The tale of Bellerophon begins not with a horse, but with a burden of guilt. Born as Hipponous in the city of Corinth, he was a prince of great promise and physical beauty. However, his life was forever changed when he accidentally killed a man—some say his own brother, Belleros. From that day forward, he was known as Bellerophon, the 'Slayer of Belleros.' To seek purification for this blood-guilt, he traveled to the court of King Proetus of Tiryns. Proetus received him with the hospitality due to a noble, but trouble soon followed in the form of the King’s wife, Stheneboea. Enamored by the young hero’s grace, she attempted to seduce him. When Bellerophon honorably rejected her advances, she felt a stinging bitterness and lied to her husband, claiming that the guest had tried to dishonor her. Bound by the sacred laws of hospitality, Proetus could not kill Bellerophon himself. Instead, he sent the youth to his father-in-law, King Iobates of Lycia, carrying a sealed tablet that contained a secret message: 'Pray remove the bearer from this world: he attempted to violate my wife, your daughter.'
King Iobates, upon receiving the hero, entertained him for nine days before opening the message. When he finally read the command of Proetus, he found himself in the same moral dilemma. To kill a guest would invite the wrath of the Furies. Thus, he devised a plan to send Bellerophon on a series of tasks so perilous that no mortal could possibly survive. The first and most terrifying of these was the command to slay the Chimera. This beast was a divine monstrosity, breathing fire and possessing the body of a lion, the head of a goat emerging from its back, and a tail that ended in a venomous serpent. It had been laying waste to the Lycian countryside, and many warriors had already perished in its flames. Bellerophon, realizing the magnitude of the task, sought the counsel of the seer Polyeidos. The wise man told him that the only way to defeat such a creature was from the air, and for that, he would need the help of the legendary winged horse, Pegasus.
Pegasus was the offspring of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa, born from the neck of the Gorgon when Perseus struck off her head. This white, winged stallion was wild and untamable, drinking only from the most sacred springs. Following the advice of Polyeidos, Bellerophon spent a night in the temple of Athena. As he slept, the goddess appeared to him in a dream, handing him a golden bridle of celestial workmanship. When he woke, the bridle was actually in his hands. He found Pegasus drinking at the Peirene fountain in Corinth. The horse, usually skittish and impossible to approach, stood still as soon as it saw the golden bridle. Bellerophon slipped the bit into the animal's mouth and mounted him. For the first time, man and divine beast were united in purpose. They took to the sky, the wind rushing past them as they ascended into the clouds, preparing for the battle that would define Bellerophon’s legacy.
The battle with the Chimera was a spectacle of strategy and bravery. Bellerophon flew high above the reach of the beast's fiery breath. He rained down arrows upon the creature, but its hide was thick. Remembering the advice of the gods, he attached a large block of lead to the tip of his spear. As he dived toward the Chimera, the beast opened its mouth to blast him with fire. Bellerophon thrust the lead into the creature's throat. The intense heat of the Chimera's breath melted the lead, which flowed down its gullet, searing its internal organs and suffocating it from within. The monster fell dead, and Bellerophon returned to Iobates, victorious. The King, shocked and still determined to see the hero fall, sent him against the fierce Solymi people and then against the warrior Amazons. With the help of Pegasus, Bellerophon defeated them all, raining stones and arrows from the safety of the sky. Finally, Iobates set an ambush of his finest Lycian guards, but Bellerophon slew them all. Realizing that the youth was protected by the gods, Iobates finally relented, showed him the letter from Proetus, and gave him his daughter Philonoe in marriage, making him heir to the Lycian throne.
For many years, Bellerophon lived in prosperity. He was a king, a husband, and a father. He was celebrated as the greatest hero of his age. But as the years passed, the poison of pride began to seep into his heart. He began to believe that his victories were the result of his own greatness alone, forgetting the aid of Athena and the gift of Pegasus. He looked toward the shimmering heights of Mount Olympus, the home of the twelve great gods, and decided that he was no longer a mere mortal. He believed he deserved a place among the immortals. He told himself that he would ride Pegasus to the very summit of the mountain and enter the halls of Zeus as an equal. This was the ultimate sin of hubris—the defiance of the natural order and the boundaries between the human and the divine. Despite the warnings of his family and the restless neighing of Pegasus, Bellerophon set out on his final, fatal flight.