Bellerophon
Bellerophon never gets the attention he deserves as far as I’m concerned, and I don’t know why. Bellerophon had a flying horse named Pegasus, which had sprung fully grown from Medusa’s blood. Some say Bellerophon himself grew from Medusa’s blood, but that’s just silly. He got into a scrape early in his career killing either his brother or else a complete stranger – the myth is vague about this 1 – and he went to King Proteus (no relation to the sea-god) to be cleansed of his sin. Unfortunately, Proteus' queen took a shine to Bellerophon, and when he rebuffed her, she cried, “Rape.” Bellerophon was completely innocent. 2 In punishment for this, Bellerophon had to go off and fight the Amazons. They were women but very tough, and no man had ever been able to vanquish them. But then, no man before Bellerophon had a flying horse, and he dropped rocks on them from the air, which proved very effective. Next, he had to slay the Chimera, a fire-breathing monster which was part lion, part snake, and part goat. 3 Bellerophon tipped his sword in lead, which melted in Chimera’s hot breath, and poured down its throat, suffocating it. Bellerophon was so full of himself, he decided to go up to Olympus and live with the gods. Unfortunately Pegasus was stung by a horsefly, and Bellerophon fell all the way to earth and landed in a thorn bush. He’d beaten Amazons and a dragon, but he never got over the thorns.
1. He was dead anyway, so what did it matter?
2. Keep in mind, this was Bellerphon's version.
3. I swear, sometimes it's like they're just making this stuff up.
