GERYON (GERYONES, GERYONEUS)

This article appears in Volume V11, Page 909 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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GERYON (GERYONES, GERYONEUS) , in Greek mythology, the son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe, daughter of Oceanus, and king of the

island

ISLAND (O.E. ieg =isle, +land')

of Erytheia. He is represented as a

monster

with three heads or three bodies (triformis, trigeminus), sometimes with wings, and as the owner of herds of red cattle, which were
tended by the giant shepherd Eurytion and the two-headed dog Orthrus. To carry off these cattle to

Greece

GREECE

was one of the twelve " labours " imposed by Eurystheus upon Heracles. In order to get possession of them, Heracles travelled through Europe and Libya, set up the two pillars in the Straits of Gibraltar to show the extent of his journey, and reached the

great

GREAT

river Oceanus. Having crossed Oceanus and landed on the

island

ISLAND (O.E. ieg =isle, +land')

, Heracles slew Orthrus together with Eurytion, who in vain strove to defend him, and drove off the cattle. Geryon started in pursuit, but fell a victim to the arrows of Heracles, who, after various adventures, succeeded in getting the cattle safe to

Greece

GREECE

, where they were offered in sacrifice to Hera by Eurystheus. The geographical position of Erytheia is unknown, but all ancient authorities agree that it was in the far west. The name itself (= red) and the colour of the cattle suggest the fiery aspect of the disk of the setting sun; further, Heracles crosses Oceanus in the golden cup or boat of the sun-god Helios. Geryon (from ynpuw,the

howler

HOWLER

or roarer) is supposed to personify the

storm

, his father Chrysaor the lightning, his mother Callirrhoe the rain. The cattle are the rain-clouds, and the slaying of their keepers typifies the victory of the sun over the clouds, or of

spring

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

over winter. The euhemeristic explanation of the struggle with the triple

monster

was that Heracles fought three brothers in succession.
See Apollodorus ii. 5. 10; Hesiod, Theogony, 287; Diod. Sic. iv. 17; Herodotus iv. 8; F. Wieseler in Ersch and Gruber, Allgemeine Encyclopadie; F. A. Voigt in Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie; L.

Preller

PRELLER,
FRIEDRICH
- FRIEDRICH, JOHANN (1836— )
(1804–1878)
PRELLER, LUDWIG (1809–1861)

, Griechische Mythologie; article " Hercules " in Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquites.

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