Chimaera
Chimaera, a fabulous monster; ship in the fleet of Aeneas
Frieze-Dennison Vergil
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Chimaeras Proper-name noun: feminine accusative plural of Chimaera
- a fabulous monster in Lycia, which vomited fire; in front a lion, in the hinder part a dragon, and in the middle a goat; slain by Bellerophon, Cic. N. D. 1, 38, 108; 2, 2, 5; Lucr. 5, 903; 2, 705; Tib. 3, 4, 86; Verg. A. 6, 288; Hor. C. 1, 27, 24; 2, 17, 13; 4, 2, 16; Ov. Tr. 4, 7, 13; 2, 397; Sen. Ep. 113, 8; Hyg. Fab. 57; Serv. ad Verg. A. 5, 118; 6, 288; its figure, used to adorn a helmet, Verg. A. 7, 785.—
- II A mountain in Lycia that sent forth flames, and is said to have given rise to the preceding fable, Plin. 2, 106, 110, § 236; 5, 27, 28, § 100; cf. Serv. ad Verg. A. 6, 288.—Deriv.,
- B Chĭmaerēus, a, um, adj., of or pertaining to the mountain Chimaera: liquor, Verg. Cul. 14 Wagn.—
- III One of the ships of the companions of Aeneas, Verg. A. 5, 118 and 223; cf. Sil. 14, 498.
(Χίμαιρα), a fire-breathing monster, which, according to the Homeric poems, was of divine origin. She was brought up by Amisodarus, king of Caria, and afterwards made great havoc in all the country around and among men. The fore part of her body was that of a lion, and the hind part that of a dragon, while the middle was that of a goat. (Hom. Il. 6.180, 16.328 ; comp. Ov. Met. 9.646.) According to Hesiod (Hes. Th. 319, &c.), she was a daughter of Typhaon and Echidna, and had three heads, one of each of the three animals before mentioned, whence she is called τρικέφαλος or τρισώματος. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 634; Eur. Ion 203, &c.; Apollod. 1.9.3, 2.3.1.) She was killed by Bellerophon, and Virgil (Aen. 6.288) places her together with other monsters at the entrance of Orcus. The origin of the notion of this fire-breathing monster must probably be sought for in the volcano of the name of Chimaera near Phaselis, in Lycia (Plin. Nat. 2.106, 5.27; Mela. 1.15), or in the volcanic valley near the Cragus (Strab. xiv. p.665, &c.), which is described as the scene of the events connected with the Chimaera. In the works of art recently discovered in Lycia, we find several representations of the Chimaera in the simple form of a species of lion still occurring in that country. [L.S]
- , χίμαιρα, a fabulous monster, C., V., H., O.—A ship in the fleet of Aeneas, V.
CHIMAERA (Χίμαιρα), a mountain in Lycia, in the territory of Phaselis, where there was a flame burning on a rock continually. Pliny (Plin. Nat. 2.106; 5.27) quotes Ctesias as his authority, and the passage of Ctesias is also preserved by Photius (Phot. Cod. 72). Ctesias adds, that water did not extinguish the flame, but increased it. The flame was examined by Beaufort (Karamania, p. 47, &c.), who is the modern discoverer of it. This Yanar, as it is called, is situated on the coast of Lycia, south of the great mountains of Solyma and of Phaselis (Tekrova). According to Spratt's Lycia (vol. 2. p. 181), near Adratchan, not far from the ruins of Olympus, a number of rounded serpentine hills rise among the limestone, and some of them bear up masses of that rock: at the junction of one of these masses of scaglia with the serpentine is the Yanar, famous as the Chimaera of the ancients: it is nothing more than a stream of inflammable gas issuing from a crevice, such as is seen in several places in the Apennines.
It is likely enough that the story of the Chimaera in the Iliad (6.179) had its origin in this phenomenon. Servius (ad Aen. 6.288, flammisque armata Chimaera) gives a curious explanation of the passage in Virgil. He correctly places the fire on the top of the mountain; but adds, there are lions near it; the middle part of the mountain abounds in goats, and the lower part with serpents; which is obviously an attempt to explain the passage of Homer (comp. Ovid. Met. 9.647, &c.) Strabo connects the fable of the Chimaera with the mountain of Cragus in Lycia; and he says that there is, not far off, a ravine called Chimaera, which opens into the interior from the sea (p. 665). This is not the Chimaera of Ctesias, which is near Phaselis.
[G.L]CHIMAERA (Χίμαιρα: Khimára), a town of Epeirus in the district Chaonia, now gives its name to the Acroceraunian mountains, at the foot of which it stands. At Khimára may be seen several pieces of Hellenic work, which serve as foundations to some of the modern houses. (Plin. Nat. 4.1; Procop. de Aedif. 4.4; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. i. pp. 7, 82, 89, seq.)
(Χίμαιρα). A fire-breathing monster of Lycia, destroyed by Bellerophon (q.v.). According to Homer the Chimaera was of divine origin. In front it was a lion, behind it was a serpent, and in the middle a goat, and was brought up by King Amisodarus as a plague for men. Hesiod calls her the daughter of Typhon and Echidna, and by Orthos the mother of the Sphinx and the Nemean lion. He describes her as large, swift-footed, strong, with the heads of a lion, a goat, and a serpent. In numerous works of art, as in statues, and the coins of Corinth, Sicyon, and other cities, the Chimaera is generally represented as a lion, with a goat's head in the middle of its back, and tail ending in a snake's head. The bronze Chimaera of Arretium, now in Florence, is a very celebrated work of art. Even in antiquity the Chimaera was regarded as a symbol of the volcanic character of the Lycian soil.
- Paus. 3.25.6
- killed by Bellerophon: Apollod. 1.9.2, Apollod. 2.3.1, Apollod. 2.3.2
- described: Apollod. 2.3.1
- carved on throne of Aesculapius: Paus. 2.27.2