A wood engraving of Geryon by Gustavo Doré.

Towards the end of canto 16, Dante notices a monster that rises from the depths of the water and this is Geryon. In Canto 17, Geryon is introduced as the monster, the “filthy image of fraud”. Geryon is a personification of fraud, (lines 10-15) “Its face was that of a just man, so kindly seemed its outer skin, and the rest of its torso was that of a serpent; it had two paws, hairy to the armpits; it had back and breast and both sides with knots and little wheels: …” He is described as a hideous beast that is used as the image of fraud. Dante uses a metaphor and compares him to a beaver because during medieval times the biologists thought that beavers caught fish by sticking their tails in the water and secreting some oily substance that the fish were fond of. Geryon is secreting “fraud” or in the words of Dante “Behold the one that makes the whole world stink!” (line 3) “Fraud makes all physical barriers and defenses (mountains, walls, and armor) useless”. It poisons the world with venom and humans do grow fond of fraud and end up committing it. People convince one another to commit fraud by promising that they will end up rich and live extravagantly and use deception for personal gain.

Geryon’s body represents the “chronological sequence of a fraudulent deal”.  Geryon’s initial appearance represents trust, the bright colors of his torso can confuse and by the end of the ordeal comes the sting which is either death or of loss. Geryon’s colorful torso is also related to the leopard’s painted skin that represents fraud.  In lines 25-27 Geryon is compared to a scorpion “In the emptiness all its tail was wriggling, twisting, upward the poisoned fork that armed it tip like a scorpion’s”.  Certain scorpions with rose tails symbolize a “double-edged sword” meaning that they can sting immensely or be pleasant. Both scorpions and Geryon have very venomous tails. In other words, Geryon can sting by deceiving someone with his honest face for his own personal interests or he can be somewhat helpful. In this canto, Geryon did help Virgil and Dante by taking them around the waterfall of the river Phlegethon down to the Circle of Fraud. Dante was struck with horror when Virgil requested a ride from the monster. As he climbed on Geryon he saw countless sinners suffering from above and was scared the entire time. Moreover, in Canto 3, Cerberus was introduced was a three-headed dog but is also “the great worm”; like Geryon they are both part snake. In Genesis 3, serpents are considered the first deceivers.