Wrath of the Gods Page #19

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Indeed, the Greek alphabet historically derives from the land

of the Phoenicians, mythological home of Cadmus and his

sister (modern Syria and Lebanon). The first four letters of

the original Greek alphabet—in the upper and lower cases of

the standard alphabet still in use today—are: . (.) ALPHA, .

(.) BETA, . (.) GAMMA, . (.) DELTA.

In this scene, there are four blocks of stone (like oversized

alphabet blocks) set on five pillars. The stones are inscribed

with the first four letters of the Greek alphabet, in mixedup

order (beta, alpha, delta, gamma). To begin rearranging

them, click on a given stone, then click again on one of the

empty depressions to place the stone there. Now move

another stone to the empty slot created—and so on. When

you’ve successfully rearranged the stones, there’s a rumbling

sound and a door in the square pillar screen opens up to

reveal…a cache of three gems.

The Chimaera

ATMOSPHERIC RUINS. Some say the Chimaera (kye-

MEE-ruh) had a lion’s front, a goat’s middle, and a snake’s

tail, with but a single head pertaining to the lion portion.

But others submit that the monster had three separate

heads—lion, goat, and snake—with (or some say without)

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the accompanying body parts pertinent to each. One thing is

certain:
the Chimaera was one mixed-up monster. Which is

not to say that it was lacking in ferociousness or in any way

unsuitable as a proper hero’s adversary. The proper hero in

question was named Bellerophon (beh-LARE-uh-fon).

Now, Bellerophon was a citizen of Corinth (CORE-inth) who

was exiled owing to a murder which he had committed. In

those days it was possible to be purified of the guilt of such

a crime, and Bellerophon was in due course absolved by

King Proëtus (proh-EE-tus) of neighboring Tiryns (TIR-inz). The

king’s wife, generally identified as Stheneboea (sthen-uh-BEEuh),

made a pass at the young hero, and when he repulsed

her advances she told her husband that it was Bellerophon

who made a pass at her.

King Proëtus cloaked his indignation, not wishing to violate

the sacred obligations of hospitality by doing harm to his

guest. But he contrived his revenge by asking Bellerophon

to deliver a letter on his behalf to King Iobates (eye-OB-uhteez)

of Lycia (LISH-ee-a), his father-in-law. This is somewhat

surprising in that writing hadn’t been invented yet, except

perhaps a rudimentary form used for inventory-keeping on

the island of Crete (KREET) and certain parts of the mainland.

No wonder Bellerophon couldn’t make out the meaning

of the message he was to deliver. Either that or the letter

was sealed—although for that matter “letters” hadn’t been

invented yet either.

What the message said was: “Dear Iobates, please do me

a favor and kill the person who hands you this.” To do so

proved impossible, however, as Iobates was bound by the

same strictures of hospitality as King Proëtus. So instead he

feasted Bellerophon for a goodly number of days and nights,

until at length he announced that he had a favor to ask of

him. Assuming that this had something to do with a return

letter to Proëtus, Bellerophon may well have been giving

thought to establishing the first postal service, when Iobates

surprised him with the unexpected nature of his request.

Would Bellerophon be so kind as to rid the kingdom of the

Chimaera?

Not wishing to sugarcoat the challenge, the king went on to

describe the Chimaera as a fire-breathing monster directly

related to Heracles’s nemesis the many-headed Hydra,

and Cerberus (SUR-bur-us), watchdog of Hades. Iobates was

hoping to make good on his son-in-law’s request to do

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away with Bellerophon, and he had hit upon the Chimaera

as the ideal agent in expediting his young guest’s demise.

And while one might think that he would have made little

of the Chimaera’s dangers in order to instill a false sense of

security, Iobates had sized up Bellerophon and deduced that

he was a sucker for a challenge—the bigger the better. And

in fact Bellerophon was pleased at the opportunity to elevate

himself from mere postal-delivery person to authentic hero.

He immediately began to plan his campaign of attack.

Word was that the Chimaera was virtually impregnable to

any ground assault. Others had waded in on foot with spear

or sword—to their eternal regret. There was even a rumor

of a mounted Thessalian who had come up short in the

encounter, his horse having been blasted out from under him

by the Chimaera’s fiery breath. With a keen sense of logistics,

Bellerophon narrowed down his viable options to an attack

either by air or sea. The latter course being out by virtue of

the inland nature of the Chimaera’s lair, he settled on the

aerial option and immediately set out to procure himself the

services of a winged steed.

When Bellerophon was still a boy growing up in Corinth,

he had yearned to ride the magic horse Pegasus (PEG-uh-sus),

immortal offspring of the god Poseidon (puh-SYE-dun) and the

Gorgon Medusa (GORE-gun meh-DOO-suh). Pegasus was born

when the hero Perseus (PUR-see-us) cut off Medusa’s head.

Like everyone else, Bellerophon had been unable to so much

as approach Pegasus. So he had sought the advice of the seer

Polyeidus (pol-ee-EYE-dus).

Polyeidus suggested that Bellerophon spend the night in

Athena’s temple. In a dream, the goddess came to him

and gave him a golden bridle, which was still there in the

morning. And so it was that Bellerophon found Pegasus

drinking at the spring of Peirene (pye-REE-nee), slipped the

bridle over his head, and rendered him tame and rideable.

And now grown to adulthood, Bellerophon once more

sought out the Corinthian watering hole and his tamed

and trusty mount, and as he did so he gave thought to the

essential issue of armament. Clearly not just any sword or

spear would do in fighting the Chimaera. For starters, a

lance would be indispensable—the sort of spear best suited

to fighting on horseback. And even a proper lance was no

guarantee of victory over so substantial a foe.

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Again the gods came to Bellerophon’s aid, suggesting

that a lump of lead affixed to the end of the spear would

have a decidedly deadly effect. Firstly, when thrust into

the monster’s maw, it would cause the Chimaera to gag.

And secondly, when melted by the beast’s fiery breath, it

would trickle down into its innards and cause a fatal case of

heartburn.

And now having trekked all the way from Lycia to Corinth,

Bellerophon located the fountain of Peirene and found

Pegasus sipping therefrom. Mounting up, the hero made

a much speedier trip back to Lycia, swooped down on the

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