Image Details

Erich Lessing

A leonine monster, perhaps Chimaera, attacks a Giant at the behest of the goddess Keto. Chimaera breathed fire and had a lion head, a goat body and a snake tail. Keto was the daughter of Ge (Earth) and Pontos (the Sea) and personifies the dangers of the sea and unknown terrors. Among her offspring were the Gorgons, the three hideous monster-women who had snakes writhing in their hair.

This scene appears on the north facade of the Great Altar. Author Collins believes that the north facade has as its theme life and death, noting that among the figures that appear there are Persephone, queen of the underworld, the Graiai, crones whose old age alludes to death, and the Fates, who dispense death.