Chrysaor
Chrysaor was a giant with a golden sword who sprang from Medusa's blood alongside Pegasus — father of the three-bodied Geryon.
The Myth of Chrysaor
Chrysaor sprang from the severed neck of Medusa alongside Pegasus when Perseus beheaded the Gorgon — both born from Medusa's union with Poseidon in Athena's temple. While Pegasus flew to Olympus, Chrysaor ("golden sword") took a darker path. He married the Oceanid Callirrhoe and fathered Geryon, the three-bodied giant who kept magnificent red cattle on the island of Erytheia, guarded by the two-headed dog Orthrus. Heracles later killed both Geryon and Orthrus during his tenth labour. Chrysaor also sired Echidna, the mother of monsters, making him the ancestor of the Hydra, Chimera, Cerberus, and the Sphinx — much of the bestiary that heroes like Heracles and Theseus spent their lives destroying.
Parents
Poseidon and Medusa
Children
Geryon (by Callirrhoe)
Symbols
Fun Fact
The prefix "chrys-" (gold) in Chrysaor gives us chrysanthemum (gold flower) and chrysalis (golden pupa).
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Cyclops
🐉 creatureOne-eyed giant
Race of one-eyed giants. The original three Cyclopes forged Zeus's thunderbolts; later Cyclopes were savage shepherds, the most famous being Polyphemus.
Geryon
🐉 creatureThree-bodied giant of the west
Geryon was a giant with three bodies joined at the waist who owned magnificent red cattle at the world's western edge — Heracles' tenth labour was to steal them.
Giants
🐉 creatureearth-born, warfare
Enormous earth-born warriors who waged the Gigantomachy against the Olympian gods and were defeated only with the help of a mortal hero.
Centaurs
🐉 creatureHalf-human, half-horse beings
A race of beings with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. Most were wild and unruly, but the wise Chiron was the exception — teacher of heroes.
Gegenees
🐉 creaturegiants
Six-armed earth-born giants who attacked the Argonauts on Bear Mountain
Orthrus
🐉 creatureTwo-headed dog of Geryon
Orthrus was a fearsome two-headed dog who guarded the cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon at the western edge of the world.
Alcyoneus
🐉 creaturegiants
The mightiest of the Gigantes, immortal within his homeland, who stole the cattle of Helios
Cyclopes
🐉 creaturesmithing, monstrous
One-eyed giants who existed in two distinct traditions: divine craftsmen who forged Zeus's thunderbolts, and savage pastoral giants encountered by Odysseus.
Ladon
🐉 creatureguardian, treasure
The hundred-headed serpent-dragon that guarded the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides, slain or tricked by Heracles during his eleventh labour.
Spartoi
🐉 creaturewarriors
Armed warriors who sprang fully grown from dragon's teeth sown in the earth, ancestors of Theban nobility
Calydonian Boar
🐉 creatureMonstrous boar sent by Artemis
The Calydonian Boar was a massive, destructive beast sent by Artemis to ravage Calydon after King Oeneus forgot to honour her in sacrifice.
Briareos
🐉 creaturegiants,sea
One of the Hecatoncheires (Hundred-Handed Giants), beings of immense power with fifty heads and one hundred arms, allies of Zeus in the Titanomachy.