The scriptures and myths of ancient peoples are rich in descriptions of unusual animals. Amazing animals excited the imagination of society, they were amazed and surprised. Most of them were fictional creatures, although later some strange animals, such as hippopotamus and echidna, found their real prototypes in the terrestrial fauna. One of the creatures that forever remained in the world of fantasy and fiction, became a chimera. What is ximera ? We will try to understand the meaning of this term in this article. You will learn what this amazing creation in the world of myths and legends was.
Ancient Greece
In ancient Greece, the meaning of the word "chimera" could be learned from myths. In one of the legends, the ferocious monster, the offspring of Echidna and Tryphon, was called so. The chimera had three heads, which were located along the body of the beast. One lion’s head grew on shoulders, a goat’s head adorned the back, and the monster’s tail ended in a poisonous snake.
The front half of the body of the beast was a lion, and the back of the goat. The fierce disposition and fire-breathing mouth complemented the terrible outlines of the monster. The ancient Greeks were afraid to visit remote areas of the province of Lycia - it was believed that it was there that the chimera lived. What such a neighborhood meant for residents of those areas is not hard to guess. The beast destroyed crops and exterminated livestock, abducted and ate the inhabitants.
Not a single daredevil dared to approach the lair of the beast, although attempts have been made to restrain the chimera more than once. The king of Lycia sent to the chimera both the lone daredevils and entire armies. But none of them returned with a victory.
The glorious warrior Bellerophon, the son of King Corinth, decided to fight the terrible beast. Riding his winged horse, he flew up to the den where the chimera lived. What a monster is, he knew. He was also aware of the impossibility of defeating him from the earth, so he immediately took off and hit the chimera with all the arrows he had.
After Bellerophon was convinced that the beast was dead, he went down to the ground and chopped off all three heads of the beast. The hero presented one of these goals to the king of Lycia as a sign of victory. In honor of the brilliant Victoria, the city of Corinth inserted the image of a monster in its coat of arms.
From Greek mythology, the chimera passed into the legends of the Etruscans and Ancient Rome. In the 13th century, during the excavations of the Etruscan burial, a figure of a chimera was discovered, the outlines of which completely repeated the Greek myth. These creatures were known in North Africa and the Middle East.
Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, Greek myths were unfamiliar to the majority, and far from many knew about what a chimera meant. But rumors of amazing and terrible animals circulated throughout Europe. The revival of the chimera on this continent coincided with the heyday of Gothic architecture. Metal and stone gutters adorned the roofs of many houses and cathedrals built in the Middle Ages. Such drains were called "gargoyle" - from the French gargouille . Garguili was decorated with sculptures of formidable animals, which, fortunately, did not exist in the real world. Mythical chimeras and gargoyles often stood next to each other, decorating the roofs of cathedrals and churches. So the gargoyle's neighbor, a bizarre figure on the drain, became known as the "chimera." What did the animal have in common with the Greek prototype? Almost nothing, but it worried little sculptors.
The medieval chimera had one head with a goatee and horns. Terrible sculptures of chimeras and gargoyles adorned the walls, roofs of palaces and temples, driving away evil spirits and other evil spirits.
New time
Centuries passed, and the names of fictional creatures moved into literary and colloquial speech. The word "chimera" began to mean vain dreams and futile hopes. Currently, the word remains only in literary monuments of the last century, and is practically not used in colloquial speech.
Chimera in biology
This word is also used in scientific papers. For example, biologists designate some specific organisms with the word "chimera." What does the name mean in the scientific vocabulary? Each cell of an ordinary organism contains homogeneous genetic material. A chimera is an organism, each cell of which contains genes of various modifications. Such a combination in the set of genes arises as a result of a mutation or disruption of the cell division process.