ABSTRACT
Son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe the Oceanid. A three-headed, even three-bodied, monster, he lived on an island called Erythea (‘the Red’) far off to the West in the Ocean, beyond the Pillars of Heracles. His rich flocks of cattle were guarded by a herdsman called Eurytion and his two-headed dog Orthus (straight’) or Orthrus (‘early’), offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon. Heracles’ tenth Labour for Eurystheus was to steal Geryon’s cattle and drive them to Mycenae. Heracles sailed out on the stream of Ocean in a golden cup which Oceanus or Helios, under the threat of his poisoned arrows, had bestowed upon him. Sailing to the West, he landed on Geryon’s island and climbed a mountain there. Attacked by Orthus, he clubbed the dog to death and his master Eurytion as well. But as he was about to drive the cattle off, he was spied by Menoetes, Hades’ herdsman, who told Geryon what had happened. Geryon pursued Heracles as far as the river Anthemus, where the hero shot him dead.
