Chrysaor

For other uses of the name, see Chrysaor (disambiguation).

Chrysaor
Consort	Callirrhoe
Parents	Poseidon and Medusa
Siblings	Pegasus
Children	Geryon and Echidna

In Greek mythology, Chrysaor (Greek: Χρυσάωρ, Khrusaōr; English translation: "He who has a golden armament"), the brother of Pegasus, was often depicted as a young man, the son of Poseidon and Medusa. However, Chrysaor is sometimes said to be a giant or a winged boar. Chrysaor and his brother, the winged horse Pegasus, were not born until Perseus chopped off Medusa's head. Chrysaor was also said to be born from the neck of Medusa, whereas Pegasus was born from Medusa's blood.

Medusa, one of the Gorgon sisters, the most beautiful, and the only mortal one, offended Athena by having sexual intercourse with Poseidon in one of Athena's temples, thereby desecrating it. Chrysaor and Pegasus were born from the drops of Medusa's blood which fell in the sea; some say that they sprang from Medusa's neck as Perseus beheaded her, a "higher" birth (such as the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus). Chrysaor is said to have been king of Iberia (Andorra, Gibraltar, Spain and Portugal). Chrysaor had one son, Geryon, from Callirrhoe, daughter of Oceanus.

"Chrysaor, married to Callirrhoe, daughter of glorious Oceanus, was father to the triple-headed Geryon, but Geryon was killed by the great strength of Herakles at sea-circled Erytheis beside his own shambling cattle on that day when Herakles drove those broad-faced cattle toward holy Tiryns, when he crossed the stream of Okeanos and had killed Orthos and the oxherd Eurytion out in the gloomy meadow beyond fabulous Okeanos." - Hesiod, Theogony 287

In art Chrysaor's earliest appearance seems to be on the great pediment of the early 6th century BC Doric temple of Artemis at Kerkyra (Corfu) where he is shown beside his mother, Medusa.

External links

• Magna Graecia: An Introduction