Chimera of Arezzo sculpture was likely created as a votive offering to the Etruscan god Tinia. According to Greek mythology the Chimera or "she-goat" was a monstrous, fire-breathing hybrid creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, created by the binding of multiple animal parts to create a singular unnatural creature. As the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, the Chimera ravaged the lands of Lycia at a disastrous pace. Distressed by the destruction of his lands, the king of Lycia, Iobates, ordered a young warrior named Bellerophon to slay the dreaded Chimera, also as a favor to a neighboring king, Proetus. Proteus wanted Bellerophon dead
Sheep–goat chimera parts that grew from the sheep embryo were woolly. Those that grew from the goat embryo were hairy. In a chimera, each set of cells (germ line) keeps its own species' identity instead of being intermediate in type between the parental species. Because the chimera contains cells from two different genetic individuals, and each of these arose by normal mating, it has "four" parents. In contrast, a hybrid has only two parents. A sheepgoat chimera may be fertile, but it passes on either sheep or goat genes, depending on whether its reproductive organs were formed from the goat embryo or