Chapter 18 Chapter XVIII Sisyphus and Bellerophon

Sisyphus, son of Aeolus, was the most treacherous of all men.He established and ruled the beautiful city-state of Corinths in the narrow space between the two kingdoms.Because he betrayed Zeus, he was thrown into hell to be punished after death.Every morning, he had to move a heavy boulder from the ground to the top of the mountain.Whenever he thought he had reached the top of the hill, the stones would suddenly roll down the hillside.The evil Sisyphus had to go back and move the stone again, and climb up the mountain with difficulty. Bellerophon, grandson of Sisyphus, son of Globus, king of Corinth.Because of manslaughter, he was forced to flee and came to Tirens, where he was warmly received by King Protos and pardoned for his crimes.Bellerophon was handsome and tall.Anthea, the wife of King Protos, fell in love with him at first sight and tried to seduce her.But Bellerophon was kind and noble, and he was very cold to her teasing.Seeing that her attempt could not succeed, she became angry with shame, and she said to her husband: "My husband, if you do not want to be disgraced and ruin your name, you must kill Bellerophon, for he is a dishonest man who tried to Seduce me, let me betray your love."

The king believed her words, and a nameless anger rose in his heart.But because he admired the young Bellerophon very much, he couldn't bear to kill him, and wanted to take revenge on him in other ways.He sent Bellerophon to his father-in-law, Iobates, king of Lycia, with a sealed letter from home.In fact, the letter asked the king to put the visitor to death.Bellerophon, kept in the dark, set off without any doubts.He hurried forward, towards death, and at this time, the gods in the sky also protected him all the way.He crossed the sea, crossed the beautiful river Xanthus, came to Lycia, and met King Iobates.This is a warm and polite gentleman.He hosted a banquet to entertain distinguished guests from other places, without asking who he was, let alone where he came from.His dignified manner and handsome appearance showed that he was not an ordinary guest.The king enjoyed all kinds of honors for the guest, entertained him every day like a festival, and sacrificed a cow for him to worship the gods.It was not until the tenth day that he asked about the origin and purpose of the guest. Bellerophon told him that he came from King Protos and presented a letter from home.After reading the letter, King Iobates gasped in terror, for he liked the handsome guest before him very much.But he thought that if there was no serious reason, his son-in-law would definitely not execute him.The king nodded thoughtfully, but he saw that the young man who had been here for ten days had a gentle manner and a good conversation, and he couldn't bear to send someone to kill him.Finally, in order to get out of the embarrassing situation, he decided to send him on a certain death adventure.He first ordered Bellerophon to destroy the Chimera, the monster that endangered Lykia.This monster is the son of the giant Typhon and the giant serpent Echidna. Its upper body is like a lion, its lower body is like a dragon, and its middle is like a goat. It is really terrifying.All the gods in the sky have pity on this innocent young man.Seeing that the catastrophe was about to happen to Bellerophon, they hastened to his aid Pegasus, a winged horse born of Poseidon and Medusa.But how could Pegasus help him?It has never been ridden, it is wild, wild, impossible to catch and tame.Bellerophon labored for a while, exhausted himself with exhaustion, and at last fell asleep on the banks of the Pireny.He had a dream of Athena, his protector.She handed him a pair of magnificent bridles with golden ornaments, and said to him: "Why did you fall asleep? Take it, sacrifice a bull to Poseidon, and you can use this bridle in the future!" Lerophon suddenly awoke from his dream.He jumped up and saw that there was indeed a pair of golden bridles in his hands.

Bellerophon finds Polydes, who interprets dreams and tells fortunes, tells him the scene in his dream, and asks him to make it come true.Polydes persuaded him to follow the advice of the goddess, sacrifice a bull to Poseidon, and build an altar to the goddess Athena who protected him.After all this was done, Bellerophon tamed the Pegasus effortlessly. He put the bridle on the horse's head, then put on the armor, rode the horse in the air, bent the bow and set the arrow, and shot it to death. Monster Chimera. Then Iobates sent Bellerophon to attack the Solyme.The Solyme were brave and warlike, and lived in the outskirts of Lykia.Contrary to the king's expectations, Bellerophon again won the hard battle.Later, the king sent him to fight against the Amazons, and he came back safe and sound.Iobates saw that Bellerophon could not be troubled, so he had a plan and set up an ambush to attack Bellerophon on the way of Bellerophon's triumphant return.But all the soldiers who attacked Bellerophon were wiped out by him, and none survived.

Only then did Iobates understand that the young man was not a sinner at all, but a favorite of God.He no longer dared to kill him, but took him back to his palace, shared the throne with him, and gave him his beautiful daughter Philonoë as his wife.The Lycians offered him fertile land and abundant crops.His wife gave birth to two boys and a daughter and lived a very happy life. Time passed, and Bellerophon's happiness came to an end.His eldest son, Isantlos, was unfortunately killed in the war with the Solymers.The daughter Laodamia and Zeus gave birth to the hero's son Sarpedon, but was shot to death by an arrow from the goddess of hunting Artemis.Only the youngest son, Hippolocus, lived to old age.He sent his son Glaucus to fight in the Trojan war against the Greeks.Glaucus and his cousin Sarpedon led a detachment of Lycian soldiers to the aid of the Trojans.

Bellerophon grew proud of having a winged horse.He rode to the holy mountain of Olympus and participated in the assembly of the gods, although he was a mortal.But Shenma refused to obey his command, stood upright in the sky, and threw him to the ground.Although Bellerophon did not fall to his death, he was abandoned by the gods.He wandered around, shy to see people, kept hiding, lived in seclusion in uninhabited places, and spent the rest of his life in worry.