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110:, some 75 km due west as the crow flies, and Isidore quotes writers on natural history (see below) that Mount Chimaera was on fire here, had lions and goats there, and was full of snakes over there. Servius goes so far as to arrange these with the lions on the peak of the mountain, pastures full of goats in the middle, and serpents all about the base, thus imitating
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Near
Adratchan, not far from the ruins of Olympus, a number of rounded serpentine hills rise among the limestone, and some of them bear up masses of that rock. At the junction of one of these masses of scaglia with the serpentine, is the Yanar, famous as the Chimæra of the ancients, rediscovered in
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Fingunt et
Chimaeram triformem bestiam; ore leono, postremis partibus draco, media caprea. Quam quidam Physiologi non animal, sed Ciliciae montem esse aiunt, quibusdam locis leones and capreas nutrientem, quibusdam ardentem, quibusdam plenum serpentibus. Hunc Bellorophontes habitabilem fecit, unde
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The
Chimera is depicted as a three-formed beast; a lion in front, a python in its hinder parts, goatlike in the middle. Certain writers on natural history say it isn't an animal, but a mountain in Cilicia, which in some places feeds lions and goats, in some burns, in some is full of snakes.
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In Lycia regio notissima est (Hephaestion incolae vocant), foratum pluribus locis solum, quod sine ullo nascentium damno ignis innoxius circumit. Laeta itaque regio est et herbida, nihil flammis adurentibus sed tantum vi remissa ac languida
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Lycia nuncupata quod ab oriente adjuncta
Ciliciae sit. Nam habet ab ortû Ciliciam, ab occasû et meridie mare, a septentrione Cariam. Ibi est mons Chimaera, qui noctibus aestibus ignem exhalat: sicut in Siciliâ Aetna et Vesuvius in
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was of the opinion that the name was allochthonous and could have been transferred here from its original location further west, as cited by Strabo, owing to the presence of the same phenomenon and the fires.
328:. The serpentine immediately around the flame is burnt and ashy, but this is only for a foot or two, the immediate neighborhood of the Yanar presenting the same aspect as it wore in the days of
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deprived of all its terrors. It is still, however, visited as a lion by both Greeks and Turks, who make use of its classic flames to cook kebobs for their dinners.
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in Turkey, where methane and other gases emerge from the rock and burn. Some ancient sources considered it to be the origin of the myth of the monster called the
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modern times by
Captain Beaufort. It is nothing more than a stream of inflammable gas issuing from a cavern, such as is seen in several places among the
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The discussion on the connection between the myth and the exact location of Mount
Chimera was started by
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Perseus's
English version of Pliny differs in chapter numbering; these become 2.110, 5.28, 5.35 resp.
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identified the
Chimera with the permanent gas vents in Mount Chimaera, in the country of the ancient
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and Pliny are the only surviving ancient sources who would be expected to discuss a Lycian
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There is Mount
Chimaera, which breathes out fire on summer nights, like
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made this habitable, whence he is said to have "killed
Chimaera".
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Isidore unetymologically connected Lycia and Cilicia, as below.
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334:"Laeta itaque regio est et herbida, nil flammis adurentibus"
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active region was the inspiration for the myth of the
60:theory. We know of this because of a citation by
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147:, in company with the late Rev. E. T. Daniell.
271:Chimaera as a geographical reference point. (
56:is the oldest traceable author to offer this
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347:...flammis que armata chimæra*—
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94:, but the placename is also attested by
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430:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
307:"In fact, there is a Mount Chimaera..."
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38:was the name of a place in ancient
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23:Area near Yanartaş. Some say this
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16:Place in ancient Lycia, Anatolia
362:(London, 1847) Vol. II, p.181-2
165:The fires of Yanartaş at night.
125:in 1811, as the modern Turkish
121:The site was identified by Sir
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177:Chimaeram dicitur occidisse.
64:, who in his second book of
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446:Geography of ancient Lycia
342:Such is the Chimæra—
135:Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt
133:, which was described by
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461:Persistent natural fires
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114:'s description of the
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210:Isidore of Seville,
239:Pliny 2.105 Mayhoff
451:History of Antalya
284:of the translator.
180:Isidore of Seville
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139:Travels in Lycia,
96:Isidore of Seville
66:Historia Naturalis
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155:George Ewart Bean
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257:Mount Chimaera (
243:Mount Chimaera (
123:Francis Beaufort
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36:Mount Chimaera
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212:Etymologies
192:Bellerophon
184:Etymologiae
440:Categories
412:References
267:Pliny 5.53
253:Pliny 5.43
170:Testimonia
143:, and the
326:Apennines
214:14,3,46.
208:Campaniâ.
145:Cibyratis
423:Chimaera
391:Phaselis
380:See also
373:Epistles
360:op. cit.
358:Spratt,
231:Campania
227:Vesuvius
186:11.3.36
131:Yanartaş
82:Agricola
74:Phaselis
72:city of
44:Yanartaş
371:Seneca
337:Letters
317:English
278:"Cape"
273:English
259:English
245:English
137:in his
116:monster
108:Babadağ
100:Servius
92:toponym
78:Photius
54:Ctesias
48:Chimera
29:Chimera
432:, 1854
386:Çıralı
330:Seneca
300:Aeneid
223:Sicily
141:Milyas
104:Aeneid
88:Strabo
70:Lycian
401:Kemer
396:Lycia
375:79, 3
302:6.288
282:gloss
280:is a
127:Yanar
112:Homer
40:Lycia
339:79,3
225:and
219:Etna
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