How Chimaera Mythology Became Reality | Monstrum
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Follow me to It's Okay to Be Smart! • Could You Be a Chimera?
The impossible, three-headed monster of Ancient Greek mythology, the Chimaera, may have started off as a fantasy, but today, the word “chimera” can be used to refer to anything that seems impossible. This includes the real-life, interspecies animals humans have successfully created. Watch to find out how myth directly influenced science, not only in language, but in how we approach the possibility of an interspecies future with Dr. Zarka and special guest Joe Hanson of Its Okay to be Smart. #chimera #chimaera #MonstrumPBS
Written and Hosted by: Dr. Emily Zarka
Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Stephanie Noone
Illustrator: Samuel Allen
Editor: Derek Borsheim
Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Alfred, Austin. “On the Killing of the Chimaera.” The National Review, Vol. 10, Issue 57, 1887, pp. 395-414.
Apollodorus. The Library, Book 2, Trans. J.G. Frazer, 2017. www.theoi.com/...
Bazopoulou-Kyrkanidou, Euterpe. “Chimeric Creatures in Greek Myhtolgoy and Reflections in Science.” American Journal of Medical Genetics, 100:66, 2001, pp. 66-80.
Daniels, Cora Linn and C. M. Stevens. Encyclopedia of Superstitions, Folklore, And the Occult Sciences of the World: a Comprehensive Library of Human Belief And Practice In the Mysteries of Life…,J. H. Yewdale & sons co., 1903.
Exploring the Cultural History of Continental European Freak Shows and ‘Enfreakment,’Eds. Anna Kérchy and Andrea Zittlau, Cambridge Scholars Publisher, 2012.
Huber, Thomas, Geoffrey Faulkner, Philip Hugenholtz. “Bellerophon: a program to detect chimeric sequences in multiple sequence alignments.” Bioinformatics, Vol. 20, Issue 14, 2004, pp. 2317-2319.
Hesiod. The Theogony, Trans. H.G. Evelyn-White, Loeb Classical Library, Vol. 57, William Heinemann, 1914. www.theoi.com/...
Homer. The Iliad, Book 6. Trans. A.T. Murray, Classical Library, Vol. 1, Harvard University Press, 1924. www.theoi.com/...
Kaplan, Matt. “Beastly Blends-Chimera, Griffon, Cockatrice, Sphinx.” The Science of Monsters: The Origins of the Creatures We Love to Fear, Scribner, 2013, pp. 33-50.
Magnani, Thomas A. “The Patentability of Human-Animal Chimeras.” Berkeley Technolgy Law Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 1, Article 24, 1999, pp. 443-460.
Marshall, Eliot. “Legal Fight Over Patents on Life.” Sciencemag.org, Jun. 17, 1999.
Mayell, Hillary. “Life is Confusing for Two-Headed Snakes.” National Geographic.com, March 22, 2002, www.nationalge....
Mayor, Adrienne. The First Fossil Hunters : Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times, Princeton University Press, 2011.
Rackstrow's Museum. A descriptive catalogue (giving a full explanation) of Rackstrow's Museum: Consisting of a large and very valuable collection of most curious anatomical figures, and real preparations: also figures resembling life; with a great variety of natural and artificial curiosities. To be seen at No. 197, Fleet-Street, betwen Chancery-Lane, and Temple-Bar, London. [s.n.], M,DCC,LXXXVII, 1787.
Roes, Anne. “The Representation of the Chimaera.” The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 54, Part 1, 1934, pp. 21-35.
Schmitt, Marilyn Low. “Bellerophan and the Chimaera in Archaic Greek Art.” American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 70, No. 4, 1966, pp. 341-347.
The Dome: An Illustrated Magazine and Review of Literature, Music, Architecture, and the Graphic Arts…. Vol. 4, Unicorn Press, 1897-1900.
"The Two-Headed Girl." Good Health, vol. 5, no. 10, 1871, pp. 212-213.
Zimmerman, H. E. "Ye Olde Curiositie Shoppe." Amateur Photographer's Weekly, Vol. III, No. 73, 1913, pp. 496.
If you could be a chimera, which animal would you want to be blended with?
I've always wanted to fly, so maybe a bird. But in order to support the weight of an adult human, they'd have to be bigger than usually depicted in fiction. Waaaay bigger. And I'd need the muscles to flap them, so my whole body shape would have to be different, too.
Turritopsis; the immortal jellyfish :) I'll probably have to deal with a few extra tentacles, which could be awkward, but hey, biological immortality and a fairly robust healing factor to boot. I'd be a supervillain! Er, hero. Or just a tentacle weirdo.
A fish to be honest. The ocean is so massive and unexplored I would like to see the wonders down there.
But birds are great! This would be my choice as well. Although navigating the wings when they were closed would be a challenge.
i think i'd pick octopus and/or cuttlefish
5:06 Human-Animal-Chimeras ... that gives me flashbacks to Fullmetal Alchemist.
If Nina had lived, would she have had access to human rights, or just animal rights, or neither?
Shu Tucker tried to patent that stuff... The nerve of some people...
Ed... ward....
Don't remind me of that! That was SO freaking sad! I remember feeling angry, disgusted, sad, shocked, and so many other emotions when I watched that. How dare you remind me of that! Why would you do that?! Ugh!
@@LuinTathren Sorry, I thought shared pain is twice the pain ...
"Mom" - says the little chimera to his mother, an ancient goat - "Why am I so different?"
"Son, you are not ready yet for the talk. But it was the funniest night of my life".
"And you're gonna make me roa-ah-ah-ah-ar!!!"
Daniele Del Frate 🌸 lol 😂
The chimera when he’s older: Mom, remember that one this I asked you why I’m so different?
His mom, still a ancient goat: Yes.
The chimera again: So, tell me.
His mom. Okay then. So, you know how you don’t have a dad?
The chimera: Yes.
His mom: So, uh... you have two of them.
The chimera: What?
His mom: You can piece together what happened.
The chimera: *Oh.*
Some sources claim the Chimera was the daughter of Echidna, who is also the mother of Cerberus, the Lernaean Hydra, the Nemean Lion, the Sphinx and other animals.
@@yosefdemby8792Yup, Echidna and Typhon.
I always wondered about that goat head - it seemed so random, more ridiculous than scary.
But as a flamethrower turret for lateral defence, it kinda makes sense.
thumbs up
now it all make sense
Two channels blended into one video?
Well played... well played.
That's called a video chimera!
I think that’s a collab
Archive - I think that’s a woooosh
Adeesh Up well played
Archive - thanks my main man/mam/whatever
omg out of all this... that extra finger caught my attention an did had to pause and stare for a good 2 minutes. xD it caught me so off guard.
I had to stop the video and rewind it
@@nc3136 Me too. For a while I thought that he had 6 fingered hands and for some reason I didn't know until he pointed them out. But nope. It was just clever editing
I didnt even notice
I LOOOOOVE your videos. My degree in college was in Psychology and Anthropology with a minor in Religious Studies. I focused on fairy tales, folk tales, and, of course, mythology. This channel ROCKS! And having Dr. Joe Hansen guest star is brilliant! I love Dr. Joe! Thank you so much for your hard work.
Should we craft chimeras? Well I got two words:
*C A T G I R L S*
Cat girls, fox girls, rabbit girls, winged girls.......
I could go on.
That would probably be traumatizing to grow up as in a world where there aren't other humans with those traits.
N I N A A N D A L E X A N D E R.
Can you calm down your anime
@@mr.sandman4498 no
3:43 You have six fingers on your right hand... Someone is looking for you
Nice reference
Best halloween costume ever
Is his name Inigo by chance?
This channel is criminally underrated.
no doubt
*Greece:* How about a lion with a snake for a tail and a goat head that breathes fire? Or a lion, with a human face, and a scorpion tail? OR-?
*Egypt:* I'm thinking...Crocodile head...leopard body...and hippo legs.
*US:* ... *takes rabbit, glues antlers on it* NICE!
Isaiah 9.14, describes the Manticore.
Lion? Scary.
Snake? Venomous.
Goat? Geep.
Hotel? Trivago.
I said before that I had no interest in knowing histories of monsters, I blame this show for making me interested in them. Good Job
You guys definitely should do a video on wraiths and the ways it's been used across centuries. That or the Valraven, a type of Danish shape shifter/spirit.
I have never herd of this ........thanks.
Yeah
I´m danish, but i had never heard of the Valraven until now.
If you could be combined with any animal.........
*FURRIES:* _[heavy breathing]_
Lmao
*heavy bleating*
What a disgrace.
KITSUNÉ
*heavy meat beating*
The Geep: [in a heavy stage whisper] Kiiiilllll meeee....
That scene in Fullmetal Alchemist was so sad. :'(
@@AquilaLupus9 oh god why ;__;
Ed......ward
Later. - Medic from TF2
....Big ... brother Ed..,
Who else cried during this episode when they mentioned human-animal chimeras due to memories of Nina from Fullmetal Alchemist?
Poor Nina
Ed...ward
I always associate "chimera" with Tokyo Mew Mew! 🐱
Bro, put a trigger warning next time please.
😭it was really heart breaking
Oh another video from this wonderful channel. Great video as usual guys!
I can feel the grief of all people that watched Full Metal Alchemist before this video.
Dr. Emilia: Don't even get me started on all the weird taxidermy trends in the Victorian Period
Me: Oh please, Doctor...
I always loved learning about mythological creatures. Fascinating stuff thanks for this channel keep up the good work. 😊
That extra finger edit what super clean, but awesome video! Can't wait to see what you cover next! Maybe something about sirens or mermaids??
IKR? Not enough people talking about it
3:43 "You have six fingers on your right hand... Someone was looking for you."
th-cam.com/video/sMG1nlQi5bg/w-d-xo.html .,.,
DEVCON DOTM
Hi, I really like your theory that the Chimera was derived from a bone-bed of prey and predator assemblages fossilized together in a flood deposit. Very fascinating proposal.
I clicked so fast i grew three more heads
All vampire heads, or like, a vampire head, a bat head and, idk, a cockatoo?
My second head stood up
No...
When I was listening to the part about the scientists making chimeric embryos and the backlash from the scientific community over how wrong it was, it thundered really loud and the power suddenly went off o.O that was awesome
Your videos never cease to amaze me how great they are. I loved the collab as well. I'm already eager for the next video😁❤
Dr. Zarka: "Here's Dr. Joe Hanson."
Me: "But what's Dr. Johansen's first name? ... Oh."
Also, I was a little surprised you didn't mention that the chimaera is sometimes depicted with a fourth head (a dragon) and/or wings in modern times. Doesn't change the fact that this is another great video.
I wish there was a museum of mythological creatures and story monsters. Imagine a taxiderm Chimaera
Actually there is a anatomy and biology museum in Perú, Cusco, I'm peruvian, I moved to Italy as a teen, I remember well what there was in that museum, there were fetus, taxiderm animals and some of them were mixed up with others, any mythological one but yep, there have something, today it will be impossible to make this stuff, it's a pretty old collection, huge one.
I've just found out about this channel (thank you @Itsoktobesmart for sending me here) and already binged through all videos posted. I'm looking forward to new videos. Great job, Emily!
Why would you ever call it a “pizzly bear” when you can call it a grolar bear? 🤦🏻♀️
Because they're different animals. With hybrids, it depends which one is the mother and which one is the father. Ligers and Tigons are both a mix between a lion and a tiger, but they look and behave vastly different, and have different names. The same for pizzlies and grolars.
The reason is that the DNA that is passed down from the y chromosome controls different physical characteristics. So if you had a female polar bear and a male grizzly, their offspring would not be the same as the offspring of a male polar bear and a female grizzly.
@@vaszgul736 Yup. I believe the name depends on which species is the father and mother, like you said. (Mules are a bit of a different story. A mule is the reult of a male donkey and female horse. But if you switch the genders, male horse/female donkey, the offspring is actually called a hinny. Not near as common and a mule because the pregnancy is often very hard on the mother donkey, as the growing baby is much bigger than her body was designed for. Medical assistance js often required for delivery, and usually birthed early for the sake of the mother's health. Hence, hinnys being so uncommon.) But ligers would be a male lion and female tiger. The male is usually the first half of the hybrid name.
(Side note: Did you know a male donkey is called a Jack, while the female is called a Jenny. Similar to horses being called mares and stallions. Other than geldings anyway.)
But I have to agree that grolar bear sounds better than pizzley bear. Lol. Groler or grilor. 😄 Or for the male polar bear/female grizzly, it could be a Poley bear. Sounds a LOT better than a pizzley bear.
I had actually made a similar comment myself about it before seeing this.
Because he is Expert and you're Keyboard Warrior...... Unless you're also a Chimera.....
They're actually referred to as Kodiak Bears. Half grizzly, half polar, and they're insanely huge!
no no no no no... they are both correct. period.
The video game Dragon's Dogma made such a wonderful job bringing mythological creatures to life. The three heads of chimeras have different properties: the goat casts magic and it's the "brain" of the chimera. If you take it down it, the chimera moves more erratically. The lion head is the muscle, and if you take it down, it moves more slowly. The snake ejects posionous gas, and bites enyone who climbs onto it to attack the goat, since it's weak to physical damage.
These videos are like condensed episodes of the podcast LORE if LORE was just about monsters. I love it!
Your videos' animations and illustrations are really very nice looking and detailed.
I think the outtakes are my favorite part of these videos. Dr Z seems like she'd be a blast to simply hang out and chat with
Came back to this after seeing how many times Mary Shelly uses the word "chimera" to mean something impossible- and then she goes and has Victor craft an animal/human chimera. Love that from her.
Monstrum channel has no rival. Your videos are mythically awesome.
OMG!!! THE EXTRA FINGER at 3:43!!! KILLED ME!!! Well done!
I'm italian and I was born in the city (Arezzo) where the bronze Chimera has been found. For me it was something magical when I was a little girl.
I love crossovers! It's okay to be smart and Storied is such a great mashup!
There's also "genetic chimerism" often seen in cats, where two embryos fuse together naturally, so different parts of the resultant kitten are genetically distict from each other. There's also a deep-water (semi-deep water?) fish called a chimera, but that's its own species...not mixed with anything. (I think it's a type of rat-fish?)
The best episode of Full Metal Alchemist
"Your scientists are so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn't stop to think if they should." -Dr. Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park.
It is SO true!
I'm glad you finally showed an image of one where the goat head faces the opposite way of the lion. I had always seen paintings and drawings of that configuration. Many times, the face emerges from the back of the mane.
This whole human-animal chimera dynamic sounds like an idea for an anime
Hung Nguyen chimera ants in hunter x hunter.
Humans Chimeras can be found in the Fullmetal Alchemist anime.
@@javierc.5837 dont you love dogs?
Came over from joes video and I’m so glad I did I love this channel already only downside is you don’t have many videos yet for me to binge watch
Do you have and videos in the works about any Greek monsters?
Jackalopes are real. I know, because I've seen many of them. They were all females, however. I know that because they lacked antlers.
😄😄😄
Female unicorns, as well.
Otherwise, why would "all" unicorns in medieval times be male?
amazing, i hope to see more and more "monstrums". I really enjoy the way that you explain each one.
I thought you already had wings cause you look like an angel.
Yikes
This channel's subject is something I loved reading about when I was growing up. Love mythology!
I love it when PBS does crossovers! That always makes for extra interesting episodes!
Can we get a Monstrum/Spacetime crossover? 🤯
Late response but it would be fitting for PBS Spacetime and Monstrum to do a crossover about the history of astronomy and what it grew out of.
PBS is killing it with these channels, love this!
*Shou Tucker wants to know your location
I absolutely love the content of this channel, thank you for making it :)
My father: haha yes, i name my daughter Chimera
Me: *sweats profusely*
yes my name is Chimera
This content is so incredible. I love it.
Hey Emily, I never knew the greeks combined animals together. History is so bizarre sometimes. What a great video!
Thanks Emily & have a great day.
The word you're looking for is bizarre
@@ezraalbarra4045 Hey thanks!
I really like your kitty logo!
Loving this channel! Would love to see some content on the various lake monsters throughout the world!
I'm glad I found a great new channel like this! Great (and scary) videos!
If I may request, let's have some hybrid human/animal monsters here. Maybe werewolves and weretigers (particularly Indonesian/Javanese weretiges because they're really scary and diverse) or some Egyptian gods.
Hey Dr. Emily you narration is amazing keep this good work 👌🏼 stay safe stay blessed ❤️
Next is unicorn please.
Rhinoceros. They didn't have photos then, so a description drawn turns out to be different. The bible refers to unicorns a few times.
@@tommynorthwood By that definition any animal with one horn could be considered a unicorn. I guess a nor-wale is a type of unicorn then.
@@hackman669 There are historical references to the unicorn as a broudish creature native to the African plains 'not suitable to plow a field due to its broudish nature'. I'm referencing historical references to said unicorn, not making observations. It's where the magical beast came from. A lack of photos. Honestly, if I'd never seen a Rhino, I'd say a unicorn would be more believable. Ya know what I mean?
You mean a horse with narwall cells on it's head? I'm pretty sure the immune system would reject a species so unrelated. You'd have better luck with C.R.I.S.P.R..
I'm just gonna say unicorns can come in different ways a horse with a horn a zebra with a horn 😀
I didn't know, this chanal existed... But i needed this sooooo much... Need to thank "it's ok to be smart"
5:51 told ya
she is monananggal 😬
Never seen her lower part and now she has wings
DEVCON DOTM 0:01
Who came here from It's Okay to Be Smart?
Me
I'm glad I found this channel from there because I've been craving mythological creatures
I did!
Me!
@@MoonPieMat me too!
Patent office: Human chimeras are bad, y'all!
Elon Musk: Hold my Tesla, I'm making catgirls!
Screaming yes in weeb
Chimeras are cool, but none of them are as cool as the ultimate Chimera!
At the mention of human chimeras
Fullmetal Alchemist mental trauma intensifies
The artwork on this is awesome.
Dang what a cute dress c:
I'm not sold on the whole jumbled-fossil theory. It seems a little bit of a stretch to assume that ancient peoples happened to stumble upon three skeletons that happened to be mixed up in a way to give the impression of a lion/goat/snake mixed monster.
The theory which I've previously heard (and seems more credible) is that Lycia was naturally home to lions, goats and dangerous snakes. Combining all three animals together into one super-symbol of barbaric lands wouldn't be an incredible jump of imagination for the Ancient Greeks.
I was also kind of hoping for more discussion of chimeras in mythology rather than scientific chimeras. Don't get me wrong, it's interesting, but I would've liked to have heard something about chimeras from other cultures and what they represented for the peoples that came up with them: Ammit, Cynocephaly, mermaids and so on.
Good video regardless, though. The presentation and editing of these videos is superb. Never stop. :D
I agree.
We talking about subsistence cultures. Not many people had the time for paleontology.
Saving some of the more specific chimaeras for future videos so I can really dive into them (selfie, griffin, siren, etc.). Glad to see there’s interest.
"I'm telling you Jerry... Pigman is real."
Even DIGIMON experimented with this idea there's Chimeramon, which is made up of parts of all of the Digi-destined Digimon companions. Pretty cool.
me for the whole video: *ah yes, alchemy*
Wooooowww I love u guys, right now I'm planning my weekend, I was thinking to take my kids to the museum, their first time, first being aware to be there, they were babies their first time, so I'm organizing my ideas and informations to be their guide 😅 we are in Florence here there is the chimera bronze statue, I was looking for some info and this video is perfect, being kids it's hard to keep their attention but, ur explanations and extra info and connections are perfect, I'm taking notes 😊
Oh the Hippogriff at 0:06 was from the D&D 5e Monster Manual!
Edit: The image at least.
DEVCON DOTM 0:01
I looooove these videos so so much lol
All this talk about how people might have come across some bizarre sewn together remains to come up with the chimera, and I'm just thinking: "Couldn't it have just been a cool idea that ended up being popular?"
Will you do monsters from Asian country too? like Japan have lots of yokai and monsters
Nino Sanjaya ikr im ready for more UwU
Found your channel with it's okay to be smart, with that very chimera video. Really enjoy the content ^_^! Also thankful that the channel's video count is still easily consumable. On the ethics of human chimerism: wish it was available earlier. I mean humans have been augmenting their bodies for centuries. Piercings, tattoos, prosthetics, "enhancements". I feel like it's only a matter of time before we get that kind of "splicing". ( term used for mixing human and animal DNA, coined from Batman Beyond)
Sometimes I think the real horror is the capacity of human imagination. Our past can lead to many skeletons in the closet, ones that I'm not sure that I want to explore. Still, you've got my interested.
Thank you for an interesting video.
Would you consider taking a look at the Bunyip from Australia? I haven't seen it spoke about in many shows like this, and would love to hear your take on it.
There was a chimeric creature from folklore that I saw in a book when I was a kid. It had 4 dog heads, 4 cat heads, and I think the tail was a snake. I wish I could remember its name, or find that book again, because it's been driving me nuts ever since.
It’s called a Poreskoro. A bird with 4 cat and 4 dog heads with a forked tongue and snake tail. And was the book called the book of heads multiple heads? I found it online on google when I looked up a book with the Poreskoro in it 🤷♀️ you’re welcome ☺️
4 out of 10 Dashavathar of Lord Vishnu (Indian mythology) are also counts
Matsya: Fish + human
Kurma: Turtle + human
Varaha: Boar + human
Narasimha: Lion + human
Plus the human part has 4 or more hands each hold some sort of weapons/Tools/Artifacts.
5:50 I'd consider you an angel, Dr. Emily. Great video as usual, Thanx!!!!
I would really like to see a video about mermaids. They appear in almost every culture of the world
Just realized that in Resident Evil 4 the three statue heads you need to collect (a lion, snake and goat head) and slot into a statue of a lion's body make a Chimera. I'm sure that was the main intent of this video, so thanks!
Love these videos.
It's okay to be smart sent me here
Now this is the channel I was waiting for 😂
3:43 hey look, it’s Stanford’s younger self
So this is what you meant when you said "there's always a chance". 😊
Nice!!!
Any chance for the Gorgons soon?
GREAT video!!
"Ed...ward", and cat girls are two sides of the same coin.
Like the plug in at the end. If you don't got it yet, Curiosity Stream is the bomb and runs on your Roku's and Nintendo's, Z Boxes, and Entertainment Stations.
Haha. Extra finger Joe. Well done
i thought i was the only one that noticed that lolol
The art in these videos is amazing 😍
Religious people: “Hahaha how could people believe that???”
*Also religious people: “Yes Jesus walker on water and raised the dead and ghosts, angels and deamons are real.”
YAAAAS! THANK YOU QUEEN! PBS ROCKS! Love from Croatia🇭🇷
"Ed......ward....."
bruh
Thank you, It’s okay to be smart for sharing this channel with me
How Centaurs became a reality
I sometimes have dreams about that... 7@=e
I love the different voices in the outtakes! They're hilarious!
I believe the film splice went into human animal chimera. Things that make you go blah!
I don't know that it was... I feel like they took DNA from all the sources and put them into one embryo. Wouldn't that be a super complex hybrid?
It wouldn't be a chimera unless they took embryos from all the sources and mixed them into one embryo. (that's what I understood from the guest speaker, at least.)
Damn... I need to go watch the movie again to be sure.
Also that movie was intensely disturbing. Fascinating, and disturbing.
@@silverjade10 oh yes.