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Stern, Jacob, On Unbelievable Tales 1966 (BC O'Neil Library)

Palaephatus 39

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Schol. Plato Timaeus 24e
Pediasimos 10 26
Myth. Vat. I 67 Kulcsár
Schol. Pindar Isthmian 1.13-15 (See Bury, pp. 12–13 n. 13)
Servius on Virgil Aeneid 7.662, 8.300

Sources

Ancient

Hesiod

Theogony

287–294

But Chrysaor was joined in love to Callirrhoe, the daughter of glorious Ocean, and begot three-headed Geryones. Him mighty Heracles slew [290] in sea-girt Erythea by his shambling oxen on that day when he drove the wide-browed oxen to holy Tiryns, and had crossed the ford of Ocean and killed Orthus and Eurytion the herdsman in the dim stead out beyond glorious Ocean.

306–312

Men say that Typhaon the terrible, outrageous and lawless, was joined in love to her [Echidna], the maid with glancing eyes. So she conceived and brought forth fierce offspring; first she bore Orthus the hound of Geryones, [310] and then again she bore a second, a monster not to be overcome and that may not be described, Cerberus who eats raw flesh, the brazen-voiced hound of Hades, fifty-headed, relentless and strong.

326–329

[326] but ["she" Echidna?] was subject in love to Orthus and brought forth the deadly Sphinx which destroyed the Cadmeans, and the Nemean lion, which Hera, the good wife of Zeus, brought up and made to haunt the hills of Nemea, a plague to men.

979–983

And the daughter of Ocean, Callirrhoe [980] was joined in the love of rich Aphrodite with stout-hearted Chrysaor and bore a son who was the strongest of all men, Geryones, whom mighty Heracles killed in sea-girt Erythea for the sake of his shambling oxen.

Stesichorus

Geryoneis fragments S7-S87 (Campbell, pp. 65–89) [cited by Ogden 2013a, p. 114 n. 255 "Principle texts: ..." but I find no mention of Orthrus?]

Pindar

Isthmian 1.13–15

Alcmena bore her fearless son, before whom the bold hounds of Geryon once trembled.

Fennell, p. 129

13, κύνες.] It must remain a question whether Orthros is made plural in consideration of his two heads or whether Pindar is following an unknown tradition.

Bury, p. 12

Apollodorus

2.5.10

As a tenth labour he was ordered to fetch the kine of Geryon from Erythia.¹ Now Erythia was an island near the ocean; it is now called Gadira.² This island was inhabited by Geryon, son of Chrysaor by Callirrhoe, daughter of Ocean. He had the body of three men grown together and joined in one at the waist, but parted in three from the flanks and thighs.³ He owned red kine, of which Eurytion was the herdsman and Orthus,⁴ the two-headed hound, begotten by Typhon on Echidna, was the watchdog. So journeying through Europe to fetch the kine of Geryon he destroyed many wild beasts and set foot in Libya,⁵ and proceeding to Tartessus he erected as tokens of his journey two pillars over against each other at the boundaries of Europe and Libya.⁶ But being heated by the Sun on his journey, he bent his bow at the god, who in admiration of his hardihood, gave him a golden goblet in which he crossed the ocean.⁷ And having reached Erythia he lodged on Mount Abas. However the dog, perceiving him, rushed at him; but he smote it with his club, and when the herdsman Eurytion came to the help of the dog, Hercules killed him also. But Menoetes, who was there pasturing the kine of Hades, reported to Geryon what had occurred, and he, coming up with Hercules beside the river Anthemus,⁸ as he was driving away the kine, joined battle with him and was shot dead. And Hercules, embarking the kine in the goblet and sailing across to Tartessus, gave back the goblet to the Sun.

And passing through Abderia⁹ he came to Liguria,¹⁰ where Ialebion and Dercynus, sons of Poseidon, attempted to rob him of the kine, but he killed them¹¹ and went on his way through Tyrrhenia. But at Rhegium a bull broke away¹² and hastily plunging into the sea swam across to Sicily, and having passed through the neighboring country since called Italy after it, for the Tyrrhenians called the bull italus,¹³ came to the plain of Eryx, who reigned over the Elymi.¹⁴ Now Eryx was a son of Poseidon, and he mingled the bull with his own herds. So Hercules entrusted the kine to Hephaestus and hurried away in search of the bull. He found it in the herds of Eryx, and when the king refused to surrender it unless Hercules should beat him in a wrestling bout, Hercules beat him thrice, killed him in the wrestling, and taking the bull drove it with the rest of the herd to the Ionian Sea. But when he came to the creeks of the sea, Hera afflicted the cows with a gadfly, and they dispersed among the skirts of the mountains of Thrace. Hercules went in pursuit, and having caught some, drove them to the Hellespont; but the remainder were thenceforth wild.¹⁵ Having with difficulty collected the cows, Hercules blamed the river Strymon, and whereas it had been navigable before, he made it unnavigable by filling it with rocks; and he conveyed the kine and gave them to Eurystheus, who sacrificed them to Hera.

1 As to Herakles and the cattle of Geryon, see Hes. Th. 287-294ff.; Hes. Th. 979-983; Pind. Frag. 169(151) ed. Sandys; Hdt. 4.8; Plat. Gorg. 484b; Diod. 4.17ff.; Paus. 3.18.13, Paus. 4.36.3; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.249ff.; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.322-352 （who seems to follow Apollodorus）; Scholiast on Plato, Tim. 24e; Pliny, Nat. Hist. iv.120; Solinus xxiii.12; Serv. Verg. A. 8.300.

2 Compare Hdt. 4.8; Strab. 3.2.11, Strab. 3.5 4; Pliny, Nat. Hist. iv.120; Solinus xxiii.12. Gadira is Cadiz. According to Pliny, Nat. Hist. iv.120, the name is derived from a Punic word gadir, meaning “hedge.” Compare Dionysius, Perieg. 453ff. The same word agadir is still used in the south of Morocco in the sense of “fortified house,” and many places in that country bear the name. Amongst them the port of Agadir is the best known. See E. Doutté, En tribu （Paris, 1914）, pp. 50ff. The other name of the island is given by Solinus xxiii.12 in the form Erythrea, and by Mela iii.47 in the form Eythria.

4 The watchdog's name is variously given as Orthus （Orthos） and Orthrus (Orthros). See Hes. Th. 293 (where Orthos seems to be the better reading); Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.253 （Orthros）; Scholiast on Pind. I. 1.13(15) （Orthos）; Scholiast on Plat. Tim. 24e （Orthros, so Stallbaum）; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.333 （Orthros）; Pediasmus, De Herculis laboribus 10 （Orthos）; Serv. Verg. A. 8.300 （Orthrus）.

Quintus Smyrnaeus

Posthomerica (or Fall of Troy),

6.249–255 (pp. 272–273)

There lay the bulk of giant Geryon

Dead mid his kine. His gory heads were cast

in dust, dashed down by that resitles club

Before him that most murderous hound

Orthros, in furious might like Cerberus

His brother-hound : a herdman lay thereby,

Eurytion, all bedabbled with his blood.

6.260ff. (pp. 272–273)

And there, a dread sight even for Gods to see,

Was Cerberus, whom the Loathy Worm [Έχιδνα] had borne

To Typho in a craggy cavern's gloom

Close on the borders of Eternal Night,

Tzetzes

Chiliades

2.36.333 (Greek: Kiessling, p. 53; English translation: Berkowitz, p. 31)

Heracles led away those cows after killing the dog Orthrus,

Modern

Bury

pp. 12–13 n. 13

13. ... But in all the legends, only one dog is mentioned (Orthros, according to Pollux, v. 46, Gargethos in Iberia), so that Pindar's κύνας is surprising. The scholiast suggests that Pindar is given to exaggeration (Abel, p. 360): ... He adds that Pindar may have considered it unworthy of Heracles to confront him with a single dog. ... If we remmmeber that Apollodorus gives the dog two heads ... and that Orthros ie represented on a cyprian relief ... with three heads, we can understand that Pindar might have regarded the dog as in a certain sense plural.

Clay

p. 159

At this point, we must raise the thorny question of the referents of the pronouns at lines 319 and 326.³² Who is the mother of the Chimaera? Does she have a father? And finally, who mates with Othos to produce the Sphinx, and the lion of Nemea? The literature both ancient and modern offers every possible solution to these questions, and consensus remains as chimerical as the creature herself.³³

³⁴ ... At 326, the mother of Phix and the Nemean Lion is identified as Echidna by Wilamowitz (1959) 3.260; Marg (1970) 167; and Schwabl (1969) 183; cf. Apollodorus 3.5.8; Chimaera; Abramowicz (1940-46) 167; Siegmann (1969) 756; West (1966) 256; Hamilton (1989) 91; cf. Scholia at 326 (p. 62 Di Gregorio). Only Lemke (1968) 53 nominates Keto. For a summary of earlier opinions, see Abramowicz (1940-46) 167.

Cook

p. 410

Single, double, and treble heads are found again in the case of Orthros or Orthos, the hound of Geryones (O. Höfer in Roscher Lex. Myth. iii, 1217 f.), who had the same mother as Kerberos, viz. Echidna (id. ib. iii. 1215), and appears in fact to have been his doublet.

Fennell

p. 129 n. 13

13. κύνες.] It must remain a question whether Orthros is made plural in consideration of his two heads or whether Pindar is following an unknown version of the myth.

Ogden

p. 114

From the mid sixth century he is sometimes shown single-headed, and a unique vase of c.500–475 explicitly gives him the full Cerberan three.²⁵⁶ Like Cerberus too he could on occasion boast a drakōn element, although this was confined, à la Chimaera, to his tail. This becomes manifest in his iconography between mid sixth century and the early fifth century BC.²⁵⁷

²⁵⁶ Two heads: LIMC Orthros I 6-20, 25 (the earliest is no. 19 = Geryoneus 8, c.625-600 BC; the latest derives from the late 4th cent. BC); we first learn of his two heads in the literary record only with Apollodorus. One head: LIMC Orthros I 1-5, 22-3 (mid 6th to early 5th cent. BC). Three heads: LIMC Orthros I 21 (c.500-475 BC).

²⁵⁷ He sports a snake tail on LIMC Orthros I 6 (mid 6th cent. BC), 14 (c.510 BC), 20 (late 6th cent. BC), 21 (c.500-475 BC), 25 (fragment resembling no. 14). But he sports a clear dog-tail on LIMC Orthros I 1, 3, 10, 12, 19 (c.625-600 BC), 23.

Race

p. 139 n. 3

3 A dog named Orthrus with two (or three) heads guarded Geryon’s cattle on an island near Gadira (Cadiz). Heracles slew the dog and took the cattle. Only Pindar mentions more than one dog.

Papamarinopoulos

p. 469 ff.

Stafford

p. 43

Another Geryon scene includes our earliest sighting of Heracles wearing a lionskin, on a beautiful bronze pectoral from Samos dating from c.600 BC (Figure 1.4). Here Geryon's three heads seem to be attacjed to a single body, any difficulty about the join being covered by the shields; also included in the scene are the two-headed dog Orthos, the already dead herdsman Eurytion, and the disputed cattle.

p. 44

Figure 1.4 Herakles fights Geryon and the dog Orthos. Bronze pectoral from Samos c.600 BC (Samos B2518)

p. 45

A particularly fine archaic red-figure version of the scene is Euphronios' cup (Munich 2620), where the central figures fight over the dead body of the two-headed Orthis; this would appear to be especially faithful to Stesichoros' version of the story because behind Geryon stands a woman making gestures of distress, who must be Kallirhoe.¹⁴

Iconography

Samos B 2518 bronze pectoral (oldest, two-headed)

LIMC Orthros I 19

Monument ID 10103

Ogden, p. 114

²⁵⁶ Two heads: LIMC Orthros I 6-20, 25 (the earliest is no. 19 = Geryoneus 8, c.625-600 BC;... )

²⁵⁷ ... clear dog-tail ...

Stafford

p. 43

Another Geryon scene includes our earliest sighting of Heracles wearing a lionskin, on a beautiful bronze pectoral from Samos dating from c.600 BC (Figure 1.4). Here Geryon's three heads seem to be attacjed to a single body, any difficulty about the join being covered by the shields; also included in the scene are the two-headed dog Orthos, the already dead herdsman Eurytion, and the disputed cattle.

p. 44

Figure 1.4 Herakles fights Geryon and the dog Orthos. Bronze pectoral from Samos c.600 BC (Samos B2518)

The J. Paul Getty Museum p. 45 (drawing)

[Apparently with a arrow piercing one of his heads]

Vases two-headed

Munich 2620 kylix

LIMC Orthros I 14 [= Herakles 2501]

Monument ID 10088

Beazley Archive 200080

Date: -550 to -500

Gantz, p. 403

In Red-Figure the scene is far less frequent, but we should note a particularly fine cup by Euphornios in Munich, with a two-headed Orthos belly-up in the center, a slumping Eurytion off to the left, and a female figure (Geryoneus' mother?) holding out her hands in alarm (Munich 2620).

Stafford, p. 45

A particularly fine archaic red-figure version of the scene is Euphronios' cup (Munich 2620), where the central figures fight over the dead body of the two-headed Orthis; this would appear to be especially faithful to Stesichoros' version of the story because behind Geryon stands a woman making gestures of distress, who must be Kallirhoe.¹⁴

Schefold

p. 124

One of the finest of all Chalkidian vases is an amphora painted about 530 and now in the Bibliotheque Nationale in pareis (fig. 146)...

p. 125

Orthos and the herdsman lie dying beneath him...

p. 126

On a the cup by Euphronios in Munich which was painted around 510 and has Leagros on horseback in the tondo, ...

p. 127, fig. 147

When we move to the other side of the cup (fig. 147), matters become more serios. Eurytion lies wounded under one of the handles, dressed in his pilos and animal skin and propped up on one arm, eyes glazing over. Iolaos ...

147 Iolaos, Athena, Heracles, Geryon and his mother. Cup by Euphronios. c. 510. Munich 2620.

p. 128

Orthis the dog lies supine, an arrow through his chest; he has two heads, in the way that Kerberos too is often represented. What little life remains is concentrated in the snake's head with which his tail ends.

Ogden, p. 114

²⁵⁷ ... snake tail

Cab. Med. 223 neck amphora

LIMC Orthros I 12

Beazley Archive 301557

Gantz, p. 403 [CabMed 223]

Swing Painter

Ogden, p. 114

²⁵⁷ ... clear dog-tail ...

[Two arrows piercing his head one or both of his heads]

Delos B6.129 lekythos

Beazley Archive 302355

Date: -550 to -500

LIMC Orthros I 15

[Wounded, bleeding? two-necked]

Other (two-headed)

Beazley Archive 14388

LIMC Orthros I 9

Beazley Archive 301042

LIMC Orthros I 7

Vases one-headed?

British Museum B194 (one-headed?)

Bristish Museum 1836,0224.103

Beazley Archive 310316

LIMC Orthros I 2

Ogden, p. 114

²⁵⁶ ... One head ...

[Wounded, bleeding?]

Cab. Med. 202 (one-headed?)

LIMC Orthros I 1

Schefold, p. 126, fig. 146

Chalkidian amphora c. 530

Ogden, p. 114

²⁵⁶ ... One head ...

²⁵⁷ ... clear dog-tail ...

British Museum 1895.1029.1 (one-headed?)

British Museum 1895.1029.1

LIMC Orthros I 4 [=Herakles 2472]

British Museum, Inventory: 1895.10-29.1

Beazley Archive 330988

British Museum, Inventory: 1895.10-29.1

LIMC Herakles 2472

Ogden, p. 114

²⁵⁶ ... One head ...

[Arrows??]

British Museum B 426

British Museum 1873,0820.379

LIMC Orthros I 23

British Museum, Inventory: B 426

Ogden, p. 114

²⁵⁶ ... One head ...

Others (one-headed? Ogden, p. 114 n. 256)

LIMC Orthros I 3

Ogden, p. 114

²⁵⁶ ... One head ...

²⁵⁷ ... clear dog-tail ...

LIMC Orthros I 5

LIMC Orthros I 22

Metropolitan 74.51.2853 stone relief (three-headed)

Metropolitan Museum of Art 74.51.2853

Limestone

LIMC Orthros I 21

relief

Image 1/2

Mertens, p. 78

Particularly evocative is a relief from the base of a statue (Fig. 31). At the left edge of the slab, Heracles strides forward with the tail of his lion skin between his legs. He has dispatched an arrow into the throat of one of the three heads of Orthros, on the upper right.

FIGURE 31. Relief with Herakles taking the cattle of Geryon. Cypriot, early 5th century BC.

Ogden, p. 114

...a unique vase [sic?] of c.500–475 explicity gives him the full Cerberan three.²⁵⁶

"²⁵⁶ ...Three heads: LIMC Orthros I 21 (c.500-475 BC).

²⁵⁷ ... snake tail

^ Beazley Archive 200080; LIMC Orthros I 14; Gantz, p. 403.

[1] Beazley Archive 200080; LIMC Orthros I 14; Gantz, p. 403.

[1]