Source Verification: Geryon
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
How many bodies did Geryon have, and how were they joined?
Apollodorus describes him as three men grown together and joined as one at the waist, but separated into three from the flanks and thighs down - effectively one torso above the hips branching into three complete lower bodies. This made him formidable in a fight but also, per some traditions, unusually exposed to a single well-placed shot.
Source: Apollodorus, Library 2.5.10
How did Heracles cross the ocean to reach Geryon's island?
According to Apollodorus, Heracles grew so frustrated with the heat of the journey that he aimed his bow at the sun god Helios himself. Rather than retaliating, Helios was impressed by his boldness and lent Heracles the golden cup he used each night to sail back across Ocean to the east, and Heracles used it to reach Erytheia.
Source: Apollodorus, Library 2.5.10
How did Heracles actually kill Geryon?
After first killing the two-headed guard-dog Orthus and the herdsman Eurytion, Heracles faced Geryon himself as the giant rushed to defend his cattle. Apollodorus describes Heracles shooting him with an arrow tipped in the poisonous blood of the Hydra, the same weapon he had armed himself with after an earlier labor, and Geryon died of the wound.
Source: Apollodorus, Library 2.5.10
Who were Geryon's parents?
Hesiod's Theogony names Chrysaor, who was born from Medusa's neck when Perseus beheaded her, and the Oceanid nymph Callirhoe as his parents. This makes Geryon part of a lineage of unusual or monstrous births tracing back to Medusa, even though Medusa herself is only his grandmother rather than a direct parent.
Source: Hesiod, Theogony 287-294
Do the sources agree on exactly where Geryon died?
Not precisely. Hesiod's Theogony places the killing on the island of Erytheia itself, in the same lines that name Geryon's parents. Apollodorus's fuller account has Heracles already driving the cattle away by the time Geryon catches up to confront him beside the river Anthemus, which puts the actual fight slightly further along the journey rather than on the island proper.
Source: Hesiod, Theogony 287-294; Apollodorus, Library 2.5.10
What happened after Heracles killed Geryon?
He still had to drive the stolen cattle all the way back to Tiryns in Greece, a return journey Apollodorus describes as its own ordeal, crossing Spain, Gaul, and Italy and facing various local hazards and hostile figures along the way before finally completing the tenth labor by delivering the herd to Eurystheus.
Source: Apollodorus, Library 2.5.10
Where Accounts Differ
- where Geryon died
- Location variant: Hesiod's Theogony places Geryon's death on the island of Erytheia itself, while Apollodorus's fuller account has Heracles already driving the cattle away when Geryon catches up to him beside the river Anthemus, putting the fight further along the return journey.
Sources
- Hesiod, Theogony 287-294
- Apollodorus, Library 2.5.10
- Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth (1993)