Two-headed dog of Geryon, one of the monstrous offspring of
Typhon and Echidne and father of the Sphinx, either by Echidne or the Chimaera.
He was killed by Heracles, along with Eurytion, when Heracles was sent to steal
the cattle of Geryon, which Orthros and Eurytion guarded.
The word orthros in Greek means "morning
twilight." His name was also spelt Orthos, after another word meaning
"straight" or "height."
Hesiod, Theogony 326 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic
C8th or C7th B.C.):
"But she [the Khimaira or perhaps Ekhidna] in love with
Orthos, mothered the deadly Sphinx . . . and the Nemeian lion."
Hesiod, Theogony 309:
"First she [Ekhidna] bore him [Typhon] Orthos, who was
Geryones' herding dog."
Hesiod, Theogony 293 ff:
"[Herakles] killed Orthos and the oxherd Eurytion out
in that gloomy meadow beyond the fabulous Okeanos."
Pindar, Isthmian Ode 1 ep 1 (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric
C5th B.C.):
"Alkmene bore that dauntless son [Herakles], to whom
long since the fierce hounds of Geryon yielded in trembling terror."
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 106 - 108 (trans.
Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.):
"He [Geryon] owned crimson-colored cattle, which were
herded by Eurytion and protected by Orthos, the hound with two heads born of
Ekhidna and Typhon . . . When he [Herakles] reached Erytheia he camped on Mount
Abas. The dog smelled him there and went after him, but he struck at it with
his club, and when the cowherd Eurytion came to help the dog, he slew him as
well."
Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 6. 249 ff (trans. Way)
(Greek epic C4th A.D.):
"There [depicted on the shield of Eurypylos son of
Herakles] lay the bulk of giant Geryon dead mid his kine . . . Before him slain
lay that most murderous hound Orthros, in furious might like Kerberos his
brother-hound: a herdman lay thereby, Eurytion, all bedabbled with his
blood."
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