CHIMERA, in fabulous history, a celebrated monster, sprung from Echidna and Typhon. It had three heads, namely, that of a lion, that of a goat, and that of a dragon, and continually vomited forth flames. The fore parts of its body were those of a lion, the middle was that of a goat, and the hinder parts were those of a dragon. It generally lived in Lycia about the reign of Jobates, by whose orders Bellerophon, mounted on the horse Pegasus, overcame it. This fabulous tradition is explained by the recollection that there was in Lycia a burning mountain, whose top was the resort of lions, on account of its desolate wilderness; while the middle, which was fruitful, was covered with goats; and the marshy ground at the bottom abounded with serpents. Bellerophon is said to have conquered the chimera, because he destroyed the wild beasts on that mountain, and rendered it habitable. Plutarch says, that it was the captain of some pirates who adorned their ships with the images of a lion, a goat, and a dragon.
By a chimera, among the philosophers, is understood a mere creature of the imagination, composed of such contradictions and absurdities as cannot possibly anywhere exist except in the fancy.