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This page is an attempt to unravel, as much as possible, the origins of the myth of the Mediterranean Chimera, best known as the statue of the Chimera of Arezzo. It is not meant to be the definitive word on this subject nor to contrast or replace the previous work of many distinguished archaeologists and art historians. The author just hopes to have bearable to suggest a few ideas that, maybe, someone will find of interest. Ancient myths often tell of beings made out of several creatures joined together in a single one: a human head on a lion body makes a sphinx, on a birds torso a siren, and on that of a fish a mermaid. Some of these beings are true races, as the centaurs (half man and half horse), the harpies (another kind of woman / bird mixture), and the satyrs (men with goats legs). Others comes one of a kind, as the Minotaur (half man and half bull), Echidna (half woman and half snake), and the Chimera, this time admixture of lion, goat, and snake.
For us, the richness of this ancient Pantheon is at most a matter of curiosity. A jumble of beings out of which it is hard take much sense. The myth of the Chimera seems to be a particularly baffling one. Surely it is a spectacular story of the battle ofa flying hero against a fire breathing monster, but can it be that all this sound and fury signifies nothing but slaying an ugly beast?
Surely we have here one of the first (perhaps the first) version of the story of the hero and the dragon, a story pervasively embedded in western thought, repeated over and over in thousands of versions, a story that still makes us dream. We should nothing, however, that the myth of the Chimera in itself was the origin of any new idea. It was, rather, a version of some much more ancient myth, one that found its way in the stories told by Homer and Hesiod, and as such it was commented upon, illustrated in paintings and sculptures, and finally transmitted to us. But the story, as in most ancient myths, is clearly a mixture of other stories and ideas, older myths, some perhaps going far backward, to when humankind still could not record thoughts in any other way than story telling. Making sense of this mixture and finding the true origins of the myth of the Chimera is surely not an easy task, But still we can try. Lets first review what we know.
The literary sources are practically only two: Homer and Hesiod, back to probably 9 th century BC, with later authors only adding minor details. According to Homer, the Chimera was in the fore part a lion, in the hinder a serpent, and in the middle a goat. Hesiod says almost identical words, although he specifies that the creature had three heads. Both also say that it was capable of breathing fire. All authors describe the Chimera as female, and that may be something related to her name, that in ancient Greek means young she-goat. Despite this rather humble name, she was of divine origin.
Her father was the giant Typhon, her mother the half-serpent Echidna. She had as brothers Cerberus (the hound of Hell), Hydra (thence-headed water snake) and Orthrus (another multi-headed dog). The Chimera was slain by Bellerophon, the hero. He was of divine origin, too, and in order to succeed in his task he first tamed the winged horse Pegasus (some say it was given to him by Poseidon, his father). Then he flew over the monster to avoid its fiery breath. Some say that the breath of the beast was so hot that it melted the heros arrowheads.
Others say that he placed a block lead on the tip of his spear, that he thrust into the creatures throat. The flaming breath caused the lead to melt and hence total the Chimeras guts, killing her. Of Bellerophon's career after this feat, we know that it wasnt easy and that the hero seems thane had a certain tendency to clash with female creatures, for instance he fought and defeated the Amazons. EventuallyBellerophons destiny was not a brilliant one, as he ended his life blind, lame and accursed, always avoiding the paths of men. Just as the ancient reports about the Chimera are all about the same, so are the images.
We have several of them oases, mirrors, and coins, as well as one large and well preserved statue, the Chimera of Arezzo. It seems that the artists of that time were proud of being faithful to the accepted model, just as story-tellers were proud of telling their stories using the same words used bother teachers of old. So, all these images are remarkably similar. The three heads are clearly recognizable, with the goats one sprouting out of the middle of the back. Even the posture of the creature is always the same, with the body arched up and the front legs rigidly extended forward. The lions head is often pointing upwards with the mouth open, and in several cases there are hints of flames coming out of it.
These images roughly correspond to the literary version of the myth, although they also show details which do not appear in Homer and Hesiod. Of what and where could have been the source of inspiration of these images, we know nothing, just as we know nothing about what were Homers and Hesiod's original sources. This is, more or less, what we know. Now, what can we make out of it? What is the myth really about? Ancient authors asked themselves this question, too.
The first one to propose a rational answer was perhaps Servius Honoratus, writing in 4 th century AD. According to him, the fire breathing creature was just the na ve representation of a volcano, a mountain named Chimeralocated somewhere in ancient Lycia. Bellerophon was simply a settler who managed to establish himself there first. Other ancient authors, such as Plutarch, have said that the Chimera was a ship, and others that she was a female warlord. In modern times, Servius volcano has proven popular in mythology textbooks even though it seems unlikely that our ancestors na ve as they mohave been could not tell a volcano from a goat when they saw one. Others have attempted different perhaps more satisfactory- interpretations.
The Italian Inghirami, writing in 19 th century (Monument Etruschi, 1824), puts forward a complex zodiacal symbology, where Bellerophon drives the chariot of the sun and where the Chimera is identified with the constellation of the lion, something that explains the flaming breath as a symbol of summer. Robert Graves, in his Greek Myths, suggests that the Chimera may be a representation of the prehistoric passage from a matriarchal society dominated by the Moon goddess to another one, dominated by sun kings. Graves also says that the three parts of the creature are an allegory of the three seasons of the year, as it was subdivided in extremely ancient times. Nobody so far seems to have noted the possible relation of the myth with metalworking, as it would be suggested by the detail of lead melting in the creatures throat. Just as we can see in Homers Trojan horse a corrupted report about an ancient siege engine, we could see the Chimera as a misrepresentation of an ancient furnace. There is certainly something in each one of these ideas.
Yet, it seems that no single one of them and perhaps not even all other together, is really satisfactory. More likely, there is something deeper here, something that we cannot just explain away with volcanoes or blasting furnaces. To get there, we should rather free ourselves of these layers of interpretation that have accumulated over the centuries. So, first of all, lets say that the Chimera, as a monster, doesnt make much sense.
Maybe one could be scared by a lion, or by a snake as well. But by a goat? (actually by a young female goat? ). What is there so special about goats to have a monster made out in part at least of one? Goats, male or female, are not common as monsters, but in the Christian myth of the devil, as well as in the Greek one of the Satyrs, the goat element seems to be meant to evidence the unclean nature of the creature. Maybe in very ancient times the unclean aspect of the Chimera was part of the myth, although nothing survives of this idea in the version we have.
Anyway, as a monster the Chimera would probably be better without the useless goat head, that would have a hard time in harming anyone from the position in which it finds itself. The first one to have reasoned that the goat head is not a head, after all, seems to have been Anne Roes in a paper of 1934 (JHS, LIV The origins ofthe Chimera in festschrift Robinson 1155 - 64). The position and the shape of the head, it seems, is just a misrepresentation if what was originally a wing, actually a pair of wings.
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