Chimera

In Greek mythology, the Chimera is a monster with the body of a lion, a goat in the middle and a dragon in the back, which breathed fire with three mouths. She was the daughter of the giant Typhon and Echinda.

The chimera lived in the volcanic gorge of Krag (in Lykii), where it guarded the entrance to the underworld. As soon as someone approached, she rushed towards them and started to throw fire at them. She was only overpowered by the hero Bellerophontes, who flew in on his winged horse Pégas and killed Chimera with arrows. But these were not just ordinary arrows, the most important were those on which the hero had applied lead. The lead melted in the monster's throat and burned the Chimera from the inside.

The Chimera had several siblings, which were Orthos (a two-headed dog), Kerberos (a three-headed dog, guardian of the realm of the dead), Sphinx (a monster with the head and chest of a naked woman, a lion's body, a serpent's tail and eagle's wings) and Hydra (a monster with a serpent's body and nine dragon's heads).

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