Geryon

[Note 4] In the fullest account in the Bibliotheke of Pseudo-Apollodorus,[3] Heracles was required to travel to Erytheia, in order to obtain the Cattle of Geryon (Γηρυόνου βόες) as his tenth labour.

Helios "in admiration of his courage" gave Heracles the golden cup he used to sail across the sea from the west to the east each night.

He pursued Heracles at the River Anthemus but fell victim to an arrow that had been dipped in the venomous blood of the Lernaean Hydra, shot so forcefully by Heracles that it pierced Geryon's forehead, "and Geryon bent his neck over to one side, like a poppy that spoils its delicate shapes, shedding its petals all at once".

According to some versions, Heracles drove his remaining cattle past a cave, where Cacus had hidden the stolen animals, and they began calling out to each other.

[5] The poet Stesichorus wrote a poem "Geryoneis" (Γηρυονηΐς) in the sixth century BC, which was apparently the source of this section in Bibliotheke; it contains the first reference to Tartessus.

From the fragmentary papyri found at Oxyrhyncus[6] it is possible (although there is no evidence) that Stesichorus inserted a character, Menoites, who reported the theft of the cattle to Geryon.

In his work Description of Greece, Pausanias mentions that Geryon had a daughter, Erytheia, who had a son with Hermes, Norax, the founder of the city of Nora in Sardinia.

Here, Geryon has become the Monster of Fraud, a beast with the paws of a bear or lion, the body of a wyvern, and a scorpion's poisonous sting at the tip of his tail, but with the face of an "honest man" (similar to a manticore).

[8] The Estoria de España of Alfonso X of Castile tells how Hercules killed the giant Geryon, cut his head off and ordered a tower built on it marking his victory.

[9] The Portuguese friar Bernardo de Brito considers the monster a historical invader, ruling despotically over the descendants of Tubal.