Bellerophon

Corinthian prince — son of King Glaucus of Corinth in Homer, or of Poseidon in the post-Homeric tradition. He tamed Pegasus at the Peirene spring with the golden bridle given him by Athena in a dream. Exiled from Corinth for an accidental killing, he took refuge with Proetus of Tiryns; when he refused the advances of Proetus's wife (Anteia in Homer, Stheneboea in later tragedy), she accused him of assault, and Proetus sent him to his father-in-law Iobates of Lycia with a sealed tablet instructing the king to kill the bearer — the proverbial first instance of treacherous correspondence in Greek literature. Iobates, bound by guest-friendship, instead set him successive tasks: the Chimera, the Solymi, the Amazons. Bellerophon survived all three on Pegasus and Iobates made him his heir. In the post-Homeric tradition he attempted to ride Pegasus to the dwellings of heaven and was thrown — Homer himself leaves only the older image of Bellerophon wandering hated of all the gods on the Aleian plain in Cilicia, consuming his heart, until death.

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