An autonomous tradition that did not rely on the written word was represented in the visual repertory of the Greek vase painters. But the hero mounted his winged horse Pegasus (which had sprung from the blood of the Medusa) "and soaring on high shot down the Chimera from the height." Iconography Īlthough the Chimera was, according to Homer, situated in foreign Lycia, her representation in the arts was wholly Greek. Iobates, the king of Lycia, had ordered Bellerophon to kill the Chimera (who had been killing cattle and had "devastated the country") since he thought that the Chimera would instead kill Bellerophon, "for it was more than a match for many, let alone one". Īpollodorus gave a more complete account of the story. Hesiod adds that Bellerophon had help in killing the Chimera, saying, "her did Pegasus and noble Bellerophon slay". Still, the hero, "trusting in the signs of the gods", succeeded in killing the Chimera. ![]() As told in the Iliad, the hero Bellerophon was ordered by the king of Lycia to slay the Chimera (hoping the monster would kill Bellerophon). A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital, and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.Bellerophon riding Pegasus and slaying the Chimera, central medallion of a Roman mosaic from Autun, Musée Rolin, 2nd to 3rd century ADĪccording to Homer, the Chimera, who was reared by Araisodarus (the father of Atymnius and Maris, Trojan warriors killed by Nestor's sons Antilochus and Trasymedes), was "a bane to many men". If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. Join 800,000+ Future fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter. This article originally appeared on The Conversation, and is republished under a Creative Commons licence. Yet it is safe to say that our personal fear of this scientific advance – the queasiness we feel in the gut – may be mostly to do with how it destabilises our perceived human uniqueness and undermines our own moral superiority than anything to do with broader concerns over hybrids themselves. Whether or not we should use animals for these purposes, or for the satisfaction of human needs more broadly, is a topic for another time. In the end, while mythical hybrid beasts may have caused alarm for the Greeks, it would seem that our own objection to growing our next heart in the breast of a pig has more to do with existential angst and a disruption of the moral order. Indeed, harvesting organs from humans conjures visions of a dystopian future ((2005_film). If confusing pets with animals we eat creates discontent, then confusing those same meat-animals with our own kind is sure to create moral and gustatory hesitation.īeyond baffling our palate, it also confounds our understanding of whether it is an animal from whom we are harvesting our next-generation organs, or some kind of sub-human entity. By keeping thoughts of our animal nature at bay, we conveniently forget that we are nothing more than mortal biological organisms waiting to fertilise the fields. Human-animal hybrids turn one’s mind to the inevitable fact that we will all be pushing up the daisies one day. Harvesting human hearts from goats can shatter this protective belief, leaving us feeling disgusted and dismayed. It gives us a sense of being superior, above or outside the biological order. The notion that humans have souls, but animals do not, was (and still is for some) a popular belief. The possibility that a pig could grow your next pancreas is a cogent reminder that humans are also animals, and this very biological reminder can create existential angst. One reason that human-pig hybrids are a source of anxiety is that they can conjure up a fear of our own death. Still, while hybrids in general can create a sense of foreboding, not all hybrids do, and it may be that mixing biology is most psychologically problematic when it comes to our own human DNA – and perhaps especially when it comes to mixing it with that of other animals. And what about the Liger, Tigon, Zonkey, Geep, or Beefalo? ![]() Mules have never been a source of alarm, yet they are the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Our apparent comfort with some hybrids does not stop at plants. We have little trouble consuming such hybrids for our lunch. Take for instance the boysenberry (a cross between the raspberry, blackberry, dewberry and loganberry) or the clementine (a cross between a mandarin and an orange). While hybrids in general can sometimes create a disagreeable mixture of fear and disgust, this is not always the case.
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