An interesting natural beauty, the mythological Yanartaş (Chimera), is located to the north of Olympus, on the upper side of the Çıralı Beach. The burning stones which are located about an hour's drive from Olympos have a mythological story behind them:
A divinely handsome young man named Bellerophon used to live in Argos, Greece. Bellerophon wanted very much to possess the flying horse Pegasus. So he chased Pegasus for days and nights in vain without any success. One day, in a dream, the Gods told Bellerophon how he could gain control of the winged horse. He followed the Gods' instructions, and used a golden bridle that was given to him to tame the horse while the animal was drinking water. One day, Bellerophon accidentally killed someone. After this accident, he left Argos and found shelter with the King of Tiryns, Proteus. Soon, Proteus' queen fell in love with this handsome young man, and she told him that she wanted to sleep with him. However Bellerophon, who did not want to be disrespectful towards his host, turned down the queen's advances. In revenge, the queen told her husband that the young man had tried to seduce her by sneaking into her bed. The king grew was furious, but did not want to kill his guest himself. Instead, Proteus sent a letter to his father-in-law, the King of Lycia, asking him to kill Bellerophon.
At length, Bellerophon reached Lycia. The king met him near the Xanthos River and he was the King's guest for nine days. It was only on the ninth day that the king received the letter from his son-in-law and realized that Bellerophon was to be killed. But he also found that he couldn't kill him and so asked the Chimera monster to do the job for him. The Chimera was a creature with the head of a lion, the body of a she-goat, and the tail of a snake. The creature breathed out flames from his mouth. Bellerophon, with his winged horse Pegasus and the support of gods, defeated Chimera. Bellerophon also defeated other creatures sent by the King. Seeing this, the King believed that Bellerophon was a descendent of the Gods and he presented him many gifts. Bellerophon married the King's daughter. Bellerophon had three children from this marriage. His daughter Laodameia slept with Zeus, and she gave birth to Sarpedon. When he grew up, Sarpedon became the Lycian king and fought in the Trojan War.
During the war, he angrily shouted at those who had been left behind in the battle,
'I have come from faraway lands
I've come from Xanthos of Anarphor
From Lycia, a faraway land.'
After performing many feats of courage, he was killed by Patroclus, a Trojan warrior fighting with the weapons of Achilles. In his dying breath, he said Glaucos should succeed him. Zeus ordered Apollo to take his son's dead body to Lycia.
The Chimera, who was born to the underworld creatures Typhon and Echidna, used to live in Olympos, which is today called Çirali or Yanartaş. Chimera was killed by Bellerophon astride his flying horse, and the creature was still breathing flames to the last moment of his life.Today, natural gases keep the flames burning eternally among the rocks in Olympos, and this is the legend behind the burning rocks.
