Cryptozoology forums > Cryptids > Chimaera/Chimera > view thread

Subject: What chimaera is this? From: Stu posted Wed, Apr 1 2009, 12:23am  Woman searching for mystical beast missing from Somerville antiques store ......described as a mystical beast with a bird head, ram horns and a feather-shaped tail So what is it? Subject: Re: What chimaera is this? From: SabersWolf posted Wed, Apr 1 2009, 1:30am  Link The answer is a type of Egyption Androsphinx. Androsphinx: Any ancient Egyptian statue or figure, typically, the body of a lion and the head of man, ram, or hawk. No special name for the three. Most well known is, of course, The Sphinx. Subject: Re: What chimaera is this? From: Stu posted Wed, Apr 1 2009, 1:41pm  Thanks for that, & for the link. Could well be, although there seems a fair degree of variation in what actually constitutes a chimaera, depending on the ethnic/geographic origin. I was actually hoping to narrow this one down to something just a bit more specific if possible, but I agree, Egyptian sounds right. Subject: Re: What chimaera is this? From: Loreweaver posted Fri, Apr 3 2009, 3:57am  Chimera is the umbrella term for any creature composed of distinctive properties of different species. the name being derived from Homer of a lioness with a goat's head on her back and a serpent for a tail. In Greek myth the chimera went on to birth the sphynx which had a human's upper torso, a lion's body, eagle's wings and a serpent tail. Since most of our knowledge of the time is derived from Greek through Roman writings the Great Sphinx at Giza is named for its resemblance to the creature in myth. Subsequently, all other forms of this style were called as such. ie. ram headed lion was a criosphynx. The thing is that the Egyptians had a very old practice of combining animals they thought were cool. And, by that i mean depicting the likenesses of their gods and kings into earthly forms. It's also quite evident that this practice carried far from Egypt and possibly even had its influence in the mythology of the chimera. But since we don't know what the Egyptians called them, we're left using the Greek and sphinx becomes the blanket term for any creature of that type from Egypt and chimera becomes the blanket term for any creature of that type already called something else elsewhere. I hope that clears up some of the ethnic/geographic origins. I'm right there on wishing there was more specific information on these ancient cultures. Subject: Re: What chimaera is this? From: Loreweaver posted Sat, Apr 4 2009, 12:54pm  Looking at the article again, even though Ellisyum fields had me thinking greek. the description of the statue fits more into Asian origin. jade 'mythical' creature with a bird head, horns and feather tail. no telling if its something from any known myth but there are many jade figurines from different dynasties depicting birds, dragons, fish, etc. would be nice to know if it had wings/biped/quadroped. anyone live near jersey who can drive by the store and ask her? Subject: Re: What chimaera is this? From: SabersWolf posted Mon, Apr 6 2009, 8:29am  Loreweaver, After you mentioned the word "Jade" it made me realize my quick judgement. You are correct that it sounds more like one of the thousands of unusual Jade statues. That you you for that correction. Stewie

Close Window