The
Cattle of Geryon
(Labor 10)
And finally was time for Hercules tenth and last labor
as the
priestess Pythian foretold.In creating monsters
and formidable
foes, the Greek mythmakers used a
simple technique of
multiplication. Thus Geryon, the
owner of some famous red cattle
that Hercules was now
instructed by Eurystheus to steal, had two legs, |
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three separate bodies from the waist, six hands
and three heads.
Geryon lived in the island of Erythia far away in the west where Spain is today and he was
very famous for his big, fat, red cattle which where unique in the whole world. The cattle
was guarded by Geryon himself, Eurytion, herdsman of Geryon who was a giant, and Orthus a
two-headed hound.
For Hercules to reach the country of Geryon many months went by, and he visited many
countries. As he was passing through Libya, Hercules met the ruler of that land Andeus.
Andeus was a wild-man and extremely strong, who used to kill strangers by forcing them to
wrestle. Antaeus was son of Gaia, according to some or son of Poseidon, according to
others.
Andeus called on Hercules to fight. The fight lasted for hours for he was almost equal
strong, but Hercules during the fight noticed that Andeus became stronger when he touched
the Earth, because he derived his strength from it. So Hercules killed him while holding
him in the air. And when he had done this he subdued Libya, which at the time was full
with wild animals. He also brought large parts of the desert under cultivation so that it
was filled with ploughed fields and vineyards and olive orchards. In this way Libya came
to know prosperity. Likewise Hercules punished those who defied the law as well as
arrogant rulers, giving prosperity to the cities
After a long journey Hercules came to
the island of Geryon and he approached his famous herd, Orthus the two-headed watchdog
attacked him first but a single blow from Hercules club which he customarily carried was
enough to kill the viscous dog.
At that instant the giant herdsman Eurytion realized what had happened and run to kill
Hercules, but the heroes mighty club strike him dead. Now as he was making off with the
cattle, Menoetes, who was also there pasturing the cattle of Hades, reported to Geryon the
presence of Hercules and Geryon rushed out of his cave. Hercules could not face him with
his club, because by the time he kill one of his bodies one of the others could have
killed him. So he used his bow with poisoned arrows to kill all three bodies of the
multiple human monster before it gets close to him.
After several adventures Hercules drove the herd back to Greece and gave the cattle to
Eurystheus. But this was not to be the end of his labors.
- You must complete two more labors! said Eurystheus. The Lernean Hydra you killed with
the help of Iolaus and for the Augean Stables you got paid. So I erased those two labors
and you must replace them with others.
So Hercules had two more labors to go before he will liberate himself from the commands of
the king Eurystheus.
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