Cerberus
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i like pie-headed]] dog[1] with a snake for a tail and snakes down his back like a mane, whose analogs in other cultures are hellhounds. Other hell hounds included Orthus, his two-headed brother. 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). Among his siblings are Chimera and the Hydra. He is the offspring of Echidna and Typhon. In Dante's Inferno, he is described as having a human head. This symbolizes the possibility of Cerberus being more human than animal.
Cerberus was overcome several times, with the aid of gods or supernatural talents:
- Heracles' 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 Roman tale, Psyche also lulled Cerberus to sleep with drugged honeycakes.
- In The Inferno, Cerberus punishes the gluttons and is passed by Virgil and Dante due to Virgil throwing into one of his mouths some of the putrid earth found in the Third Circle.
In the Greek Oracle of the Dead at Cumae in southern Italy, the recently excavated subterranean shrine was found to contain giant 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.[citation needed] Today is its also used in popular culture, Cerberus is the name of the "Smoke Monster" on the popular television show Lost.
Twelfth Labour of Heracles (or Hercules)
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In the last of his Twelve Labours, Heracles was to capture Cerberus from Hades, the God of the dead and the ruler of the Underworld. After having been given the task, Heracles went to Eleusis to be initiated in 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, Heracles 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 Heracles pulled Theseus free, part of Theseus's thighs remained on the bench, explaining why his descendants had notably lean thighs. Heracles 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 (both were children of Zeus). In any case, Heracles 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 Heracles, 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.
Gallery
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Cerberus, picture by William Blake (18th cent.) -
Cerberus, engraving by Gustave Doré (19th cent.)
External links
- Theoi Project, Kerberos the hound of Hades in classical literature and art
- The Dog of Hades, by Maurice Bloomfield, 1905, from Project Gutenberg
- An Engraving of Cerberus by Gustave Doré.
- The Dog of Hades who was actually the Hound of Hecate.