From an appreciation of a famous bronze imitation of the Chimaera d'Arezzo, an ancient Etruscan statue of the monster slain by Bellerophon:
This snarling, fire-snorting Chimera, which has a storied history, epitomizes the mythical monster that figures in many classical Greek texts and was first mentioned, among those that survive, in Homer's "Iliad": it's a dramatic fusion of a lion's head and body, a serpent forming the tail, and a horned, bearded goat's head and neck protruding from the spiked spine of the lion.
Remarkably, the artist—or multiple craftsmen, as many scholars believe—who created this frightening concoction managed to make it look menacingly real.
Catching the moment when the defiant monster is fighting for its life, the Chimera of Arezzo is a lean and savage beast, nearly starved for food. The skin is taut, revealing ribs and veins in the torso, muscles in the haunch and legs. The eyes have lost the inlays of another unknown material that once were there, but they still glare, heightening the tension created by the creature's aggressive pose. At one time, the lion also had teeth, but they are hardly needed to convey the beast's ferocity.
Throughout, the artist cleverly captures varying textures, such as the goat's smooth neck and the lion's hairy mane; details, such as its sharp claws and lined forehead; and, most of all, movement.
Wounded on its left rear rump, the lion howls out in pain, and the goat's head lists to the left, bleeding from the neck in bronze drops of blood. It looks ready to pounce at an attacker.
More photos of the Chimaera d'Arezzo, now in Florence. The full story is below the fold. Curious that Bellerophon never appears in the Metamorphoses, although the Chimaera is mentioned twice.
