Editing Orthrus (section)

==In art==
[[File:Geryon Cdm Paris 223.jpg|thumb|280px|A two-headed Orthrus and a three-bodied Geryon. [[Attica|Attic]] [[black-figure]] [[neck amphora]], by the [[Swing Painter]], c. 550&ndash;500 BC (Paris, Cab. Med. 223).]]

Depictions of Orthrus in art are rare, and always in connection with the theft of Geryon's cattle by Heracles. He is usually shown dead or dying, sometimes pierced by one or more arrows.<ref>Woodford, p, 106; Ogden, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA114 p. 114].</ref>

The earliest depiction of Orthrus is found on a late seventh-century bronze horse pectoral from [[Samos]] (Samos B2518).<ref>Woodford, p. 106; Stafford, [https://books.google.com/books?id=3JDj7MRQAn4C&pg=PA43 pp. 43&ndash;44]; Ogden, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA114 p. 114 n. 256]; ''LIMC'' [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-7432b1f9afdfa-d Orthros I 19].</ref> It shows a two-headed Orthrus, with an arrow protruding from one of his heads, crouching at the feet, and in front of Geryon. Orthrus is facing Heracles, who stands to the left, wearing his characteristic lion-skin, fighting Geryon to the right.

A [[red-figure]] cup by [[Euphronios]] from [[Vulci]] c. 550&ndash;500 BC (Munich 2620) shows a two-headed Orthrus lying belly-up, with an arrow piercing his chest, and his snake tail still writhing behind him.<ref>Beazley Archive [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/14C95B25-2CA0-4D0A-B9A9-3485A6DA50AB 200080]; ''LIMC'' [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-7432776aaa1aa-5 Orthros I 14]; Schefold, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2DA_Aze7F0C&pg=PA126 pp. 126&ndash;128, figs. 147, 148]; Stafford, [https://books.google.com/books?id=3JDj7MRQAn4C&pg=PA45 p. 45]; Gantz, p. 403.</ref> Heracles is on the left, wearing his lion-skin, fighting a three-bodied Geryon to the right. An [[Attica|Attic]] [[black-figure]] [[neck amphora]], by the [[Swing Painter]] c. 550&ndash;500 BC (Cab. Med. 223), shows a two-headed Orthrus, at the feet of a three-bodied Geryon, with two arrows protruding through one of his heads, and a dog tail.<ref>Beazley Archive [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/067D20F1-0DC6-4244-B447-6F04D90FFE90 301557]; ''LIMC'' [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-7432651df84d1-2 Orthros I 12]; Ogden, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA114 p. 114 n. 257]; Gantz, p. 403.</ref>

According to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], Orthrus had two heads; however, in art, the number varies.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.5.10 2.5.10]; Cook, [https://archive.org/stream/zeusstudyinancie03cook#page/410/mode/1up p. 410]; Ogden, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA114 p. 114].</ref> As in the Samos pectoral, Euphronios' cup, and the Swing Painter's, amphora, Orthrus is usually depicted with two heads,<ref>Woodford, p. 106; Ogden, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA114 p. 114, with n. 256]; ''LIMC'' [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-7432b1f9afdfa-d Orthros I 19]. Other two-headed examples include: ''LIMC'' Orthros I 6&ndash;18, 20.</ref> although, from the mid sixth century, he is sometimes depicted with only one head,<ref>Ogden, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA114 p. 114, with n. 256]. For an example of a one-headed Orthrus see: British Museum B194 (Bristish Museum [https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=398903&partId=1 1836,0224.103]; Beazley Archive [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/4B9246B1-DC20-43D6-B8CF-A396773AFAB9 310316]; ''LIMC'' [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-7432233d11cf7-d Orthros I 2]). Other one-headed examples include: ''LIMC'' Orthros I 1, 3&ndash;5.</ref> while one early fifth century BC [[Cyprus|Cypriot]] stone relief gives him three heads, á la Cerberus.<ref>''LIMC'' [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-7432e536d4ec0-a Orthros I 21]; Metropolitan Museum of Art [http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/242404 74.51.2853]; Mertens, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PLG8QLjOA5cC&pg=PA78 p. 78, fig. 31].</ref>

The Euphronios cup, and the stone relief depict Orthrus, like Cerberus, with a snake tail, though usually he is shown with a dog tail, as in the Swing Painter's amphora.<ref>Ogden, Ogden, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA114 p. 114, with n. 256].</ref>