Corinthian hero, son of King Glaucus and Eurymeda or Poseidon and Eurynome. Because of the murder of Beller, after whom he got his name (Bellerophon means "Beller's killer"), he had to leave Corinth and go to Tiryns, where King Pret cleansed him from sin. Anteja or Stenebeja, the wife of King Preto, fell in love with Bellerophon, but when he refused to meet her, she accused the newcomer in front of her husband of persecuting her with his love. Pret was afraid to kill Bellerophon himself; in order to take revenge on him, he sent him to Lycia, his father-in-law Jobat, with a message written in secret signs, to kill the bearer of the letter immediately. According to an old Lycian custom, Jobat hosted Bellerophon for nine days; it was not until the tenth day that he learned of the contents of Preto's letter. Since the customs of the country forbade him to kill the guest, he sent Bellerophon to kill Chimera, hoping that he would lose his life in the fight with that monster. Bellerophon, with the help of the gods and the winged horse Pegasus, managed to kill Chimera with one blow. Then Jobat ordered him to fight the Solimlians, who were famous warriors. After defeating them, Jobat sent him to fight the Amazons. Bellerophon also beat them. The king then decided to gather the bravest Lycians and ambush the foreigner. When Bellerophon overcame them, Jobat saw that the gods themselves were in favor of the newcomer. So he ceded half of the kingdom to him, married him to his daughter Philonia or Anticlaus, and revealed to him the contents of Preto's message. To avenge Stenebey, Bellerophon returned to Tiryns and persuaded Pret's wife to flee with him on the winged horse Pegasus. On the way, while they were flying over the island of Mel, he threw a slanderer into the sea. With Philo, he had sons Isandra and Hipolaha and a daughter Laodamia.
In time, Bellerophon realized that evil is stronger than good in life and therefore completely alienated himself from people. Alone, in melancholy, he wandered the Lycian plains, doubting not only men but gods as well. Because of that, the gods hated him: they filled his heart with such arrogance that a desire arose in him to find out if the gods existed at all, and aroused the courage to reach their abode with Pegasus. That was the last time he rode Pegasus, because, by Zeus' order, the divine horse threw the mortal to the ground, and then he rode away to the father of the gods. After that fall, Bellerophon remained lame and ended his life in deep sorrow.
In Lycia, it was rumored that Bellerophon had killed a wild boar that was ravaging the country. The population underestimated his heroic work. Due to the ingratitude of the Lycians, Bellerophon asked Poseidon to send a flood to their land. When the water came, the women lifted their dresses, and Bellerophon and the water withdrew in shame.
Bellerophon is revered as a hero in Corinth and Lycia. Traces of his cult are witnessed in Argos, Sicyon and Trezene. He had a sanctuary near Corinth and a statue in Poseidon's temple on the Isthmus. Originally, he was probably a deity, similar to Poseidon, or some kind of wandering knight, who came from Greece to Caria and Lycia and married there to respectable families.
The myth of Bellerophon was treated by Euripides in the tragedies of Bellerophon and Stenebey, which are only partially preserved. Some scenes from that myth (most often the killing of Chimera) are shown on vases from the 7th century AD; starting from the 4th century AD, Bellerophon is represented on bronze Etruscan mirrors, mosaics and reliefs.
Literature:
• Dragoslav Srejović - Aleksandrina Cermanović-Kuzmanović, Recnik grčke i rimske mitologije, drugo izdanje, Beograd: Srpska književna zadruga, 1987