Aphrodisias’ Sebasteion, The Mythological Program - XII
Bellerophon. Bellerophon was a Lykian hero, and was claimed as a founder at Aphrodisias. Although Bellerophon does not appear in any surviving sources relating to the origins of Aphrodisias, epigraphic evidence of his role as a founder of the city was discovered. An inscription dating from the imperial period indicates that the demos of Aphrodisias honored Bellerophon with a statue as its founder, its “ktistes”. This is hardly surprising, since Bellerophon, having been banished from his native land, was one of those “wandering heroes” whose journeys beyond the boundaries of the Greek world would have given many cities the opportunity to claim him as their founder. Bellerophon, who was born in Ephyre, the ancient name of Corinth. He was a son of the Corinthian king Glaucus and Eurymede, and a grandson of Sisyphus (Apollod. i. 9. § 3 ; Hom. Il. vi. 155.). He is said to have received the name Bellerophon from having slain the noble Corinthian, Bellerus. In order to be purified from the murder he fled to Proetus, whose wife Anteia fell in love with the young hero; but her offers being rejected by him, she accused him to her husband of having made improper proposals to her, and insisted upon his being put to death. Proetus, unwilling to kill him with his own hands, sent him to his father-in-law, lobates, king in Lykia, with a sealed letter in which the latter was requested to put the young man to death. Lobates accordingly sent him to kill the monster Chimaera, thinking that he was sure to perish in the contest. But Bellerophon killed the Chimaera from on high with his arrows. lobates, being thus disappointed, sent Bellerophon out again, first against the Solymi and next against the Amazons. After returning in triumph from these seemingly impossible missions, he married Iobates’ daughter and succeeded him on the throne. So Bellerophon was strongly connected with Lykia, where he had his shrine in Tlos. But he was also closely connected with Caria through his great-grandson, Chrysaor, the initiator of the heroic colonization of Caria.
Source “Cultural Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean”, edited by Erich S. Grue
Roman bas-relief
Claudius – early Nero age: approx. 41 - 60 AD
Aphrodisias, Archaeological Museum
Aphrodisias, Caria, Turkey
Aphrodisias’ Sebasteion, The Mythological Program - XII
Bellerophon. Bellerophon was a Lykian hero, and was claimed as a founder at Aphrodisias. Although Bellerophon does not appear in any surviving sources relating to the origins of Aphrodisias, epigraphic evidence of his role as a founder of the city was discovered. An inscription dating from the imperial period indicates that the demos of Aphrodisias honored Bellerophon with a statue as its founder, its “ktistes”. This is hardly surprising, since Bellerophon, having been banished from his native land, was one of those “wandering heroes” whose journeys beyond the boundaries of the Greek world would have given many cities the opportunity to claim him as their founder. Bellerophon, who was born in Ephyre, the ancient name of Corinth. He was a son of the Corinthian king Glaucus and Eurymede, and a grandson of Sisyphus (Apollod. i. 9. § 3 ; Hom. Il. vi. 155.). He is said to have received the name Bellerophon from having slain the noble Corinthian, Bellerus. In order to be purified from the murder he fled to Proetus, whose wife Anteia fell in love with the young hero; but her offers being rejected by him, she accused him to her husband of having made improper proposals to her, and insisted upon his being put to death. Proetus, unwilling to kill him with his own hands, sent him to his father-in-law, lobates, king in Lykia, with a sealed letter in which the latter was requested to put the young man to death. Lobates accordingly sent him to kill the monster Chimaera, thinking that he was sure to perish in the contest. But Bellerophon killed the Chimaera from on high with his arrows. lobates, being thus disappointed, sent Bellerophon out again, first against the Solymi and next against the Amazons. After returning in triumph from these seemingly impossible missions, he married Iobates’ daughter and succeeded him on the throne. So Bellerophon was strongly connected with Lykia, where he had his shrine in Tlos. But he was also closely connected with Caria through his great-grandson, Chrysaor, the initiator of the heroic colonization of Caria.
Source “Cultural Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean”, edited by Erich S. Grue
Roman bas-relief
Claudius – early Nero age: approx. 41 - 60 AD
Aphrodisias, Archaeological Museum
Aphrodisias, Caria, Turkey