Chrysaor

Chrysaor was a son of the god Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa, and the brother of the winged horse Pegasus. He sprang from Medusa’s body when Perseus cut off her head, and later became the father of the three-bodied giant Geryon, whose cattle Heracles took as his tenth labour. His name is explained in Hesiod’s Theogony as “he of the golden blade”.

Chrysaor's Birth

Hesiod tells how Poseidon, the Dark-haired One, lay with Medusa in a soft meadow among spring flowers. When Perseus cut off her head, the great Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus leapt out of her (Hesiod, Theogony 276–283). Apollodorus gives the same account: when the Gorgon’s head was struck off, the winged horse Pegasus and Chrysaor, the father of Geryon, leapt from her, and Poseidon was their father (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.2). Perseus was helped in the deed by Athena, who guided his hand, and he looked only at the reflection of the Gorgon in a bronze shield.

His Name

Hesiod says that Pegasus was named because he was born near the springs (pegai) of Ocean, and that Chrysaor was named because he held a golden blade (aor) in his hands (Hesiod, Theogony 282–283). The name therefore means something like “golden sword”. Elsewhere Hesiod calls him “stout-hearted Chrysaor” (Hesiod, Theogony 979), but the early poets say nothing more of how he lived or fought.

Chrysaor and Pegasus

The two brothers went different ways. Pegasus flew away from the earth, the mother of flocks, and came to the immortals; he lives in the house of Zeus and carries thunder and lightning for the counselling god (Hesiod, Theogony 284–286). Apollodorus adds that Bellerophon rode him against the Chimaera (Apollodorus, Library 2.3.2). Chrysaor is not said to have gone to Olympus, and the poets give him no deeds of his own.

Wife and Son

Chrysaor was joined in love with Callirrhoe, a daughter of Ocean, and she bore him Geryon, whom Hesiod calls the strongest of all mortals and describes as three-headed (Hesiod, Theogony 287–288, 979–983). Apollodorus says that Geryon had the body of three men joined together at the waist and parted again into three at the flanks and thighs (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.10).

Geryon lived on the island of Erytheia (Erythea), out beyond Ocean in the far west. Apollodorus says it lay near the Ocean and was in his time called Gadira. His red cattle were watched by the herdsman Eurytion and the two-headed dog Orthrus. Heracles killed the dog, the herdsman and Geryon himself when Eurystheus ordered him to fetch the cattle as his tenth labour (Hesiod, Theogony 289–294; Apollodorus, Library 2.5.10). See the pages on Geryon, Orthrus and the Labours of Heracles for the full story.

A Different Account: Chrysaor as King of Iberia

Some later writers turned the story into history. Diodorus Siculus makes Chrysaor himself king over the whole of Iberia, a name he says the king received because of his wealth, with three sons who fought at his side. Heracles crossed into Iberia, challenged each of the three sons to single combat, killed them and drove off the famous cattle (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.17–18). In another passage Diodorus calls Geryones the son of Chrysaor and says he possessed silver and gold in abundance (Diodorus Siculus 5.17). Pausanias, describing huge bones uncovered by a storm at a small city of upper Lydia called the Doors of Temenus, reports that the people took them for the corpse of Geryon, son of Chrysaor (Pausanias 1.35.7).

Chrysaor Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 276–294 and 979–983; Apollodorus, Library 2.3.2, 2.4.2 and 2.5.10; Diodorus Siculus 4.17–18 and 5.17; Pausanias 1.35.7.

See Also: Pegasus, Poseidon, Gorgons, Medusa, Perseus, Geryon, Orthrus, Heracles