All the Chimera

Chimera wasn't only a single creature that was suffocated with lead by Bellerophon in Greek mythology; just searching for chimera on google and google scholar leads to hundreds of thousands of results, maybe one out of a few hundred will have anything to do with mythology at all. Most follow the newer meanings and the updated uses of the word, "an organism containing a mixture of genetically different tissues, formed by processes such as fusion of early embryos, grafting, or mutation" (Oxford dictionary). Of course, there is also the cartilaginous fish genus Chimeara and Grotesque architecture, the architectural style that features gargoyles aka grotesques (Linnaeus, 1758; Rebold Benton, Janetta. (1997). When looking a the definition through the lens of paleontology, a chimera is defined as a fossil reconstructed by combining features from more than one single species (or genus) of animal, one example of which is famously Protoavis (Chatterjee,1991; Chiappe, 1995; Zhou, 2004).

1. Two-Colored Rose Chimera by Raquel Baranow

2. Chimaera cubanare construction drawing by I, Tambja

3. A deep-sea chimaera orghost shark(sense 7; species unidentified) from the Celebes Sea by NOAA and the deep sea submersible Little Hercules

4. Examples of Grotesques:

   1. Chimera-shaped corbel on a hôtel particuler from Paris

   2. A red Brick and Terracotta Gothic styled Library, designed by Martin and Chamberlain and completed in 1893.

   3. Chimerae on a church in Gouézec, France

   4. Detail from Tors gate 1 in Frogner, Oslo, Norway. The Art Nouveau house by architect Syver Nielsen, 1913. (photo by Anne-Sophie Ofrim).

   5. A chimera(sense 5) or grotesque on The King’s House in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, UK (photo by Richard Avery)

5. The fossil of a bird-like animal on a black background. A foot, tail, and upper body are present. The head has a large beak while the arm bones are folded over to look like a bird's wings. Protoavis texensis paratype (TTU P 9201), a small individual according to Chatterjee (1991).

6. The real, one full skeleton, of a 'proto-avis'; "Fossil skeleton of a bird-like reptile of the genus Archaeopteryx." (JIM AMOS / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY)

Another definition, which is apt, though possibly not the most relevant, "a thing that is hoped or wished for but in fact is illusory or impossible to achieve", from the Oxford dictionary. This one seems to be an attempt of building a definition from the origin story. In this way, future generations can learn that while Bellerophon thought that killing the Chimera would help him reach his goal of heroics, and maybe not be killed by his extended family, it was all a trick. He was only ever sent off to die and his heroics were illusions covering his hubris. As the saying goes, pride comes before the fall.

Chimera are a human way to explain anything that doesn't fit into one definition or strata, making something a dangerous other. Having to explain mixtures of genetics or fossils, and like bestiaries were likely partially the predecessors of scientific development, humans could be trusted to invent explanations for anything out of the ordinary. To keep people in line, or to create inexplicable heroes, make a man-eater in the surrounding mountian forest. More recently, and included in tales from older mythos, it seems that the varying definition is almost fighting against the oldest beliefs that anything would be impossible or, more importantly, inherently a monster.

Popular Imagery

The most common visual in popular culture and in many stories in Greek or Roman mythos, or in a Dungeons and Dragon bestiary [as show below], is not the only version of chimera. She or they are powerful beings that are a heterogenous mixture of scientific discovery, myth, and plain old human curiosity and discovery, which is more a mixture of the previous two, a true chimera.

The Greek Chimera

In the ancient Greek mythos Bellerophon, a hubristic hero, was sent on a suicide mission by King Iobates of Lycia to go kill the Chimera. One wonders how or why they determined in the mythos whether it was female, but as explained earlier, that's defined in the etymology of "she goat"and plays into the mythology. She is sometimes credited with giving birth to the Greek Sphinx, a creature that is explored later (Kerenyi, 1959: 82; Becchio & Schadé, 2006). The child of Typhon and Echidna, and a sibling of monsters like Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra, the chimera was described differently in The Iliad by Homer as, "a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire" (Homer, Iliad,16: 328–329) versus Hesiod's Theogony,"a creature fearful, great, swift-footed and strong, who had three heads, one of a grim-eyed lion; In her hinderpart, a dragon; and in her middle, a goat, breathing forth a fearful blast of blazing fire" (Hesiod, Theogony: 319–325). These descriptions with both their contradictions and their similarities explains why artistic depictions can vary so widely, especially due to the sharing and competition that would arise if both Homer and Hesiod were contemporaries living in Greece around 750 BCE, as is thought by scholars (Griffin, 1986: 88).

1. Chimera. Apulian red-figure dish, ca. 350-340 BCE. (photo from the Musée du Louvre).

2. Chimera on vase (photo from Athens Archeological Museum).

3. "Chimera of Arezzo" in Etruscan bronze ca. 400 BCE [originally part of a group with Bellerophon and Pegasus] (housed in Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Florence).

4. A 1590–1610 drawing of a chimera [sense 1] (attributed to Jacopo Ligozzi).

5. Pebble mosaic depicting Bellerophon killing the Chimera (photo from Rhodes archaeological museum).

These were not the only authors who wrote on the Chimera. She also makes appearances in book 1 of the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, in the Fabulae 57 and 151 by Hyginus, in books VI: 339 and IX: 648 of the Metamorphoses by Ovid, and as a ship name in book 5 of the Latin epic poem the Aeneid by Virgil between 29-19 BCE (Nicoll, 1985).

As a reflection of the volcanic land of Mount Chimaera in Turkey and with its and her connection to the God of smithing, the Chimera could have been named for this connection. It's not particularly surprising then that the Greeks gave her the background and powers she had, but did they have to make her a "monster"?

The Sphinx

1. A smaller sphinx in front of Hatchepsut's Temple at Dendra (Own work, 2015).

2. The Sphinx at the Great Pyramids in Cairo (Own work, 2015).

3. Attic cup: Oedipus and the Sphinx Oedipus and the Sphinx, interior of an Attic red-figured kylix (cup or drinking vessel), c.470BCE; in the Gregorian Etruscan Museum, the Vatican Museums, Rome (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

4. Photo of two kinds of sphinx, king-headed in the foreground and ram-headed versions [criosphinx] lining the background in the Temple of Karnak (Own work, 2015).

Mabye the most recongized example of a chimera, though not always seen as one, is the Sphinx. Though, like the chimera, there are multiple representations of sphinxes, mostly due to the cross culture pollenation of the word through the expanding Greek and Roman empires. According to its entry in the 1848 edition of A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, the Latin word sphinx came from the Ancient Greek Σφίγξ (Sphínx), which seems to derive from from σφίγγω (sphíngō) meaning "to pull tight", "to squeeze", or "to strangle" or from the Egyptian 'she-sep-ankh' šzp-ꜥnḫ,“divine image”, literally "living image" (Smith, 1848). The trouble with the Egyptian translation, however, is that, that wasn't the Sphinx's name [as that was Haremakhet from the New Kingdom], but a generic catch all term like chimera, and the Greeks misunderstood what they were translating (Zivie-Coche, 2004: 12). The 'divine image' word works for all statues, especially when showing the face of a king or god (Zivie-Coche, 2004: 12).

The Gryffon

1. Alpha Griffon (Dungeons and Dragon 5e v1.3 Monster Manual)

2. Bronze figure of a griffin, Roman period (50 – 270 CE) (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden)

3. "Bronze griffins from ancient Luristan, Iran (1st millennium BCE) Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin" (photo by Wolfgang Sauber, 2012).

4. Taxidermy griffin, Zoological Museum, Copenhagen

5. A soldier fighting a Griffin ('Alphonso' Psalter, 1284)

6. Statue of a griffin at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice (Photo by Nino Barbieri, 2004)

7. Coat of arms of the Gryf (Griffin) dynasty of Pomerania (from c. 1200) and of the modern Zachodniopomorskie Voivodship in Poland

8. Heraldic guardian griffin at Kasteel de Haar, Netherlands, 1892–1912 (photo by Gebruiker, Ellywa)

Also sometimes known as a hieracosphinx, the gryffon is a mix of a bird, typically an eagle, falcon, or hawk, and a lion. The etymology of the words is not It has like many chimera and sphinxes artists and authors will have presented the group with varied attributes, including a horse body (which is already a creature called a hippogryph), no wings, the long ears like belonging to a horse.

1. The griffin (Martin Schongauer, 1485 CE)

2. Restored griffin fresco in the "Throne Room", Palace of Knossos, Crete (original from Bronze Age)

3. Bronze griffin head from Olympia, Greece (7th century BCE). Olympia museum (photo by Nanosanchez)

These changing forms and ideas of a gryffon-like creatures also appear in a variety of other mythological traditions, with views of their contributions being either helpful or harmful. These include:

Anzû

drawing by L. Gruner - 'Monuments of Nineveh, Second Series' plate 5, London, J. Murray, 1853

From Assyrian mythology, "Ninurta with his thunderbolts in pursuit Anzû who was stealing the Tablet of Destinies from Enlil's sanctuary"(Layard, 1853). The lion-bird, alternatively called Zû or Imdugud (Sumerian:𒀭𒅎𒂂), is either the son of Siris or of the "pure waters of the Apsu", depending on the version (Alster, 1991; Penglase, 2003; Jacobsen, 1989).

The Ziz

From Jewish Mythology - An archetypal monster thought to be so big he could block the sun. In the art he is shown with the Behemoth (land) and the Leviathan (sea). According to parts of the Bible after judgement day "Ziz is a delicacy to be served to the pious at the end of time, to compensate them for the privations which abstaining from the unclean fowls imposed upon them. [...]" (Barnstone, 2005; Ginzberg & Cohen, 1913).

A Chinese Pixiu (貔貅; píxiū)

A hybrid creature of either prosperity and wealth or the warding away of evil spirits, depending on which gender they were, which one could tell by the antlers. The former were male, called Tiān lù (天祿) and the latter, Bìxié (辟邪), were female (Bates, 2008: 48-9). They had the head of a Chinese dragon, body of a lion and with a pair of feathered wings, at the tomb of Emperor Wu of Southern Qi (Xiao Ze) in Danyang (near Nanjing, China). Photo by Victor Segalen (1878-1919) from (Segalen, 1972: 25).

Simurgh

Sassanid silver plate, simurgh (Sēnmurw), 7th or 8th CE

The simurgh, or in Persian senmurw, of Zoroastrian mythology from Ancient Persia [present day Iran] is an inherently benevolent creature that, according to the epic Shahnameh (Book of Kings) by Ferdowsi between 988-1010 CE, Sufi poetry from around the 12th c. CE, and Kurdish folklore, purifies and blesses the land with fertility (Cirlot, 2002: 253; Schmidt, 2003). She has the head of a snarling dog, the paws of a lion and the tail of a peacock. Like the other chimera, however descriptions can vary; showing her with a human head, or closer to a full bird (Schmidt, 2003). The gilded plate in the photo above is displayed in the Persian Empire collection of the British Museum.

Garuda

1. "Relief depicting a portable Garuda pillar, one of the oldest images of Garuda, Bharhut, 100 BCE" from Penang, Malaysia (Gupta, The Roots of Indian Art, 1980, p.29)

2. The Balinese wooden statue of Wishnu riding Garuda as his mount. Purna Bhakti Pertiwi Museum, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Jakarta. (photo by Gunawan Kartapranata)

3. National Emblem of Thailand, depicting a dancing Garuda with outstretched wings. The Garuda symbolizes the government and people of Thailand, as Lord Vishnu symbolizes King of Thailand.

Manticore

1. Manticore from Dungeons and Dragon's Monster Manual 5th edition

2. "The Manticore, or Martigora was described by Pliny and Aristotle as a creature with the face and ears of a human, with grey eyes and a red body; a tail with a sting like that of a scorpion, and being the size of a lion, and with a lion’s paws, a triple row of teeth and an appetite for human flesh." A description of the nature of four-footed beasts: with their figures engraven in brass (Jonstonus, Joannes in 1678).

3. Edward Topsell's The History of Four-footed Beasts (1658) (Kleber, et. al, 2017).

4. Manticore Art Print by copperisisart

5. Manticore in an illustration from the Rochester Bestiary (c. 1230–1240).

The word Manticore from the Early-Middle Persian: Mardyakhor or Martikhwar, meaning man-eater (Pausanias, Pausanias, Description of Greece, 9.21.4) is an Iranian legendary hybrid creature. It was described by a Greek physician named Ctesias in his book Indica ("India"), which he wrote about the natural history of the area from his time at the Persian court of King Artaxerxes II in 400 BCE. Aelian, a Roman author who lived around 200 years later, wrote that the manticore was a "wild beast" with the head of a man on a body as shaggy and large as a lion with a lions' feet and claws, and the tail of a scorpion. Ctesias asserts that while they are young the manticores don't have stingers, so that's when they are hunted by the "Indians". This is so they can killed and the tail crushed without releasing the "evil" from their stingers, producing an evil crop (Aelian, Characteristics of Animals, 4.21). Later writers and philosophers, such as: Pausanias (110-180 CE) [in his Description of Greece], Aristotle, Pliny the Elder [in Naturalis Historia 8:30, c. 77 CE]Greek writer Flavius Philostratus (170–247 CE) [inThe Life of Apollonius of Tyana] kept the ideas going for centuries of stories, describing the being as anything from a regular man-eating tiger to the hybrid beastly creature described above (Christensen, 2003; Pausanias, Description of Greece, 9.21.4). Inspired the authors of ancient times, mediaeval authors and scholars continued the tradition of including the manticore in bestiaries, sometimes depicting it as a tiger, sometimes with tusks and monkey-like feet, maybe a huge scorpion tale with added quills, and still sometimes with a woman's head (Dennys 1975:114–7; Topsell,1607; Holme, 1688; Moffit, 1996).

Even while the whole creature was changing, one big aspect remained constant, that it was a monster. But, that wasn't the case in all of the world. Like in Egypt, some of the myths coming from India and South and Southeastern Asia were regarding the creatures as, depending on the place, avatars for gods, guardians, and/or wards against evil, even though they were described and painted as, and called them beasts. India uses the Sanskrit purushamriga meaning "man-beast", naravirala meaning "man-cat", or Tamil purushamirugam also meaning "man-beast", while in Sri Lanka nara-simha in Sanskrit is"man-lion", in Myanmar manusiha or manuthiha in Pali is"man-lion") , and in Thailand norasingh, also from Pali also means "man-lion", but came from a variation of the Sanskrit "nara-simha", or was called the thep norasingh meaning "man-lion deity", or nora nair (Deekshitar, 2004: 34-41; Kosambi, 2002: 459).

1. "Buddhist sphinx on a stupa gateway, Bharhut, 1st century BCE" (Kosambi, 2002: 459).

2. "This is the male purushamriga situated at the east entrance of the Shri Shiva Nataraja temple in Chidambaram, India"(photo by Raja Deekshitar).

3. Burmese depiction of the Manussiha (by Temple, Richard Carnac, Sir - The Thirty Seven Nats, from Southeast Asia Digital Library).

So with a greatly expanded definition of the sphinx it is tricky to know which of the Hellenized versions of the 'creature' came first (not speaking to the world-wide original story). In the increasingly connected Mediterranean world, was it the Greek translation of the Egyptian word for the statue or the Sphinx in the story of Oedipus Rex, within which the female headed version blocked the entrance to seven-gated Thebes with her famous riddle. In Cairo (not 100-gated Thebes) the male-headed version, 'androsphinx' was recarved from what some scholars think was the head a lioness to the head of Pharaoh Khufu around 2600 BCE (Cassella, 2018: 10). Evidence seems to point in multiple directions, and is part of ongoing discussions about the sphinx and subsequent topics, which are expansive enough to fill multiple books. In the Egyptian versions sphinxes are protectors, killers, maybe, but as any mother lioness would guard her young, not unlike the origin story of the lion headed goddess Sekhmet, but not the mysterious 'gynosphinx' (female headed) that killed anyone who couldn't solve her riddle.

1. Winged sphinx from the palace ofDarius the Great during Persian Empire at Susa(480 BCE) (Photo by Jastrow, 2005).

2. Ancient Greek sphinx from the Temple of Apollo Delphi (570-560 BCE) (Ricardo André Frantz, 2006).

3. "Wooden ceremonial shield with king as sphinx trampling on Nubian enemies. Image courtesy of IMG." From King Tutankhamun's tomb (c. 1334-1325 BCE).

Variety of Gods

1. Carving of Sobek on the left side at the Temple of Sobek

2. Carving of Horus in the middle standing on a boar/pig in front of Hathor at Temple of Horus

3. Carving of Hathor with cow ears at the Temple of Isis

(Photos are all my own from Egypt, 2016).

Egyptian Gods and Goddesses are widely know for being depicted with animal heads, Ra as the eagle, Horus the falcon, Anubis the jackel, Sobek the crocodile, Hathor as a cow, etc. These deities fillled the patheon with good and evil, Osiris was good, Set was bad, but that was never contigent upon which animals were represented. The perfect example is the snake, represent by both the Goddess Wadjet, protector of the Pharaoh, and the God Apophis, who tries to eat Ra every night and is connected to darkness, thunder, earthquakes, and chaos.

But Egypt wasn't the only ancient civilization that put the heads of kings and gods on animal bodies or even the other way around. In ancient Assyria, for example, bas-reliefs of shedu bulls with the crowned bearded heads of kings guarded the entrances of temples. So many of these are not only in stories of their history from their separate lives from humans, but in the ways they would continue to impact the world. In the various mythos from around the world in which humans are rarely directly involved the Gods and Goddesses are shown as protectors and balancers of nature and the universe at large. And, when they are depicted in statues, in all their glory, the people may have wanted to recognize the connection that humans have with nature, by combining humans with animals.

* A question I don't have an answer to is; why were stories from Ancient Greek and Roman mythology which link to the Western Medieval traditions far more against the mixing of creature's form and still be benevolent, while civilizations in Egypt, the Near East, and many Far Eastern cultures had much less issue with chimera not being monsters? - Could it have to do with an early embankment against the natural world, or were we shaped by that?

Narasimha

The Narasimha ("man-lion") is described as an incarnation (Avatar) of Vishnu within the Puranic texts of Hinduism who takes the form of half-man/half-Asiatic lion, having a human torso and lower body, but with a lion-like face and claws.

1. Narasimha, Chola period, 12th -13th century,Tamil Nadu. From Musée Guimet, Paris. (Photo by Vassil).

2. Vishnuand his avatars(Vaikuntha Chaturmurti):Vishnu himself or Vasudeva-Krishnain human form, Narasimha as a lion, Varahaas a boar. Art of Mathura, mid-5th century CE. Boston Museum. (Schmid, 1997). (Photo by Neil Noland).

3. Lion headed God, fourth Avatar of Vishnu (Photo by Nani.2018, taken in India).

More Worldwide Mythical Chimera

There are far too many chimerical creature scattered around the world to cover them all, so like in previous post they'll be named with links included and pictures.

• The Beast in Christianity eschatology

The Beast of the Sea (Tapestry of the Apocalypse)

• Dābbat al-Arḍ (Beast of the Earth) in Islamic eschatology

17th-century Mughal miniature of the Beast

• Lamassu, Assyrian deity, bull/lion-eagle-human hybrid

Lamassu from Dur-Sharrukin. University of Chicago Oriental Institute. Syrian limestone Neo-Assyrian Period, c. 721–705 BCE (Photo by Trjames, 2020).

• Lamma, Assyrian deity, female winged deity

Lamma Goddess, Iraq, Isin-Larsa period, 2000-1800 BC, bronze, baked clay - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago

• Nue, Japanese legendary creature

"Kyoto Nue Taibi (The End)" (京都 鵺 大尾) Among The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō one that is by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, in Kaei 5 (1852)

• Pegasus, winged stallion in Greek mythology

1. “Yes, there he sat, on the back of the winged horse!” by Mary Hamilton Frye - Mabie, Hamilton Wright (Ed.): “Myths Every Child Should Know” (1914).

2. Parthian era bronze plate depicting Pegasus (Pegazin Persian), excavated in Masjed Soleyman, Khūzestān, Iran.

• Gopaitioshah – The Persian Gopat or Gopaitioshah is another creature that is similar to the Sphinx, being a winged bull or lion with human face.("Dadestan-i Denig, Question 90, Paragraph 4";"Menog-i Khrad, Chapter 62"). The Gopat have been represented in ancient art of Iran since late second millennium BCE, and was a common symbol for dominant royal power in ancient Iran. Found in the texts of the Bundahishn, the Dadestan-i Denig, the Menog-i Khrad, as well as in collections of tales, such as the Matikan-e yusht faryan and in its Islamic replication, the Marzubannama (Taheri, 2013).

• Löwenmensch figurine "Lion Man"

The Löwenmensch figurine after restoration in 2013 (Photo by Dagmar Hollmann)

The 32,000-year-old Aurignacian Löwenmensch figurine, also known as "lion-human" is the oldest known anthropomorphic statue, discovered in the Hohlenstein-Stadel, a German cave in 1939.("New Life for the Lion Man - Archaeology Magazine Archive". <archive.archaeology.org>).

For a fuller list of Hybrid Creatures.

Origins

The Medieval Latin word chimera, from Latin Chimaera was Latinized from the Ancient Greek 'χίμαιρα' khimaira, or Chímaira, which literally meant "she-goat". As opposed to a "male goat" 'χίμαρος' khímaros " (“chimera; chimaera, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1889). This direct connection to the etymology in the Greek creatures name does bring up the question, which came first; the gender of a mythological creature or the word? While there isn't a definitive way to say for sure scholars have looked through other etymological links to find hints.

Neo-Hittite Chimera from Karkemish, at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (850-750 BCE)

The tablet in the photo above, showing a Chimera with a human head with "a hooked nose pointing to a Luvian or Hittite ethnic origin" over a lion's head was from Herald's wall, Carchemish in Late Hittite style under Aramaean influence and is now housed in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, in Ankara, Turkey. This transferring on myths between groups is sometimes believed to be the origin of the Greek version. While we don't have specific dates of when myths were originally told, one of the recorded stories of Bellerophon slaying the chimera is in the Theogony by Hesiod who lived sometime between 750-650 BCE (West, 1966: 40; Griffin, 1986: 88). An older appearance of the chimera is made in Book 16 of the Iliad, however, which thought to have been written in the 8th century (800-700) BCE (Vidal-Naquet, 2000: 19). Around the same time, perhaps around the length of a lifetime after the Hittite version was sculpted. Of course this has no bearing on oral traditions, if the creatures were transplanted via spoken stories, like Homer would have done, tracing the first mention is next to impossible.

The mountainous region in ancient Lycia, more specifically Mount Chimaera, is thought to be the modern area Yanartaş in Turkey, where some scholars think that the gas and fires were the origin of the entire Greek Chimera myth when described by Pliny the Elder [4.1] after he was originally told the story (Healy, 2004; 'Chimera', 1854). This same area was named in the speech made by Iobates as the monster's home (Barth, 2001). Possibly due to the dozens of methane gas vents in the ground, also houses a Temple of Hephaestus, about 3 km away from Çıralı, near ancient Olympos, Lycia. Another subsequent link could be found because of the town/region of Himarë, in Southern Albania has a substantial Chaonian population [Ancient Greeks] that was originally called Χίμαιρα, Chimaira, or Chimaera, which can explain the name Himara, even if it sounds a bit different today (Hansen, 2005; Liddell, & Scott, 1940; Smith, ed. [1854–1857]). Due to the original myth taking place in Lycia, it is likely that the first area could be one of the stories originators while the latter shared similarities and was thus name for the pre-existing myth.

A composition of 3 images; 2 dinosaurs and a sculpture (By Kazvorpal)

Other than from the etymological roots, why do chimeras even exist? In the case of the Greek griffon, some scholars think that they were based on the fossilized remains of dinosaurs, much like the idea of dragons. For the griffons and folklorist and historian writes that it was specifically from the seventh century BCE on that the Greek may have been influenced in part by beaked dinosaurs such as Protoceratops and Psittacosaurus, which would have been seen on the way to gold deposits that were found by nomadic prospectors of ancient Scythia in Central Asia and assumed to be a mixture of a bird and a mammal (Mayor, 1994; Mayor, 2011; BBC, 2011). This hypothesis has been contested by Paleontologist Mark P. Witton, who was reference in the previous bestiary article, pointing out that this hypothesis ignore older depictions of griffons from a variety of Eastern and Near Eastern countries before the Greeks ever knew of the existence of these fossils Witton, 2016). He also argues that the Greek versions of griffons were based on living creatures, because the anatomies between the fossils and the mythical versions don't match up (Witton, 2016).

But as for the purpose of the mere existence of chimera, an Ancient Studies master's thesis from Liane at Stellenbosch University concluded "that hybrid monsters, as manifestations of the internal dichotomy of man and the tenuous relationship between order and chaos, played a critical role in the personal and communal definition of man in ancient Greece" after examining the myths of the Minotaur, centaurs, etc. from Ancient Greece (Posthumus, L. 2011).

"Recent" Chimera

• "19th c. print of a Chimera-like beast, created to parody various religious denominations" (Library of Congress).

• Original Drawing of Cthulhu (Lovecraft, H.P. 1934).

• Cthulhu (A. Wallin)

• Gotland Sheep Chimera (own work, 2015))

• All the animal tiles [5-7](Photos are own work, taken at a street faire in Portland, OR, 2019 by @Whatifcreations).

• "He has the head structure and horns of a buffalo, the arms and body of a bear, the eyebrows of a gorilla, the jaws, teeth, and mane of a lion, the tusks of a wild boar and the legs and tail of a wolf. He also bears resemblance to mythical monsters like the Minotaur or a werewolf." (All rights belong to Disney, 1991).

• Quimera: The Gorgeously Fluffy Chimera Cat (Cole & Marmalade)

*Fiction for fun - My spirit animal would be an otterpus.*

* Never mess with Cthuthlu, or any of the Elder Gods, they aren't good or bad, they just don't care

As has been already shown D&D, Pathfinder, and rpgs in the same vein contain the hybrid creatures (chimera) from mythology and add new twists on old versions. With the update of Lovecraftian the base into the worldbuilding there are even more "monsters" to fight. But no one says a player group has to fight, if roleplaying games are about anything, they are about finding creative solutions to different situations. The Beast from La Belle et la Bête was scary looking, but incredibly well-mannered even from the beginning, which they altered a bit for the Disney version. But, the Beauty and the Beast story is closer to Eros and Psyche, so I won't be diving into that, although the 1740 French fairy tale and later versions are examples of something that appears monstrous actually turning out friendly. When implemented in a game the bonus comes from, other than making a friend out of terrifying creatures may give protection and help when needed, but it throws the GM (and that's fun).

After the centuries of stories and illustrations people wanted some proof, this is roughly when people like P.T. Barnum stepped in. An earlier example of a creature that was thought a hoax upon description was the platypus. While described by David Collins in 1797 with an illustration sent back to England it took years, 90 for some people, to finally accept the truth, though for scientists/naturalists like George Shaw the evidence was right in front of him (Zarrelli, 2016). The platypus, however despite it's appearance, is not actually a genetic chimera because it's not a mix of diffent species, it just looks like it could have been. Especially because the descrption called it a "duck mole".

1. "George Shaw’s depiction of a duck-billed platypus from 1809." (Zarrelli, 2016; Photo: New York Public Library)

2. "George Shaw’s illustration of the beak and feet of the platypus." (Zarrelli, 2016; Photo:New York Public Library).

3. "A platypus depicted as a “duck mole” from the 1880 title Johnson’s Household Book of Nature." (Zarrelli, 2016; Photo: Biodiversity Heritage Library/CC BY 2.0).

Less than 50 years later (1840s onwards) P.T. Barnum was billing both, these innocent monotremes and true hoaxes, like the Feejee Mermaid, as "oddities" and "curiosities". Of course we now know that these are hoaxes, and the first one, the one paraded around by Barnum could have been made as a joke on 'tourists' by Japanese fishermen (Levi, 1977). What is not the worst thing Barnum had brought into the world, but is still really horrible is that people can and do still buy these "Feejee mermaids" online, talk about perpetuating bad habits for the rest of humanity.

1. An 1842 advertisement for P.T Barnum’s “Feejee Mermaid”, and “the Duck-billed Platypus, the connecting link between the bird and beast” (Photo: Public Domain).

2. An illustration of P.T. Barnum's Feejee Mermaid.(Image credit: Public domain).

3. "A papier-mâché mermaid from the same Moses Kimball collection that once included the Feejee Mermaid exhibited by P. T. Barnum. The collection met with fire in 1899. Exhibit from the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA." ("Feejee Mermaid". Peabody Museum, 2019).

Conclusion

Genetics change, stories are told, new discoveries are made. How we react to new things and experiences can help us see a way into the future. Many creautures, mythical or otherwise, can be beastly, or adorable, or even both. The most important thing is to read the behaviours, like the smartest hero seem to do in their personal myths. If we take all these chimera as real beings, Gods, magical, etc. we can see that they tend to act like a person in the same situation. The myth of Bellerophon is a story of the archetypal hero, brought down by his hubris (Szachnowska-Olesiejuk, 2010). His first enemy was a chimera, and so was (technically) the friend he had to make to succeed in his task, though they had different names. Mythology and folklore and changing language reflects the atmosphere of the culture at the time, and will most certainly evolve over the centuries. The name Chimera turned into a vast definition covering Gods and mythological creatures, scientific naturalistic studies, more advanced genetic works, and even computer language.

Chimera are seen as monsters, friends, protectors, Gods, and even choas inncarnate. What I hope that we can all learn is that we can't judge a book by its cover. The biggest change seems to be that Chimera has gone from being illusionary, from being stories, to reality. All it took was a change of perceptive.

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Additional Information:

Most links are in the text, but...

Overly Sarcastic Productions

• Miscellaneous Myths: Bellerophon (2016)

• Miscellaneous Myths: The Tarasque (2018)- Red even says "Chimerical mashup..." within the 1st minute and 5 seconds in.

Judgment of the Humanness/Animality of Mythological Hybrid (Part-Human, Part-Animal) Figures

Man and Beast: The Hybrid in Early Chinese Art and Literature

HYBRID MONSTERS IN THE CLASSICAL WORLD : THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF HYBRID MONSTERS IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY, LITERATURE AND ART

The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses by George Hart

More etymological root diving, the 'chim-' in chimera is often linked to *gheim- meaning "winter", also appearing in the name of the Himalayas, and could be traced back to the Sanskrit word heman meaning "in winter". Don't see how or even if this connects to the rest of our narrative, but just pointing out how weird languages are.

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