Chimera’s Family Tree

About Chimera →

Family

• Echidna(parent),Typhon(parent),Cerberus(sibling),Colchian Dragon(sibling),Ladon(sibling),Lernaean Hydra(sibling),Nemean Lion(sibling),Orthrus(sibling),Sphinx(sibling)— Consort

  Typhon and Echidna produced a brood of monsters including Cerberus, the Chimera, the Lernaean Hydra, the Nemean Lion, the Sphinx, Orthrus, Ladon, and the Colchian Dragon — terrors that defined Greek heroic mythology.

• Orthrus(spouse),Nemean Lion(child),Sphinx(child)— Consort

  Chimera, overcome by Orthrus, bore the Sphinx who plagued Thebes and the Nemean Lion that Heracles strangled as his first labor.

  ⚠ Apollodorus (Bibliotheca 3.5.8, 2.5.1) attributes the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion to Typhon and Echidna, while Hesiod (Theogony 326\u2013332) names Chimera and Orthrus as their parents.

Slain by

• Bellerophon

  Bellerophon rode Pegasus in aerial combat against the Chimera, driving a lead-tipped spear into the fire-breathing monster's throat. The molten lead killed the Chimera from within.

Associated with

• Iobates

  The Chimera terrorized the kingdom of Lycia until King Iobates sent Bellerophon to destroy it, expecting the impossible task to kill the hero on behalf of his son-in-law Proetus.

• Pegasus

  Pegasus carried Bellerophon above the Chimera's fire-breath during their battle, enabling aerial combat that no ground-based warrior could have survived.