- Cerberus the mythical three-headed 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 with a snake for a tail (sometimes said to have 50 or 100 heads) called a hellhound. Other hell hounds included Orthus, his two headed brother and
Argos. 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.
He was overcome several times:
- 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 Greek 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
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.
Twelfth Labour of Heracles
In the last of his Twelve Labours, Heracles was to capture Cerberus, from Hades. Hades was 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. 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, first poisonous plants were born,
including deadly aconite.
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