Erytheia

Erytheia is a figure or place name from Greek mythology, most often described as a mythical island located beyond the western edge of the known world, in or beyond the Ocean. The island is best known as the home where the cattle of the monster Geryon were kept, which Heracles was tasked to obtain as the tenth of his twelve labours. In various accounts, Heracles sails west from the European mainland, reaches Erytheia, slays Geryon, and drives the cattle back to Greece, sometimes traversing additional lands along the way. The name itself is commonly linked to the Greek erythos, meaning “red,” possibly alluding to the color of the western sky or soil.

Location and identifications of Erytheia vary widely in ancient sources. Some writers place the island in the Atlantic near the Strait of Gibraltar, others identify it with islands off Iberia such as Tartessus, and still others treat the name as a poetic or geographic label rather than a fixed locale. In certain later traditions, Erytheia is listed among lists of the Hesperides as a possible name for one of the nymphs or a region they inhabit, though this usage is not consistent across sources.

Beyond its role in Heracles’ labours, Erytheia embodies the mythic western boundary in Greek cosmography, representing a remote, exotic edge of the world. In modern scholarship, the toponym is often studied as part of ancient geographers’ attempts to map the known world, rather than as a historically verifiable place.