Chrysaor (Ancient Greek: Χρυσάωρ, romanized: Khrysáor), whose name means "he who has a golden sword" (from χρυσός "golden" and ἄορ "sword") was the brother of Pegasus. He was the son of Medusa and Poseidon and husband of Callirhoe, daughter of Oceanus. He was the father of Geryon.
Mythology[]
Little is known about Chrysaor; he was considered a stout-hearted warrior, and his name means "he who bears a golden sword". He did not have a major role in Greek mythology.
His earliest attestation in literature is from Hesiod's Theogony, where he said that Chrysaor was named so due to having a golden sword when he was born. Later in the text he mentions that he married Callirhoe and gave birth to Geryon.[1]
| “ | And when Perseus cut off her head, there sprang forth great Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus who is so called because he was born near the springs of Oceanus; and that other, because he held a golden blade in his hands. Now Pegasus flew away and left the earth, the mother of flocks, and came to the deathless gods: and he dwells in the house of Zeus and brings to wise Zeus the thunder and lightning. But Chrysaor was joined in love to Callirrhoe, the daughter of glorious Oceanus, and begot three-headed Geryones. | ” |
–Hesiod, Theogony | ||
Chrysaor and Callirrhoe may have also been the parents of Echidna.
In an alternate genealogy from Stephanus of Byzantium's Ethnica, Chrysaor is a son of Glaucus and grandson of Sisyphus, and his son Mylasus goes on to found Mylasa. This ancestry would make Chrysaor a double of Bellerophon.