Bellerophon

Role: hero · First appears: Apollodorus, Library 1.9

🌐 Also appears in: The Iliad (as Bellerophon)

Bellerophon was the son of Glaucus and Eurymede, with Glaucus himself the son of Sisyphus. In one account, he accidentally killed his brother Deliades; other accounts name the brother Piren or Alcimenes. He then came to Proetus for purification. When Stheneboea’s proposals were rejected, she falsely accused him, saying that “Bellerophon had sent her a vicious proposal.” Proetus believed her and sent him to Iobates with a letter ordering his death.

Iobates instead ordered Bellerophon to fight the Chimaera, expecting the beast to kill him. Riding Pegasus, Bellerophon defeated it from the air; he then overcame the Solymi and the Amazons and survived an ambush by Iobates’s chosen warriors. “But when Bellerophon had killed them also to a man,” Iobates, impressed by his prowess, revealed the letter and asked him to remain.

Iobates gave Bellerophon his daughter Philonoe in marriage and bequeathed him the kingdom. Bellerophon was also the father of Laodamia, whose son Sarpedon was, according to Homer, a son of Zeus. In Hesiod’s account, Bellerophon and Pegasus slew the fire-breathing Chimaera.