Cerberus
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Bold text:This article is about the mythical three-headed guard dog. For other uses, see Cerberus (disambiguation).
In Greek mythology, Cerberus or Kerberos (Greek Κέρβερος, Kerberos, "demon of the pit") was the hound of Hades, a monstrous three-headed dog (sometimes said to have 50 or 100 heads) with a snake for a tail and serpentine mane.
Cerberus guarded the gate to Hades and ensured that spirits of the dead could enter, but none could exit (additionally no living person was to come into Hades). His sister was Chimera and his brother was Orthrus. He is the offspring of Echidna and Typhon.
He was overcome several times:
- Hercules' final labour was to capture Cerberus, which he did by wrestling it into submission.
- Orpheus used his musical skills to lull Cerberus to sleep.
- Hermes put him to sleep with water from the river Lethe.
- In Roman mythology, The Sybil of Cumae lulled Cerberus to sleep with drugged honeycakes in order to permit Aeneas fuller entry to the underworld.
- In a Greek tale, Psyche also lulled Cerberus to sleep with drugged honeycakes.
In the Greek Oracle of the Dead at Cumae in southern Italy, the recently excavated subterranean shrine was found to contain chains fixed to the wall for three large dogs before the entrance to the shrine of Hades and Persephone. The three dogs would have represented Cerberus in this ancient temple.
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[edit] Twelfth Labour of Hercules
In the last of his Twelve Labours, Hercules was to capture Cerberus. After having been given the task, Hercules went to Eleusis to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries so that he could learn how to enter and exit the underworld alive, and in passing absolve himself for killing centaurs. He found the entrance to the underworld at Tanaerum, and Athena and Hermes helped him to traverse the entrance in each direction. He passed Charon with Hermes's assistance and his own heavy and fierce frowning.
Whilst in the underworld, Hercules freed Theseus, but the earth shook when he attempted to liberate Pirithous, so he had to leave him behind.
They had been imprisoned by Hades, by magically binding them to a bench, because they had attempted to kidnap Persephone. The magic was so strong that when Hercules pulled Theseus free, part of Theseus's thighs remained on the bench, explaining why his descendants had notably lean thighs.
Hercules presented himself before the throne of Hades and Persephone and asked permission to take Cerberus, to which the gods agreed as long as Heracles did not harm the hound in any way. Some say Persephone gave her consent because Heracles was her own brother. In any case, Hercules wrestled the dog into submission and dragged it out of Hades, passing through a cavern entrance in the Peloponnese. When he returned with Cerberus to the palace, Eurystheus, the man who had assigned the task to Hercules, was so afraid of the fearsome beast that he jumped into a pithos (large storage jar) to hide. From the spittle of the dog which fell upon earth, the first poisonous plants were born, including deadly aconite.
[edit] In popular culture
- For more details on this topic, see Cerberus (popular culture).
The image of Cerberus appears in many contexts in popular culture, most frequently when fictional monsters of similar appearance or qualities take the name.
[edit] External links
- Theoi Project, Cerberus the dog in classical literature and art
- The Dog of Hades, by Maurice Bloomfield, 1905, from Project Gutenberg
