Fantastical Creatures of Greco-Roman Mythology: Orthrus, the Two-Headed Little Brother

It’s got to be tough, being a younger sibling of famous monsters. Your brother and other siblings get all the attention, the best jobs, and all the limelight in the big myths. To make it that much worse, they also get far more dramatic—and tragic—death scenes.

Is there no justice for little brothers?

Today’s exploration into the lesser-known creatures of Greco-Roman mythology looks at the younger brother of a very famous couple of monsters. As we learn what little is known about him, it’s worth keeping in mind that there isn’t a whole lot of concrete information left in the historical record about this monster.

That’s both a plus and a minus for you monster-loving fantasy writers (a new creature to play with! that you’ll never be sure you were historically accurate with, but neither will your readers!) as well as for you readers, because you’ll finally have another “real” multi-headed dog to add to your imagination vault.

Orthrus, the Unknown

Ah, family monsters. I can almost guarantee you’ve heard of Cerberus. Who hasn’t? A huge, multi-headed hellhound guarding the gates of Hades…ooh, scary! In his final labor, Heracles was the only one able to subdue the beast and pass by, slinging the giant dog over his back and eventually using Cerberus to terrify his enemies.

And what about the Hydra? Everyone loves a nearly invincible, multi-headed water beast! Cut off one head, two more grow…or get too close, and its poisonous breath and blood will slay you where you stand. Good thing Heracles was on the job, because his second labor involved slaying the Lernean Hydra—which he did, in an extremely dramatic and gory scene found in the Pseudo-Apollodorean Bibliotheca.

And I know you’ve heard of the Sphinx. Answer her riddle and pass, but if you answer incorrectly? You’re killed and eaten. Simple, really.

How about the Nemean Lion? Yes, we’re taking it all the way back to Heracles’ first labor with this one. Poor Lion. It’s not like the gods gave him impenetrable skin and fur for nothing, but of course, in a dramatic fight, Heracles stunned and strangled the lion and then used the lion’s own claws to skin it.

Perhaps scariest of all, however, is the Chimera…you know the Chimera. Who doesn’t? The most frequent depiction of the Chimera features the body of a lion, a tail with a serpent’s head at the end, and a goat’s head rising from its back. Oh, and she breathed fire. Bellerophon and Pegasus took down this beast in an epic battle described in multiple ancient sources.

And then there’s Orthrus, who…wait…who’s Orthrus again?

You mean, you haven’t heard of him? But those other five siblings are so famous, deadly, and such critical figures of ancient myth, so…who the heck is Orthrus?

Orthrus, the Guardian

Orthrus is perhaps best known in relationship to his brother Cerberus, likely because…well, they’re both dogs. But unlike his brother, whose number of heads changes depending on the ancient source, everyone seems to agree that Orthrus had two heads and a serpent-headed tail.
And like any good dog, Orthrus had a master. In this case, it was the three-bodied, winged Titan named Geryon. Geryon employed Orthrus and Eurytion—the son of Ares and the nymph Erytheia—to guard his herd of beautiful, red-skinned cattle.

But like any good monster of myth, Orthrus’ future wasn’t all that bright:

“[Geryon] owned crimson-colored cattle, which were herded by Eurytion and protected by Orthos, the hound with two heads born of Echidna and Typhon…when [Heracles] 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.” – Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 106-108; 2nd-C A.D.

So, Orthrus guarded a special herd of cattle for a giant and got clubbed in the head by Heracles, even though he was just trying to do his job. And then his poor master was murdered as he rushed to his dog’s side.

And that was the end of Orthrus.

Orthrus, the Indistinct

What does Orthrus’ story tell us? (Besides the fact that Heracles is a complete jerk, that is.) Not a whole lot, to be quite honest. And his lineage isn’t all that clear either.

The majority of ancient sources specify that he, along with the siblings mentioned above, was the offspring of the Earth deities Typhon and Echidna. However, as expected in Greek mythology, genealogy gets a little bizarre depending on who’s explaining it. Hesiod seems to think that Orthrus and Echidna (his mother) or Chimera (his sister) may have, ahem, “created” the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion.

As per usual, it’s best to take the lineage with a grain of salt.

Orthrus, the Absent

In Ancient Greek, Orthrus’ name means “morning twilight,” which is quite the delicate name for a two-headed monster dog. Although Orthrus’ place in mythology took an extreme back seat to the notoriety and exploits of his siblings—to the point where he has become virtually absent from common knowledge, as opposed to creatures like Cerberus and the Sphinx—this ignored “little brother” of a huge monster family is worth remembering today.

For one, he’s the original two-headed dog of fantasy literature. Since accounts of Cerberus can’t agree on how many heads he has (one? three? fifty?) we can confidently say that it’s Orthrus’ consistent description in the ancient sources that has influenced the dual-headed dog trope that occasionally appears in fantasy fiction.

This monster also has the benefit of slight anonymity when it comes to using him in modern fantasy. Because there isn’t a great deal of familiarity with him, there isn’t a whole lot of baggage or expectation associated with Orthrus as a monster (again, unlike the Sphinx or even the Hydra). Writers have more freedom to work with this creature from a historical basis that can then be branched out upon.

And, let’s be honest—sometimes younger siblings just deserve a piece of the spotlight, too.

Print Friendly