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." An Etruscan bronze sculpture.]] In Greek Mythology , the Chimera ( Greek ''Χιμαιρα'', Khimaira; Latin ''Chimæra'') is a monstrous creature made of the parts of multiple animals. Chimera was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna . Descriptions vary – some say it had the body of a Goat , the tail of a Snake or Dragon and the head of a Lion , though others say it had heads of both the goat and lion, with a snake for a tail. All descriptions, however, agree that it breathed Fire from one or more of its heads. Sighting the chimera was a sign of Storms , Shipwrecks , and Natural Disasters (particularly Volcanos ). In Medieval Christian art, the chimera appears as a symbol of Satanic forces. While there are different Genealogies , in one version it mated with its brother Orthrus and mothered the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion . Chimera was finally defeated by Bellerophon with the help of Pegasus , the winged horse, at the command of King Iobates of Lycia . There are varying descriptions of its death – some say merely that Bellerophon ran it through with his Spear , whereas others say that he fitted his spear point with Lead that melted when exposed to Chimera's fiery breath and consequently killed it. Another story is that Bellerophon chopped off the three heads of the Chimera, and it fell to the ground dead. The myths of the Chimera can be found in Apollodorous' Library (book 1), Virgil 's '' Aeneid '' (book 6), Homer 's '' Iliad '' (book 6), Ovid 's '' Metamorphoses '' (book VI 339; IX 648) and Hesiod 's '' Theogony ''. The word ''Χιμαιρα'' is Classical Greek for she-goat; '''' is ''Χιμαρος'' . THEORY ABOUT ORIGIN ally active region was the inspiration for the myth]] Ctesias (as cited by Pliny The Elder and quoted by Photius ) identified the Chimaera with an area of permanent gas vents which can still be found today by hikers on the Lycian Way in southwest Turkey . Called in Turkish ''Yanartaş'' (flaming rock), it consists of some two dozen vents in the ground, grouped in two patches on the hillside above the Temple of Hephaistos about 3 km north of Çıralı , near ancient Olympos , in Lycia . The vents emit burning Methane thought to be of Metamorphic origin, which in ancient times sailors could navigate by, and which today is used to brew Tea . ( Strabo held the Chimaera to be a ravine on a ''different'' mountain in Lycia.) {Link without Title} SEE ALSO
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