Bellerophon (; Greek: ) or Bellerophontes () is a hero of Greek mythology. He was "the greatest hero and slayer of monsters, alongside of Cadmus and Perseus, before the days of Heracles", and his greatest feat was killing the Chimera, a monster that Homer depicted with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail: "her breath came out in terrible blasts of burning flame."

Etymology

One possible etymology that has been suggested is: Βελλεροφόντης < βέλεμνον, βελόνη, βέλος (projectile, dart, javelin, needle, arrow, bullet) + -φόντης (slayer) < φονεύω (to slay). However, Kirk says that "Βελλεροφόντης means 'slayer of Belleros'". Belleros could have been a Lycian, a local daimon or a Corinthian nobleman—Bellerophon's name "clearly invited all sorts of speculation".

==Bellerophon's myth== The ''Iliad'' vi.155–203 contains an embedded narrative told by Bellerophon's grandson Glaucus, named for his great-grandfather, which recounts Bellerophon's myth. Bellerophon was a son of the King Glaucus ("sea-green") of Corinth and the grandson of death-cheating Sisyphus. Bellerophon's grandsons Sarpedon and the younger Glaucus fought in the Trojan War. In the ''Epitome'' of pseudo-Apollodorus, a genealogy is given for Chrysaor ("of the golden sword") that would make him a double of Bellerophon; he too is called the son of Glaucus the son of Sisyphus. Chrysaor has no myth save that of his birth: from the severed neck of Medusa, who was with child by Poseidon, he and Pegasus both sprang at the moment of her death. "From this moment we hear no more of Chrysaor, the rest of the tale concerning the stallion only...[who visits the spring of Pirene] perhaps also for his brother's sake, by whom in the end he let himself be caught, the immortal horse by his mortal brother."

Bellerophon's brave journey began in the familiar way, with an exile: he had murdered either his brother, whose name is usually given as Deliades, or killed a shadowy "enemy", a "Belleros" (though the details are never directly told), and in expiation of his crime arrived as a suppliant to Proetus, king in Tiryns, one of the Mycenaean strongholds of the Argolid. Proetus, by virtue of his kingship, cleansed Bellerophon of his crime. The wife of the king, whether named Anteia or Stheneboea, took a fancy to him, but when he rejected her, she accused Bellerophon of attempting to ravish her. Proetus dared not satisfy his anger by killing a guest, so he sent Bellerophon to King Iobates his father-in-law, in the plain of the River Xanthus in Lycia, bearing a sealed message in a folded tablet: "Pray remove the bearer from this world: he attempted to violate my wife, your daughter." Before opening the tablets, Iobates feasted with Bellerophon for nine days. On reading the tablet's message Iobates too feared the wrath of the Erinyes if he murdered a guest; so he sent Bellerophon on a mission that he deemed impossible: to kill the fire-breathing monster the Chimera, living in neighboring Caria. The Chimera was a fire-breathing monster whose make-up comprised the body of a goat, the head of a lion and the tail being a serpent. This monster had terrorized the nearby countryside. Iobates sent Bellerophon on the quest to fight the Solymi, tribesmen bent on glory. Bellerophon defeated them but not easily. He was then sent to battle the Amazons, fighting women, whom he again defeated in a tough battle most men would have lost.

Capturing Pegasus

The Lycian seer Polyeidos told Bellerophon that he would have need of Pegasus. To obtain the services of the untamed winged horse, Polyeidos told Bellerophon to sleep in the temple of Athena. While Bellerophon slept, he dreamed that Athena set a golden bridle beside him, saying "Sleepest thou, prince of the house of Aiolos? Come, take this charm for the steed and show it to the Tamer thy father as thou makest sacrifice to him of a white bull." It was there when he awoke. Bellerophon had to approach Pegasus while it drank from a well; Polyeidos told him which well—the never-failing Pirene on the citadel of Corinth, the city of Bellerophon's birth. Other accounts say that Athena brought Pegasus already tamed and bridled, or that Poseidon the horse-tamer, secretly the father of Bellerophon, brought Pegasus, as Pausanias understood. Bellerophon mounted his steed and flew off to where the Chimera was said to dwell.

The slaying of the Chimera

When he arrived in Lycia, the Chimera was truly ferocious, and he could not harm the monster even while riding on Pegasus. He felt the heat of the breath the Chimera expelled, and was struck with an idea. He got a large block of lead and mounted it on his spear. Then he flew head-on towards the Chimera, holding out the spear as far as he could. Before he broke off his attack, he managed to lodge the block of lead inside the Chimera's throat. The beast's fire-breath melted the lead, and blocked its air passage. The Chimera suffocated, and Bellerophon returned victorious to King Iobates. Iobates, on Bellerophon's return, was unwilling to credit his story. A series of daunting further quests ensued: he was sent against the warlike Solymi and then against the Amazons who fight like men, whom Bellerophon vanquished by dropping boulders from his winged horse; when he was sent against a Carian pirate, Cheirmarrhus, an ambush failed, when Bellerophon killed all sent to assassinate him; the palace guards were sent against him, but Bellerophon called upon Poseidon, who flooded the plain of Xanthus behind Bellerophon as he approached. In defense the palace women sent him and the flood in retreat by rushing from the gates with their robes lifted high, offering themselves, to which the modest hero replied by withdrawing. Iobates relented, produced the letter, and allowed Bellerophon to marry his daughter Philonoe, the younger sister of Anteia, and shared with him half his kingdom, with fine vineyards and grain fields. The lady Philonoe bore him Isander, Hippolochus and Laodamia, who lay with Zeus the Counselor and bore Sarpedon but was slain by Artemis. However, as Bellerophon's fame grew, so did his ''hubris''. Bellerophon felt that because of his victory over the Chimera he deserved to fly to Mount Olympus, the realm of the gods. However, this presumption angered Zeus and he sent a gad-fly to sting the horse causing Bellerophon to fall all the way back to Earth. Pegasus completed the flight to Olympus where Zeus used him as a pack horse for his thunderbolts. On the Plain of Aleion ("Wandering"), Bellerophon, who had fallen into a thorn bush, lived out his life in misery as a blinded cripple, grieving and shunning the haunts of men.

Euripides' ''Bellerophontes''

Enough fragments of Euripides' lost tragedy ''Bellerophontes'' remain embedded as some thirty quotations in surviving texts to give scholars a basis for assessing its theme: the tragic outcome of his attempt to storm Olympus on Pegasus. An outspoken passage—in which Bellerophon seems to doubt the gods' existence from the contrast between the wicked and impious, who live lives of ease with the privations suffered by the good—is apparently the basis for Aristophanes' imputation of "atheism" to the tragic poet.

Perseus on Pegasus

The replacement of Bellerophon by the more familiar culture hero Perseus was a development of Classical times that was standardized during the Middle Ages and has been adopted by the European poets of the Renaissance and later.

In popular culture

The first planet discovered orbiting a Sun-like star, 51 Pegasi b, has been unofficially nicknamed 'Bellerophon'.

''Chimera'', the 1972 National Book Award-winning novel by John Barth, includes a novella called ''Bellerophoniad'' that is a complex postmodern retelling and examination of the myth of Bellerophon.

In ''The Concept of Anxiety'', Søren Kierkegaard wrote that Bellerophon ''"sat calmly on his Pegasus in the service of the idea but fell when he wanted to misuse Pegasus by riding the horse to a rendezvous with a mortal woman."''

The classical opera seria ''Il Bellerofonte'' of the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček, premiered in Naples, 1767; its libretto by Giuseppe Bonecchi focused on the passion of the queen Antea.

''Bellerophon'' is a computer program used by geneticists and molecular biologists to detect invalid "chimera" genetic sequences.

''Bellerophon'' was also the name of four or more Royal Navy warships, the first of which fought many naval battles against Napoleon. HMS ''Bellerphon''’s keel was laid down in 1782, she was launched in 1792 and broken up in 1836. Napoleon surrendered and was taken aboard the ''Bellerophon'' after his defeat at Waterloo. Known as "Billy Ruffian" by the crew, the 74 gun warship fought at the Battle of the Nile (1798) and Battle of Trafalgar (1805). The second HMS ''Bellerophon'' was an early battleship, renamed ''Indus III'' in 1904 and used for training, then sold in 1922. The third HMS ''Bellerophon'' was the lead ship of a three-ship class, which were a follow up to HMS ''Dreadnought''; she fought at the Battle of Jutland. For other ships of the same name, see HMS ''Bellerophon''.

The USS ''Bellerophon'' (ARL-31) was one of 41 ''Achelous''-class landing craft repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.

A large statue of Bellerophon taming Pegasus graces the facade of the Columbia Law School in Manhattan.

Bellerophon astride Pegasus, as the first airborne warrior, is the traditional symbol of British Airborne forces.

Bellerophon and Chimera are the names of the cure and the virus in Mission: Impossible (the movie).

'Bellerophon' is the name of a spacecraft in each of: the 1956 movie, ''Forbidden Planet''; the TV series ''Andromeda''; and the series ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. 'Bellerophon' was also the name of a character on the series ''Xena: Warrior Princess'' and the name of a planet in the series ''Firefly''.

Bellerophon was also the name of drug to supress telepathic and telekinetic abilities in the movie Scannercop.

References

The citation listing the use of the name "Bellerophon" in the movie "Mission Impossible" (released in 1996)is incorrect. It's use is in the movie "Mission Impossible-2" released in 2000.

Further reading

Graves, Robert, 1960. ''The Greek Myths'', revised edition (Harmondsworth: Penguin)

Homer, ''Iliad'', book vi.155–203

Kerenyi, Karl, 1959. ''The Heroes of the Greeks'' (London: Thames and Hudson)

Kirk, G.S., 1990. ''The Iliad: A Commentary Volume II: books 5-8.'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)

Category:Corinthian mythology Category:Greek mythological hero cult Category:Greek mythology Category:Lycia Category:Mythological kings

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Jean-Baptiste de Lully (; ; 28 November 1632 – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in 1661.

Biography

Lully, son of a working-class miller, was born in Florence, Italy. Lully had little education, but he learned basic techniques on the guitar, originally taught by a Franciscan friar of Florence. Later in France, he learned how to play the violin, and to dance. In 1646, he was discovered by Roger de Lorraine, the ''chevalier'' de Guise, son of Charles, Duke of Guise, and was taken to France, where he entered the services of Mademoiselle de Montpensier (''la Grande Mademoiselle'') as a scullery-boy and Italian-language teacher. With the help of this princess, his talent increased. He studied the theory of music under Nicolas Métru. It has been said that a scurrilous song on his patroness (the doggerel he set to music refers to a "sigh" she produced while at stool) resulted in his dismissal. It is far more likely that he did not want to moulder out in the provinces with the exiled princess.

He came into Louis XIV's service in late 1652, early 1653 as a dancer. He composed some music for the ''Ballet de la nuit'', which pleased the king immensely. He was appointed as the composer of instrumental music to the king, and placed at the head of the Petits Violons, the kings private violin band. In 1661, the King appointed Lully the ''Surintendant de la musique de la chambre du roi,'' which brought the twenty-four violons of the ''Grand Bande'' of Les Vingt-quatre Violons du Roi under Lully's command.

Lully composed many ballets for the King during the 1650s and 1660s, in which the King and Lully himself danced. He also had tremendous success composing the music for the comedies of Molière, including ''Le Mariage forcé'' (1664), ''L'Amour médecin'' (1665), and ''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme'' (1670). It was when he met Molière that together they created the comédie-ballet. Louis XIV's interest in ballet waned as he aged, and his dancing ability declined (his last performance was in 1670) and so Lully pursued opera. He bought the privilege for opera from Pierre Perrin and, with the backing of Jean-Baptiste Colbert and the king, created a new privilege which essentially gave Lully complete control of all music performed in France until his death in 1687.

He was known to be a libertine. In 1661, in letters of naturalization and in his marriage contract to Madeleine Lambert, daughter of Lully's friend and fellow musician Michel Lambert, Giovanni Battista Lulli declared himself as "'Jean-Baptiste de Lully, escuyer' son of 'Laurent de Lully, gentilhomme Florentin'". Although his life is full of meteoric heights, his love affairs with men and women also brought him down in scandal several times at the great displeasure of Louis XIV. Despite these scandals, he always managed to get back into the good graces of Louis XIV who found Lully essential for his musical entertainments and who thought of Lully as one of his few true friends.

On 8 January 1687, Lully was conducting a Te Deum in honor of Louis XIV's recent recovery from illness. He was beating time by banging a long staff (a precursor to the ''bâton'') against the floor, as was the common practice at the time, when he struck his toe, creating an abscess. The wound turned gangrenous, but Lully refused to have his toe amputated and the gangrene spread, resulting in his death on 22 March. He left his last opera, ''Achille et Polyxène'', unfinished. All three of his sons -- Louis Lully, Jean-Baptiste Lully fils and Jean-Louis Lully -- also had musical careers at the French court.

Music

Lully's music is from the Middle Baroque period, 1650 to 1700. Typical of Baroque music is the use of the ''basso continuo'' as the driving force behind the music. The pitch standard for French Baroque music was about 392 Hz for A above middle C, a whole tone lower than modern practice where A is usually 440 Hz.

Lully's music is known for its power, liveliness in its fast movements and its deep emotional character in its sad movements. Some of his most popular works are his ''passacaille'' (''passacaglia'') and ''chaconne'' which are dance movements found in many of his works such as ''Armide'' or ''Phaëton''.

The influence of Lully's music produced a radical revolution in the style of the dances of the court itself. Instead of the slow and stately movements which had prevailed until then, he introduced lively ballets of rapid rhythm. Lully also enjoyed the friendship of Molière, with whom he created a new music form, the ''comédie-ballet'' which combined theater, comedy, and ballet. He played a crucial role in synthesizing, consolidating and disseminating orchestral organization, scorings, performance practices, and repertory.

The instruments in his music were: five voices of strings such as ''dessus'' (a higher voice range than soprano), ''haute-contre'' (a type of high tenor voice), ''taille'' (baritenor), ''quinte'', ''basse''), divided as follows: one voice of violins, three voices of violas, one voice of cello, and ''basse de viole'' (viole, viola da gamba). He also utilized guitar, lute, archlute, theorbo, harpsichord, organ, oboe, bassoon, recorder, flute, brass instruments and various percussion instruments.

He is often credited with introducing new instruments into the orchestra, but this legend needs closer scrutiny. He continued to use recorders in preference to the newer transverse flute, and the "hautbois" he used in his orchestra were transitional instruments, somewhere between shawms and so-called Baroque oboes..

Lully founded French opera (''tragédie en musique'' or ''tragédie lyrique''), having found Italian-style opera inappropriate for the French language. Having found a congenial poet and librettist in Philippe Quinault, Lully composed many operas and other works, which were received enthusiastically. Lully can be considered the founder of French opera, having forsaken the Italian method of dividing musical numbers into separate ''recitatives'' and ''arias'', choosing instead to combine the two for dramatic effect. Lully also opted for quicker story development as was more to the taste of the French public.

Lully's music is still played regularly via recordings at the Palace of Versailles during the summertime in the gardens, setting the mood for one's visit.

Media

Cultural references

The relationship between Louis XIV and Lully was depicted in the French film by Gérard Corbiau, ''Le Roi danse'' (''The King is dancing'') in 2000.

References

Further reading

For his family, see the article by Jérôme de La Gorce, "Lully's Tuscan Family," pp. 1–15. The rest of the articles focus primarily on his music and its reception. Giannini, Tula. "The Music Library of Jean-Baptiste Christophe Ballard, Sole Music Printer to the King of France, 1750 Inventory of his Grand Collection Brought to Light." Indexed in RILM. See article at the Pratt Institute.

References

External links

Jean-Baptiste Lully Collection at the University of North Texas

Bibliothèque Nationale de France has a collection of autographs available on-line.

Category:17th-century French people Category:17th-century Italian people Category:1632 births Category:1687 deaths Category:Baroque composers Category:Bisexual musicians Category:French composers Category:French people of Italian descent Category:Italian composers Category:Italian emigrants to France Category:LGBT composers Category:LGBT musicians from France Category:Molière Category:Opera composers Category:Opera managers Category:People from Florence

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