Page 54 - Sarpedon’dan Keykubad’a Bir Zamanlar Antalya

Fig. 33: The Scene of Bellerophon’s Killing of Chimera. Mosaic.
2nd century AD.
However, he cannot kill Bellerophon, as an old tradition forbids
killing anyone eating at the same table. Thereupon, he handed
him a letter to his father-in-law and sent him to the Lycian king
Iobates, the great hero.

Bellerophon sets out for Lycia with the letters attached to him
by King Proitos to give to Iobates. For the hero who reached Ly-
cia after long days, Iobates made sacrifices for nine days. After
the ninth day, the king asks Bellerophon for the letter that Proitos
had sent to him. Thereupon, Bellererophontes, who took the let-
ter out of his pocket, gave it to King Iobates. The king is stunned
after what he reads, but he cannot kill Bellerophon because he
also respects the rules of hospitalit. But he always assigns the
great hero for the heaviest tasks. In a way, Bellerophon’s actions

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