Bellerophon (English spelling)

Japanese: ベレロフォン（英語表記）Bellerophōn

Hero of Greek mythology. Born in Corinth to King Glaucus, the son of Sisyphus, but his real father was Poseidon. After committing murder and fleeing to King Proetus of Tiryns, he was purified by the king's wife Stheneboea, who courted him. When he refused, she complained to her husband, claiming that he had courted her instead. Proetus then sent Bellerophon to the court of his father-in-law, King Iobates of Lycia, with a letter asking him to kill him. There, Iobates ordered Bellerophon to slay the terrifying Chimera, but Bellerophon accomplished this difficult task by riding the winged divine horse Pegasus, which he had acquired with the help of Athena, and achieved many other remarkable feats, including winning a battle against the Amazon women. Iobates gave him his daughter as a wife and made him his successor. Bellerophon, who became king of Lycia, had many children with his wife, including Laodamia, the mother of Sarpedon, who fought in the Trojan War. Eventually, he became obsessed with arrogance and attempted to ride Pegasus to heaven and join the ranks of the gods, but was struck by a bolt of lightning from Zeus, fell from his horse, and either died or wandered about crippled.

Bellerophon
Bellerophon

A representative genus of the Bellerophonidae family of the Gastropoda class of the Mollusca phylum. It is flat-coiled, with either a narrow umbilicus or none. It has no surface ornamentation, only growth lines. It flourished from the Ordovician period of the Paleozoic to the Triassic period of the Mesozoic.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

ギリシア神話の英雄。シシュフォスの息子グラウコス王を父としてコリントで生れたが，実の父はポセイドンであった。殺人罪を犯してティリュンスのプロイトス王のもとに亡命したが，けがれを清めてくれたこの王の妃ステネボイアに求愛され拒否したところ，彼女は逆に彼に言い寄られたといって夫に訴えた。そこでプロイトスは，ベレロフォンを殺してほしいという手紙を持たせ，彼を義父のリュキアのイオバテス王の宮廷に行かせた。そこでベレロフォンはイオバテスから，恐ろしい怪物キマイラを退治することを命じられるが，アテナの助けで手に入れた有翼の神馬ペガソスに乗ってこの難事を果したうえ，アマゾンの女軍との戦いにも勝つなど，多くのめざましい手柄を立てたので，イオバテスは彼に娘を妻として与え，自分の後継者にした。リュキア王となったベレロフォンは妃との間に，トロイ戦争で活躍するサルペドンの母ラオダメイアなどの多くの子供をもうけた。やがて彼はおごりに取りつかれ，ペガソスに乗って昇天して神々の仲間入りをしようと企てたためゼウスの雷に打たれ，落馬して地上に落ち，死んだとも，また不具になって放浪したともいわれる。