Greek PantheonIsland
Erytheia
The red island of the far west, beyond the Ocean, where the three-bodied giant Geryon kept his cattle; Heracles sailed there in the Sun's golden cup for his tenth labour.
About Erytheia
Geryon's red island
Apollodorus 2.5.10: the tenth labor is the cattle of Geryon, a three-bodied giant on Erytheia in the far west, with the herdsman Eurytion and the dog Orthrus. Heracles crosses in the golden cup of the Sun, kills them, and drives the herd back. Stesichorus's Geryoneis is an older poetic witness. Erytheia is a sunset island, later pointed at Gades. There is no Greek colony-cult of Geryon required by the labor.
On the map
Erytheia among other places of the Greek Pantheon.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Apollodorus, Library 2.5.10
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Coordinates mark where the myths place a site, or where the tradition locates it today. Mythic realms are left off the map or marked as symbolic placements.
Keep exploring
One myth a week, with its sources in a short email. The sign-up form is just below.