Mythology, Religion & Legend — Power Ranking TOP 100
I wrote a book ranking the most powerful gods, monsters, and heroes from world mythology, religion, and legend! The ranking is heavily influenced by my own perspective, but every placement is grounded in the actual lore and episodes from each mythology, so I think it makes for a satisfying read.
In this post, I’d like to introduce some of the characters featured in the ranking. There are many more beyond the ones mentioned here, so if you’re interested in mythology, religion, or legend, I think you’ll enjoy it!
Rank 95: Bellerophon (Greek Mythology)
Overview
Bellerophon is a hero of Greek mythology known for riding the winged horse Pegasus to slay the monster Chimera.
Whether he was a pure human or the son of Poseidon and a mortal woman is debated, so it is unclear whether he was truly fully human or a demigod.
Bellerophon received the “golden bridle” from the goddess Athena and used it to tame Pegasus, after which he could ride the winged horse freely.
Riding Pegasus, Bellerophon fought and defeated the mighty monster Chimera — a creature with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail, breathing fire from its mouth.
He went on to win victories against the Solymi and the Amazons, and defeated all the assassins sent against him as well — achieving feat after feat.
However, Bellerophon afterwards grew arrogant, believing himself equal to the gods, and rode Pegasus toward the realm of the gods (the summit of Mount Olympus).
Angered by this, Zeus struck him down with a thunderbolt — some say he died, others that he survived but was left crippled. One of the greatest heroes of Greek mythology met a pitiful end.
Why This Ranking
The key question when evaluating Bellerophon in this ranking is whether Pegasus counts as his equipment, or since Pegasus is a living creature, whether it should be excluded from his evaluation.
For a pure weapon, counting it as equipment seems fine — but Pegasus is a living being, which essentially means his battle with the Chimera was two-on-one…
That said, Pegasus is just a horse that can fly freely, not a creature that attacks directly, so I will treat Pegasus as Bellerophon’s equipment for the purpose of this evaluation.
His valor is not limited to slaying the Chimera — the fact that he also won against human armies and killed all the assassins sent against him suggests that compared to heroes who died in human conflicts, he ranks at a higher tier of strength.
The exact power level of the Chimera is unclear, but it was certainly an opponent that the armies of a great nation could do nothing against, and it can be considered roughly on par with the Cerberus — a sibling of the Chimera in the same monster family. Taking all of this into account, I judged this position in the ranking to be appropriate.
