wholly Greek.[5] The Chimera first appears at an early stage in the proto-Corinthian pottery-painters' repertory, providing some of the earliest identifiable mythological scenes that can be recognized in Greek art. The Corinthian type is fixed, after some early hesitation, in the 670s B.C.E. The fascination with the monstrous devolved by the end of the seventh century into a decorative Chimera-motif in Corinth, while the motif of Bellerophon on Pegasus took on a separate existence alone. A separate Attic tradition exists, where the goats breathe fire and the animal's rear is serpent-like. Two vase-painters employed the motif so consistently they are given the pseudonyms, the Bellerophon Painter and the Chimera Painter.

"Chimera of Arezzo" an Etruscan bronze

In Etruscan civilization, the Chimera appears in the "Orientalizing" period that precedes Etruscan Archaic art; that is to say, very early indeed. The Chimera appears in Etruscan wall-paintings of the fourth century B.C.E.

In Medieval art, though the chimera of antiquity was forgotten, chimerical figures appear as embodiments of the deceptive, even Satanic forces of raw nature. Provided with a human face and a scaly tail, as in Dante's vision of Geryon in Inferno (xvii.7-17, 25-27), hybrid monsters, actually more akin to the Manticore of Pliny's Natural History (viii.90), provided iconic representations of hypocrisy and fraud well into the seventeenth century, through an emblematic representation in Cesare Ripa's Iconologia.[6]

Pop Culture

To differing degrees, the chimera appears throughout pop culture. With many of the classical creatures, the chimera shows up in such role-playing games as the Dungeons and Dragons series, as well as the popular video-game series Final Fantasy, often as obstacles for the players to overcome. Many of the most successful products in the Science Fiction genre, Star Wars, Star Trek, and The X-Files, employ chimeras, often building upon the scientific usage of the term to describe biological and genetic hybrids, sometimes monstrous creatures or viruses that science has created.

Notes

  1. Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 1971). ISBN 019861117X
  2. Homer, The Iliad.
  3. Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities: Chimaera. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  4. Edith Hamilton, Mythology (1942). ISBN 0316341142
  5. Anne Roes, "The Representation of the Chimaera," The Journal of Hellenic Studies 54, No. 1 (1934): 21-25.
  6. John F. Moffitt, "An Exemplary Humanist Hybrid: Vasari's "Fraude" with Reference to Bronzino's 'Sphinx'," Renaissance Quarterly 49, No. 2 (Summer 1996): 303-333.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths. Baltimore: Penguin, 1960.
  • Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. Boston: Back Bay Books, 1942. ISBN 0316341142
  • Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Chimaera. Retrieved June 25, 2007.
  • Kerenyi, Karl. The Heroes of the Greeks. London: Thames and Hudson, 1959.
  • Peck, Harry Thurston. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. 1898.

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.