|
All were mourning for Queen Mum - but who mourns the death, the ultimate demise of the Chimera? Both were known as dragons in their time, but it's the Chimera who has been hit hardest. Originally khimaira means goat, but the Chimera of the ancient Greeks was something else - a lot more than just a goat. She was born a fire-breathing monster with a lion's head, a dragon's body and a goat's legs. Or was it a lion's head, a goat's body and a dragon's tail?
|
 |
Whatever … it must have been a fearsome mixture of aggressive, sexual and spiritual energies that terrorised a whole region. Bellerophon (a Greek-hero version of Joseph running away from Madame Potiphar, minus technicolor dreamcoat), on the back and with the help of winged Pegasus, had to resort to dirty tricks to get the better of her and kill her. (And when he got too big-headed, Pegasus got the better of him, but that's a different story.)
|
