For the tenth labour, Eurystheus commanded Heracles to go to the «misty» island of Erythia located on the edge of the ocean (or beyond) in the far-West and to bring back the Cattle of Geryon. The latter was a monster made of three men joined at the waist.The object of this tenth labour of Héraclès symbolize the powers of life obtained after the transcendence of the modes of nature or gunas.
To fully understand this web page, it is recommended to follow the progression given in the tab Greek myths interpretation. This progression follows the spiritual journey.
The method to navigate in the site is given in the Home tab.
Heracles fighting Geryon – Louvre Museum
In some old sources and on some ceramics, Geryon had one pair of wings on one of his bodies.
For some, Heracles began his journey at the eastern ends of the world. Some say that on his way, he killed many wild beasts «to prepare the roads of the future».
Then, exasperated by the heat, he threatened Helios with his bow. Impressed, the latter suggested to the hero to use his cup to cross the ocean. According to others, the hero fetched the cup from Nereus or even from Oceanos.
He then built «the pillars of Heracles» (the Columns of Hercules) in Tartessos which mark at the West the borders of the inhabited land.
Then he embarked on the cup and crossed «Oceanos’ passage » until the island of Erythia. During the journey, Oceanos tested him by raising high waves. But the hero threatened the god who calmed down, frightened.
At the end of his journey, Heracles waited for a favourable opportunity, then killed successively the dog Orthos (or Orthros) and the herdsman Eurytion. Geryon, warned by Menoetes who was keeping Hades’ cattle not far away, came to fight Heracles and did not survive.
The hero then seized the cattle, of which the beasts were purple.
According to Apollodorus, on the way back, Hera sent horseflies against the cattle in order to disperse it. The hero had a hard time gathering the cattle and bringing it to Eurystheus, who promptly sacrificed it to the goddess.
Geryon is a grandson of Medusa through Chrysaor (who sprang from the Gorgo’s neck when it was cut by Perseus). Thus he belongs to the Phorcys-Ceto couple’s progeny, in Pontos’ lineage. He represents some energies of the vital world that came into play during the constitution of the animal «I» (animal ego). That is why he lives in the Far-West, place of the memories of the animal humanity’s archaic functioning.
See Family Tree 2
Erythia is «reddening» as it is the land of the setting sun – of humanity’s past – where the vital reigns supreme. In mythology, the East is indeed always related to the New and the West to the old. The sun therefore always completes its course from the new to the old: any new light must illuminate the unconsciousness that is at the basis of evolution.
And if this land is misty, it is because our present consciousness has difficulties grasping the functioning of this archaic mental consciousness and because the path of yoga in these depths is not laid out.
Some even say that Hades’ cattle was grazing close by: the wealth of the body unconscious is close to that of the vital archaic consciousness.
Geryon is one of Chrysaor’s sons «he who has a golden sword» who appeared from Medusa the Gorgo’s severed neck. In a previous chapter, we associated Medusa with fear and vital lust (the movement of appropriation) which comes from separative ignorance. When fear disappears, pure will can manifest, that which is under the guidance of the psychic and not mixed with the ego’s will, subjected to desire. In turn, this pure will reveals life’s gifts and their guardians: Orthros, Eurytion and Geryon.
Heracles must then confront forces that reveal themselves openly (in consciousness) when fear and the appropriation movement cease at the root of the ego. Formerly, they existed all the same but their expression was veiled by these elements, and the seeker did not have the possibility to clearly identify them or act in an impeccably right manner (Chrysaor «he who has a golden sword»).
Nevertheless, the sole awareness of it is insufficient, and to defeat them, the