Editing Cerberus (section)

== Descriptions ==
Descriptions of Cerberus vary, including the number of his heads. Cerberus was usually three-headed, though not always. Cerberus had several multi-headed relatives. His father was the multi snake-footed [[Typhon]],<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D304 300–314], [[Acusilaus]], fragment 6 (Freeman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=B75GgVdxYT0C&pg=PA15 p. 15]), [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html Preface], [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae4.html 151] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105043622/http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae4.html |date=5 November 2014 }}, and [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''[[Posthomerica]]'' (or ''Fall of Troy'') [https://archive.org/stream/falloftroy00quin#page/272/mode/2up 6.260–268 (pp. 272–275)] all have Cerberus as the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, while [[Bacchylides]], Ode [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0064%3Abook%3DEp%3Apoem%3D5 5.56–62], [[Sophocles]], ''[[Women of Trachis]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0196%3Acard%3D1076 1097–1099], [[Callimachus]], fragment 515 Pfeiffer (Trypanis, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/callimachus-fragments_uncertain_location/1973/pb_LCL421.259.xml?result=2&rskey=li3r52 pp. 258–259]), and [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=4:card=481&highlight=Echidna 4.500–501], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=7:card=404&highlight=Cerberian 7.406–409] all have Cerberus as the offspring of Echidna without naming a father.</ref> and Cerberus was the brother of three other multi-headed monsters, the multi-snake-headed [[Lernaean Hydra]]; [[Orthrus]], the two-headed dog that guarded the Cattle of [[Geryon]]; and the [[Chimera (mythology)|Chimera]], who had three heads: that of a lion, a goat, and a snake.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D306 309–324] (although it is not certain whom Hesiod meant as the mother of the Chimera: Echidna, the Hydra, or Ceto); [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.5.10 2.5.10], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.3.1 2.3.1]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html#Preface Preface].</ref> And, like these close relatives, Cerberus was, with only the rare iconographic exception, multi-headed.

In the earliest description of Cerberus, [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'' (c. 8th – 7th century BC), Cerberus has fifty heads, while [[Pindar]] (c. 522 – c. 443 BC) gave him one hundred heads.<ref>Gantz, p. 22; Ogden 2013a, p. 105, with n. 182; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+311 311–312]; [[Pindar]], fragment F249a/b SM, from a lost Pindar poem on Heracles in the underworld, according to a scholia on the ''Iliad''.</ref> However, later writers almost universally give Cerberus three heads.<ref>Ogden 2013a, pp. 105–106, with n. 183; [[Sophocles]], ''[[Women of Trachis]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+22 22–25] ("three-bodied"), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0196%3Acard%3D1076 1097–1099]; [[Euripides]], ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+610 610–611], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+1276 1276–1278]; [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+6.417 6.417–421] ("triple-throated", "three fierce mouths"), ''[[Georgics]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=46DDD4DE402FC078B3A0CA9C8025544E?doc=Verg.+G.+4.483 4.483] ("triple jaws"); [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D4%3Acard%3D416 4.449–451] ("three-visaged mouths", "triple-barking"), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Ov.+Met.+9.184 9.185] ("triple form"), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D10%3Acard%3D1 10.21–22] ("three necks"), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D10%3Acard%3D1 10.65–66] ("triple necks"), ''[[Heroides]]'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-heroides/1914/pb_LCL041.115.xml?result=7&rskey=khGLLX 9.93–94 (pp. 114–115)] ("three-fold"); [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Agamemnon'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-agamemnon/2004/pb_LCL078.199.xml 859–862 (pp. 198–199)] ("triple chains"), ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.53.xml?result=16&rskey=CRLRlQ 60–62 (pp. 52–53)] ("triple necks"), [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.111.xml?result=16&rskey=CRLRlQ 782–784 (pp. 110–111)]; [[Statius]], ''[[Silvae]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/statiusstat01statuoft#page/90/mode/2up 2.1.183–184 (I pp. 90–91)] ("triple jaws"), [https://archive.org/stream/statiusstat01statuoft#page/168/mode/2up 3.3.27 (I pp. 168–169)] ("threefold"), ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'', [https://archive.org/stream/statiusstat01statuoft#page/396/mode/2up 2.31 (I pp. 396–397)], ("threefold"), [https://archive.org/stream/statiusstat01statuoft#page/398/mode/2up 2.53 (I pp. 398–399)] ("tri-formed"); [[Propertius]], ''Elegies'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/propertius-elegies/1990/pb_LCL018.235.xml?result=2&rskey=Iew01V 3.5.44 (pp. 234–237)] ("three throats"), [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/propertius-elegies/1990/pb_LCL018.285.xml?result=2&rskey=Iew01V 3.18.23 (pp. 284–285)] ("three heads") [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+2.5.12 2.5.12] ("three heads of dogs").</ref> An exception is the Latin poet [[Horace]]'s Cerberus which has a single dog head, and one hundred snake heads.<ref>West, David, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XCaYMyW1YQQC&pg=PA108 p. 108]; Ogden 2013a, p. 107; [[Horace]], ''Odes'' 3.11.17–20 (West, David, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XCaYMyW1YQQC&pg=PA101 pp. 101–103]) ("a hundred snakes … triple-tongued"), ''Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0025%3Abook%3D2%3Apoem%3D13 2.13.33–36] ("hundred-headed"), ''Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0025:book=2:poem=19 2.19.29–32] ("triple tongue").</ref> Perhaps trying to reconcile these competing traditions, [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]]'s Cerberus has three dog heads and the heads of "all sorts of snakes" along his back, while the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] poet [[John Tzetzes]] (who probably based his account on Apollodorus) gives Cerberus fifty heads, three of which were dog heads, the rest being the "heads of other beasts of all sorts".<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+2.5.12 2.5.12]; [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''[[Chiliades]]'' 2.36.389–392 (Greek: Kiessling, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dG0GAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA55 pp. 55–56]; English translation: Berkowitz, [https://archive.org/stream/TzetzesCHILIADES/Chiliades#page/n48/mode/1up p. 48]); Frazer's [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+2.5.12 note 1] to Apollodorus, 2.5.12.</ref>

[[File:Herakles Kerberos Louvre F204.jpg|thumb|left|Heracles, chain in left hand, his club laid aside, calms a two-headed Cerberus, which has a snake protruding from each of his heads, a mane down his necks and back, and a snake tail. Cerberus is emerging from a portico, which represents the palace of [[Hades]] in the underworld. Between them, a tree represents the sacred grove of Hades' wife Persephone. On the far left, Athena stands, left arm extended. [[Amphora]] (c. 525–510 BC) from [[Vulci]] (Louvre F204).<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2554%22 Herakles 2554] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710022236/https://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2554%22 |date=10 July 2017 }} (Smallwood, pp. 87, 98); Schefold 1992, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2DA_Aze7F0C&pg=PA130 pp. 130–131], [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2DA_Aze7F0C&pg=PA131 fig. 152]; Beazley Archive [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/2A5DF5DB-2CFF-4DD3-947A-0F9A51382F1A 200011]; Perseus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Louvre+F+204&object=vase Louvre F 204 (Vase)].</ref>]]

In art Cerberus is most commonly depicted with two dog heads (visible), never more than three, but occasionally with only one.<ref>Smallwood, p. 87; Gantz, p. 22; Ogden 2013a, p. 106. According to Gantz, "Presumably the frequent variant of two heads arose from logistical problems in draftmanship," and Ogden wonders if "such images salute or establish a tradition of a two-headed Cerberus, or are we to imagine a third head concealed behind the two that can be seen?" For one-headed Cerberus, see ''LIMC'' Herakles 2553, 2570, 2576, 2591, 2621.</ref> On one of the two earliest depictions (c. 590–580 BC), a [[Corinth]]ian cup from [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] (see below), now lost, Cerberus was shown as a normal single-headed dog.<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2553%22 Herakles 2553] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710015544/https://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2553%22 |date=10 July 2017 }} (Smallwood, pp. 87, 97–98); Gantz, p. 22; Ogden 2013a, p. 106, with n. 184. A relief ''pithos'' fragment (c. 590–570 BC) ''LIMC'' Herakles 2621 (Smallwood, p. 92), seems to show a single lion-headed Cerberus, with snake (open-mouthed) over his back.</ref> The first appearance of a three-headed Cerberus occurs on a mid-sixth-century BC [[Laconia]]n cup (see below).<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2605%22 Herakles 2605] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710021129/https://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2605%22 |date=10 July 2017 }} (Smallwood, p. 91); Schefold 1992, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2DA_Aze7F0C&pg=PA129 p. 129]; Gantz, p. 22; Ogden 2013a, p. 106, with n. 185.</ref>

Horace's many snake-headed Cerberus followed a long tradition of Cerberus being part snake. This is perhaps already implied as early as in Hesiod's ''Theogony'', where Cerberus' mother is the half-snake [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]], and his father the snake-headed Typhon. In art, Cerberus is often shown as being part snake,<ref>Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA63 p. 63].</ref> for example the lost Corinthian cup showed snakes protruding from Cerberus' body, while the mid sixth-century BC Laconian cup gives Cerberus a snake for a tail. In the literary record, the first certain indication of Cerberus' serpentine nature comes from the rationalized account of [[Hecataeus of Miletus]] (fl. 500–494 BC), who makes Cerberus a large poisonous snake.<ref>[[Hecataeus of Miletus]], fr. *27 a Fowler (Fowler 2000, p. 136) (''apud'' [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.25.4 3.25.4–5]), (cf. ''FGrH'' 1 F27); Ogden 2013a, p. 107.</ref> [[Plato]] refers to Cerberus' composite nature,<ref>[[Plato]] ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D9%3Asection%3D588c 588c].</ref> and [[Euphorion of Chalcis]] (3rd century BC) describes Cerberus as having multiple snake tails,<ref>[[Euphorion of Chalcis|Euphorian]], fragment 71 Lightfoot (Lightfoot, [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/euphorion_chalcis-poetic_fragments/2010/pb_LCL508.301.xml pp. 300–303]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA69 pp. 69–70]); Ogden 2013a, p. 107.</ref> and presumably in connection to his serpentine nature, associates Cerberus with the creation of the poisonous [[Aconitum|aconite]] plant.<ref>[[Euphorion of Chalcis|Euphorion]], fragment 41a Lightfoot, (Lightfoot, [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/euphorion_chalcis-poetic_fragments/2010/pb_LCL508.273.xml pp. 272–275] = [[Herodorus of Heraclea|Herodorus]] fragment 31 Fowler).</ref> [[Virgil]] has snakes writhe around Cerberus' neck,<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+6.417 6.419],</ref> [[Ovid]]'s Cerberus has a venomous mouth,<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D4%3Acard%3D481 4.500–501].</ref> necks "vile with snakes",<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D10%3Acard%3D1 10.22–24]</ref> and "hair inwoven with the threatening snake",<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Heroides]]'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-heroides/1914/pb_LCL041.115.xml?result=7&rskey=khGLLX 9.93–94 (pp. 114–115)].</ref> while [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] gives Cerberus a mane consisting of snakes, and a single snake tail.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.113.xml 785–812 (pp. 112–113)]. See also [[Lucan]], ''[[Pharsalia]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0134%3Abook%3D6%3Acard%3D624 6.664–665], which has Cerberus' heads "bristling" with snakes; and [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+2.5.12 2.5.12] whose Cerberus is snake-tailed and has "on his back the heads of all sorts of snakes".</ref>

Cerberus was given various other traits. According to [[Euripides]], Cerberus not only had three heads but three bodies,<ref>[[Euripides]] ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+22 22–25].</ref> and according to Virgil he had multiple backs.<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+6.417 6.422].</ref> Cerberus ate raw flesh (according to Hesiod),<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D304 311].</ref> had eyes which flashed fire (according to Euphorion), a three-tongued mouth (according to Horace), and acute hearing (according to Seneca).<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.113.xml 788–791 (pp. 112–113)].</ref>