Chimera

Chimera (pronounced ki-meer-uh or kahy-meer-uh)

(1) In Greek mythology, monster of Lycia commonly represented with a lion's head, a goat's body, and the tail of a dragon or serpent (often with initial capital).  In some tales, the monster breathes fire; it was killed by killed by the hero Bellerophon.

(2) In mythology and art, any similarly grotesque monster having disparate parts.

(3) In architecture, a subset of the decorative grotesques (like a gargoyle, but without a spout for rainwater) distinguished from other grotesques by being a blending of two or more creatures.

(4) Figuratively, a horrible or unreal creature of the imagination and used as a synonym of bogeyman: any terrifying thing, especially as an unreal, imagined threat.

(5) Figuratively, a foolish, incongruous, or vain thought or product of the imagination; an idle fancy.

(6) Figuratively, anything composed of disparate parts.

(7) In biology, an organism (especially a cultivated plant) composed of two or more genetically distinct tissues, as an organism that is partly male and partly female, or an artificially produced individual having tissues of several species.

(8) In genetics, an organism with genetically distinct cells originating from two or more zygotes.

(9) In applied genetics, a slang term used by scientists describing one who has received a transplant of genetically and immunologically different tissue.

(9) In medicine, twins with two immunologically different types of red blood cells.

(10) In zoology, an alternative form of chimaera, a cartilaginous marine fish in the subclass Holocephali and especially the order Chimaeriformes, with a blunt snout, long tail, and a spine before the first dorsal fin.

(11) In the geography of Ancient Greece, a fire-spewing mountain in Lycia or Cilicia, presumed to be an ancient name for the Yanartaş region of Turkey's Antalya province.

(12) In historic geography, (1) the former name of Himara, a port town in southern Albania and (2) the former name of Ceraunian Mountains, the Albanian mountain range near Himara.

1350-1400: From the Middle English chimera, from the Old French chimere, from the Medieval Latin chimera, from the Classical Latin chimaera, from the Ancient Greek Χίμαιρα (Khímaira or Chímaira) (she-goat).  Chimaera translates literally a “year-old she-goat”, the masculine form being khimaros from kheima (winter season) from the primitive Indo-European gheim (winter) and related to the Latin hiems (winter), the Ancient Greek cheimṓn (winter), the Old Norse gymbr and the English gimmer (ewe-lamb of one year (ie one winter) old).  The alternative spelling chimaera is used always of the fish and sometimes of the mythological beast.  Chimera & chimerism are nouns, chimerical & chimeric are adjective and chimerically is an adverb; the noun plural is chimeras.  In scientific use, the derived forms include macrochimerism, microchimerism, allochimeric, antichimeric, nonchimeric and xenochimeric.

Bellerophon Riding Pegasus Fighting the Chimaera (1635) by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640).

The Chimera, a mythical fire-breathing creature depicted often with a lion's head, a goat's body and the tail of a dragon or serpent, was one of the many fantastical offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of such monsters as Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra.  In all of antiquity, sighting the Chimera was an omen of storms, shipwrecks, and natural disasters (particularly volcanoes) and was depicted usually by (almost always male) writers as female.  The awful beast was slain by Bellerophon (who led a bloodthirsty life before being killed by Zeus, after which he was venerated as a hero) on the command of King Iobates of Lycia who had begun to find tiresome the Chimira’s raids on his kingdom tiresome.  There arose the tradition that the Chimera was supposedly an ancient personification of snow or winter, but the connection to winter might be no more than the ancient habit of reckoning years as "winters" or maybe just another of the many quasi-mythological imaginings of Medieval writers.  It was in antiquity held to represent a volcano so perhaps the idea of a link to a symbol of "winter storms" (another sense of Greek kheima) and generally of destructive natural forces held some appeal. The word was used generically for “any grotesque monster formed from parts of other animals”, creatures which in the pre-modern world were frequently conjured up for any number of reasons.  The now extinct alternative spelling was Chimeraor and the practice of using an initial capital (known from Latin) when describing the mythical monster is common (on the basis of it being counted as a proper noun) although for this there’s no basis in the rules of English.  The most common modern use, the figurative meaning “wild fantasy” was known in thirteen century French and first recorded in English in the 1580s.

A gargoyle on Cologne Cathedral (left) and a gargoyle on Marble Church, Bodelwyddan, Clwyd, Wales (centre).  The drainage function means the Welsh figure is defined as a gargoyle although its hybrid form is clearly that of a chimera.  The Lindsay Lohan sculpture (digitally altered image, right) is a pure grotesque (single species form, no water spout). 

Grotesques and chimeras

A chimera of Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, contemplating the city, photographed by Noemiseh91.

In architecture, gargoyles are a specialized class of grotesques that include the functional feature of a waterspout and even if a building is renovated with a modern water management system added which means a gargoyle’s spout now longer is connected to the flow, it does not become reclassified as a grotesque; it remains a gargoyle, albeit a “dry” one.  While the difference between a gargoyle and grotesque is a matter of whether the design incorporates the handling of fluid, the distinction between a chimera and a grotesque is at the margins fluid in the metaphorical sense, both being ornamental sculptures most associated with Gothic architecture but critics have created criteria, however loose the parameters may seem.  Classically, a chimera was a fantastical, mythical creature, often a hybrid of multiple animals or a mix of human and animal features and for the architectural feature to be classified thus, it has to conform to this model.  In that chimeras differ from any grotesque which is a representation, however bizarre, of a creature from a single species.  What that means is that while all chimeras are grotesques, not all grotesques are chimeras.

Horodecki House (House with Chimaeras), Ukraine, Kyiv.  This is the aspect which faces Ivan Franko Square.

One of the most celebrated buildings said (erroneously) to be adorned with chimeras is Horodecki House in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, a structure better known on Instagram as “House with Chimaeras” which received much attention when Volodymyr Zelensky (b 1978, president of Ukraine since 2019) in February 2022 stood in front of it to deliver his “Our weapon is truth” address following the Russian “special military operation” (invasion of Ukraine).  Classified as being in the Art Nouveau style, the building was designed by Polish architect Władysław Horodecki (1863–1930) and despite all the intricate detailing and other complexities, it was completed in little more than two years, opened in 1903.  One thing which made the speed of construction possible was the core technique of using concrete piles as the underpinning, something necessitated by the land being steeply sloped, resulting in an asymmetric building with six floors on Ivan Franko Square while three face Bankova Street.  Another novelty was the use of cement as the finishing material, something at the time not unknown but still rare.  Despite the popular moniker “House with Chimaeras”, the many sculptures which lend Horodecki House its distinctiveness are technically grotesques because all, bipeds & quadrupeds, are representations of real animals, not figures from mythology or fantastical hybrids and it’s believed it picked up the romantic nickname because it imparts such a wonderful air of gloominess and recalls the Gothic style.  The grotesques, rendered in cement, were the work of the Italian sculptor Emilio Sala (1864-1920) who spent most of his working life in St Petersburg and Kyiv.

Interior detailing, Horodecki House Ukraine, Kyiv.

The motif was the theme also for the interior detailing with stuccos, high reliefs and sculptures decorating the ceilings, walls and stairs and of particular interest is that while what’s depicted on the exterior uses only living creatures as a model, inside, everything is dead and often dismembered; Horodetskyi was an avid hunter.  Despite the pervasive feeling of gloom as one approaches the thing, it’s different inside because (the many carcases notwithstanding) the rooms are bright and airy with the floral ornaments typical of early Modernism although it’s of regret all the original furniture and many of the frescos fell victims during World War II (1939-1945) to marauding Red Army soldiers and other looters.  Although in recent years substantially restored, no attempt was made to re-create the frescos, the space not taken by paintings.

Woman with Catfish, Horodecki House Ukraine, Kyiv, photographed by Константинъ. Although there are two creatures in this sculpture, it's still a grotesque because they're separate beings; had the depiction been part fish and part human, it would have been as chimaera.  Although large, certain catfish reach 3 metres in length so the sculptor was rendering still still in the realist tradition.

Following restoration, in 2004 the building was designated a museum but since 2005 it has enjoyed official status as the “Small Residence of the President of Ukraine”, curious term meaning it’s used for meetings with foreign dignitaries and in that there are many advantages, it’s location meaning it’s easy for the security forces to secure the site, the larger rooms are spacious and an make a most attractive backdrop for photo opportunities.  Daily Art Magazine has a feature with a fine collection of images.