Chrysaor

In Greek mythology, Chrysaor (, Chrysáor, gen.: Χρυσάορος, Chrysáoros; English translation: "He who has a golden sword" (from χρυσός, "golden" and ἄορ, "sword")), the brother of the winged horse Pegasus, was often depicted as a young man, the son of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa. However, Chrysaor is sometimes said to be a giant or a winged boar. Chrysaor and Pegasus were not born until Perseus chopped off Medusa's head.Hesiod, Theogony 280.
Chrysaor was also said to be born from the neck of Medusa, whereas Pegasus was born from Medusa's blood. (Perhaps in the original telling of the tale Chrysaor was the severed head itself)
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. Chrysaor and Pegasus were said to be born from the drops of Medusa's blood which fell in the sea; others 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 Heracles at sea-circled Erytheis beside his own shambling cattle on that day when Heracles 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 BCE Doric temple of Artemis at Kerkyra (Corfu) where he is shown beside his mother, Medusa.
==References==
==External links==
* Magna Graecia: An Introduction
Category:Greek Mythology