Chereads / The Origin of the Greek World / Chapter 21 - The Man Who Dreamed of Being God (Bellerophon and Pegasus)(Part1)

Chapter 21 - The Man Who Dreamed of Being God (Bellerophon and Pegasus)(Part1)

*This is going to be one of the most interesting stories yet, make sure you read to the end*

In the city of Corinth, the descendants of Sisyphus- the man who dared to deceive the gods, reigned over the city. King Glaucus had 2 sons: Deliades who was his favorite of the 2 and his other son Bellerophon who was so beautiful that people believed his was Poseidon's own son. The 2 brothers had a great rivalry and almost always whenever they trained their martial techniques, Bellerophon would lose but as he became older Bellerophon became stronger and more agile and the brotherly clashes became more violent, despite the fact that Bellerophon improved on a daily basis, Deliades was more skilled than Bellerophon and so during their fights Deliades displayed exaggerated confidence which impudently triggered his brother.

Angered by his brother's provocations Bellerophon started fighting furiously to the extent that he forgot about his own fatigue, and he was then able to beat his brother possessing an unusual speed, one of his fast blows overcame the defensive stance of Deliades and Bellerophon hit the prince's head with great violence and force, but then Deliades fell to the ground and his body was motionless, Bellerophon rushed to his brother's side to help him but it was already too late as his brother's spirit had already left for the kingdom of Hades in the underworld.

Bellerophon cried with his brother in his arms while the King rushed over to see what had happened, upon seeing his son's lifeless body sprawled on the ground, the king was filled with despair and rage and fueled by his rage due to the death of his favorite son, the king expelled Bellerophon from his kingdom and ordered him never to return and so the young man left under the disapproving looks of his compatriots who had greatly loved the now dead prince and so Bellerophon left through the gates of the city, carrying on his shoulders, the weight of guilt and under the curse of a terrible sin.

After leaving, the young man wandered aimlessly through Greece until he reached the city of Tiryns, which was ruled by king Proetus, when the monarch learned that the exiled prince of Corinth was in his land, he offered him lodging and treated him with all respect and hospitality obeying the principles of Zeus Bellerophon told the king the reason he had been banished and swore that it had all been a terrible accident, the king was moved by the situation and promised to help him and so Proetus organized a purification ritual which was meant to cleanse and atone the sins of the Corinthian prince and so sacrifices were made to the gods so his sins would be forgiven, hence the sins were purged and the young man now owed a great debt of gratitude to the king of Tiryns.

The queen of Tiryns felt mesmerized while contemplating the young man who was at the peak of his beauty, Bellerophon began to reside in the court of king Proetus and did not realize the desire in which the queen had for him. One day, Bellerophon was invited to a private meeting with the queen and when he was there, the queen used her great beauty to try to seduce Bellerophon but out of gratitude and respect to his host the king, couldn't imagine committing such treason against him and so he rejected the queen, enraged, the queen insulted Bellerophon and even questioned his manhood but he ignored it all and left the queen on her knees, but the queen would not accept that humiliation and so she wanted revenge on the young man who had rejected her.

The queen approached the king with crocodile tears accusing Bellerophon of attempting to rape her, upon hearing this, the king was consumed with fury, but due to the duty of hospitality that is required by Zeus to be shown, the king could not attack his own guest and so Proetus who was a wise man, devised a plan to get rid of the guest who had supposedly dishonoured his home. The king ordered a scribe to write a letter to his father in-law and then delivered a sealed message to Bellerophon asking him to give it to Iobates the king of Lycia.

Bellerophon naively accepted the task of his host for whom he nurtured enormous gratitude and so he never suspected that the king had devised a way to kill him. Upon finding an entourage that had the colors of his son in-law's kingdom, the king of Lycia ordered preparations to welcome the visitors and the king was deeply amicable with Bellerophon after all a friend of his son in-law would also be his friend, however this was before Bellerophon had given the king the sealed message, Bellerophon hadn't given him the letter yet and when he attempted to, the king refused to accept it until Bellerophon had received the hospitality of Lycia.

During the feast that was held, the king of Lycia presented his beautiful daughter to the man from Corinth who was immediately struck by an arrow from eros (cupid) upon seeing her. In an attempt to regain his composure, Bellerophon decided to deliver the message to the king and upon opening it, the king was stunned by its content as the letter said that the person who delivered the letter had attempted to rape the king's daughter (Proetus's wife) and that the person should be given the punishment he deserved, and so, just like his brother in-law, the king began to feel hatred for Bellerophon, but even though he was filled with resentment, the king realized the interest that Bellerophon had for his daughter and so he decided that he would take that opportunity to ger rid of his guest and so the king told him that he would give his daughter's hand in marriage if Bellerophon would help him with a difficult task and so the king explained to Bellerophon how his kingdom was suffering a terrible scourge; villages had been destroyed, plantations burnt to the ground and cattle perished all this because of a terrible creature and so the king promised his daughter's hand to the hero if he would be able to rid the kingdom of Lycia of such a horrible creature.

Bellerophon feeling an enormous sense of courage which was fueled by passion, promptly accepted the challenge, and so Bellerophon took up arms and left in search of the creature, satisfied by this, the king of Lycia saw the man who supposedly tried to rape his eldest daughter, head for a terrible death, little did the young Bellerophon know that he would meet one of the most fearsome creatures that had ever walked the face of the earth known as Chimera-a monster that descended from Typhon and Echidna, which were 2 of the most sinister creatures of the Greek world [{look them up}]. Chimera was a monster that had a Lion's head, and on its torso, it had a goat's head protruding from its back and its tail was a terrible snake, the beast was a terribly aggressive animal, and nothing could resist its sharp claws and its flaming breath burnt everything around him.