Pegasus - Tales of the Ancient Greeks

Poor Medusa! She was a well-mannered, pleasantly spoken young lady who served in the Temple of Athena.

She was a strange goddess, this Athena, with an unenviable reputation of cold hearted dealings toward women, and continually demonstrating her contempt for those of her own gender. Athena was a 'man's goddess', a patriarchal figure.

Pegasus in Clash of the Titans

Poseidon saw Medusa. (Poor girl). At first sight the lusty God of the Sea determined to have his way with her.

One morning Poseidon appeared, disguised as a horse, in the sacred inner sanctum of Athena's temple where he knew Medusa would be alone tending to the sacred flame. Medusa, her shining hair reflected in the glow of the lamps, carefully trimmed the wicks of each one and Poseidon was ... wait... let's skip over this bit of the story and go straight to the end avoiding the truly unpleasant parts.

Athena was furious at the violation of her temple but instead of being angry with Poseidon she reserved all her rage for Medusa.

Medusa was banished, her beautiful hair a writhing mass of snakes, to live in a dark damp cave near the ocean.

When Perseus hacked off the head of Medusa, drops of her blood fell into the ocean, mingled with the foam, and became Pegasus.

After the conquest of the Chimera, Bellerophon was exposed to further trials and labours by his unfriendly host, but with the assistance of Pegasus he triumphed in them all.

He grew arrogant at this, and his pride and presumption drew the anger of the gods. He even attempted to fly up into the home of the gods themselves on Mt Olympus!

Zeus sent a gadfly, which stung Pegasus and he reared, throwing off Bellerophon who fell on the rocks below.

Athena spared the life of Bellerephon by causing him to land on soft ground, but for the rest of his life, Bellerophon traveled, lonely and crippled, in search of his wonderful steed.

And Pegasus was never seen by Bellerophon again.

Look at these two pictures ......

On the left is a third century Roman mosaic from Palmyra showing Bellerephon slaying the Chimera. On the right is a 14th century painting of that old favourite St George.

Perhaps the chimera was a dragon.

Lycia was a region in Anatolia in what is now the province of Antalya on the southern coast of Turkey. It's an area of volcanic activity, with burning rocks and other eerie sights, was this the fire of the Chimera?