In architecture, a grotesque is a fantastic or mythical figure carved from stone and fixed to the walls or roof of a building. A chimera is a type of grotesque depicting a mythical combination of multiple animals. Grotesque are often called gargoyles, although the term gargoyle refers to figures carved specifically to drain water away from the sides of buildings. In the Middle Ages, the term babewyn was used to refer to both gargoyles and chimerae. This word is derived from the Italian word babbuino, which means "baboon".
Grotesque on Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim
Grotesques on a church in Gouézec, France
Grotesque at Notre-Dame Cathedral
Grotesque made for the Florence Cathedral, now held at The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
According to Greek mythology, the Chimera, Chimaera, or Chimæra was a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature from Lycia, Asia Minor, composed of different animal parts. It is usually depicted as a lion, with the head of a goat protruding from its back, occasionally depicted with dragon's wings, and a tail that might end with a snake's head. It was an offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of monsters like Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra.
The Chimera on a red-figure Apulian plate, c. 350–340 BC (Musée du Louvre)
"Chimera of Arezzo": an Etruscan bronze
A Roman mosaic of Bellerophon riding Pegasus and slaying the Chimera, 2nd to 3rd centuries AD, Musée de la Romanité
A Hellenistic Greek pebble mosaic depicting Bellerophon riding Pegasus while killing the Chimera, Archaeological Museum of Rhodes, dated 300–270 BC