Page 51 - Sarpedon’dan Keykubad’a Bir Zamanlar Antalya

Bellerophon
Is there anyone who is not aware of the legendary fire in Ly-
cia that never goes out? This legend, which is still alive today, is
one of the oldest legends of Lycia. The whole story takes place
in near Olympus, a beautiful city where the deep blue Mediter-
ranean meets a green river. Behind the city is a huge mountain.
This magnificent mountain refreshes with its shadow during the
day and illuminates the whole city with its night light, because
fires are burning on its slope. The Lycians believed that the Chi-
mera lived in this place we call Yanartaş today. This creature
with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and with a dragon’s
tail both instilled fear in the Lycians and abducted their animals
and destroyed the crops with the flames it breathed. Whoev-
er the Lycian King Iobates sent against Chimera, none of them
could cope with it. Until the great hero Bellerophon came with
his flying horse Pegasus and killed him.
The hero Bellerophon was the grandson of the famous Corin-
thian king Sisyphus. His mortal father is Glaukos, and his real fa-
ther is Poseidon, the god of the seas. The gods gave him power
and beauty because he was descended from God. He was very

Fig. 30: Çıralı. Photo by Durmuş Cesur.

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