Pantheon: Greek
Class: Hero
Level: Top Tier
Lineage: Mortal
Alignment: Good
Linked with: Pegasus, Zeus, Athene, Poseidon, The Chimera
A hero of ancient Corinth, Bellerophon caught sight of the winged horse Pegasus, as it alighted near the citadel of Corinth, and tried in vain to catch it. Thwarted, he appealed to the seer Polyidos for help, and was told to lay down to sleep at night beside the altar of Athene. Doing so, Bellerophon dreamed that the goddess herself came to him, and presented him with a golden bridle, bidding him show it to his father, Poseidon, and at the same time sacrifice a white ox to him. On waking, he found he held the bridle in his hand, sacrificed the ox as instructed, and further dedicated an altar to Athene. Pegasus proved susceptible to the bridle, and Bellerophon became his master.
Having accidentally slain a Corinth noble, the hero went to Argos, where he was kindly received by the king, Proetos. However, the king's wife, Stheneboea, took a fancy to Bellerophon, and when the young man rejected her advances, she dragged him before her husband, accusing the hero of trying to violate her. Shocked by this claim, Proetos sent Bellerophon to the court at Lycia, to King Iobates, giving the youth a letter in which, unbeknownst to him, were orders to kill the bearer.
Arriving at the Lycian court, Bellerophon was entertained hospitably for nine days, and on the tenth the king asked the youth what his business was, received the letter Bellerophon bore, and dispatched the youth to slay the Chimera, a monster with a lion's front half, a serpent's rear and a goat in the middle. This monster infested the mountains, and slaughtered all who attacked it. But riding Pegasus, far out of the reach of the monster, Bellerophon killed the Chimera with his spear, and returned to Iobates triumphant. Next the king sent the hero to fight against the Solymi, a hostile neighbouring tribe, and again Bellerophon returned victorious. A third time the Lycian ruler sent his guest into danger, this time against the fierce warrior-women, the Amazons, and again he defeated them. When the final attempt to slay him failed (an ambush comprised of all Iobates' finest knights), the king realised that Bellerophon must be the son of a god, and gave the hero the hand of his daughter in marriage, plus half of his kingdom.
But the gods, fickle and cruel as ever, decided that joy should not be Bellerophon's lot. His son Isandros was slain by Ares, his daughter Laodaemia by Artemis, and Bellerophon himself wandered the world, insane, sad and alone, avoiding the company of his fellow men, till in an attempt to climb Mount Olympus itself on the back of his mighty horse Pegasus, he was struck by one of Zeus' thunderbolts, fell to earth and died.