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=== Capture=== [[File:Herakles Kerberos Louvre A481.jpg|thumb|left|Athena, Heracles, and a two-headed Cerberus, with mane down his necks and back. Hermes (not shown in the photograph) stands to the left of Athena. An [[amphora]] (c. 575β525 BC) from [[Kameiros]], [[Rhodes]] (Louvre A481).<ref>Beazley Archive [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/912A6BEC-EC0B-47D2-8C0F-6923CB008329 10772].</ref>]] There are various versions of how Heracles accomplished Cerberus' capture.<ref>Ogden 2013a, pp. 110β112.</ref> According to Apollodorus, Heracles asked Hades for Cerberus, and Hades told Heracles he would allow him to take Cerberus only if he "mastered him without the use of the weapons which he carried", and so, using his lion-skin as a shield, Heracles squeezed Cerberus around the head until he submitted.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+2.5.12 2.5.1]; compare with [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''[[Chiliades]]'' 2.36.400β401 (Greek: Kiessling, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dG0GAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA55 pp. 55β56]; English translation: Berkowitz, [https://archive.org/stream/TzetzesCHILIADES/Chiliades#page/n48/mode/1up p. 48]) which says that Heracles mastered Cerberus "Covered only by his lion skin and breast piece / Apart from the rest of his weapons, just as Pluton [i.e. Hades] said".</ref> In some early sources Cerberus' capture seems to involve Heracles fighting Hades. Homer (''Iliad'' 5.395β397) has Hades injured by an arrow shot by Heracles.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+5.395 5.395β397]; Kirk, p. 102; Ogden 2013a, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA110 110]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA111 111]; Gantz, pp. 70, 414, 416. [[Panyassis]] [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/panyassis-heraclea/2003/pb_LCL497.213.xml F26 West (West, M. L., (pp. 212β213)] has "Elean Hades" being shot by Heracles. Compare with Seneca, ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.53.xml 48β51 (pp. 52β53)], where Heracles brings back "spoils of triumph over that conquered king β¦ subdued Dis".</ref> A scholium to the ''Iliad'' passage, explains that Hades had commanded that Heracles "master Cerberus without shield or Iron".<ref>Schol. [[Homer]] ''[[Iliad]]'' 5.395β397 (Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA66 p. 66]); Ogden 2013a, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA112 p. 112]; Gantz, p. 416.</ref> Heracles did this, by (as in Apollodorus) using his lion-skin instead of his shield, and making stone points for his arrows, but when Hades still opposed him, Heracles shot Hades in anger. Consistent with the no iron requirement, on an early-sixth-century BC lost Corinthian cup, Heracles is shown attacking Hades with a stone,<ref>Smallwood, pp. 96β97; Ogden 2013a, p. 111.</ref> while the iconographic tradition, from c. 560 BC, often shows Heracles using his wooden club against Cerberus.<ref>Ogden 2013a, p. 111.</ref> Euripides has [[Amphitryon]] ask Heracles: "Did you conquer him in fight, or receive him from the goddess [i.e. Persephone]? To which Heracles answers: "In fight",<ref>[[Euripides]] ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+610 610β613]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA69 pp. 69β70]. This question is echoed in Seneca, ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.111.xml 760β761 (pp. 110β111)], where Amphitryon asks "Is it spoil [Heracles] brings, or a willing gift from his uncle.</ref> and the ''Pirithous'' fragment says that Heracles "overcame the beast by force".<ref>''Pirithous'' ''[[TrGF]]'' 43 F1 Hypothesis (Collard and Cropp, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.640.xml pp. 640β641]).</ref> However, according to Diodorus, Persephone welcomed Heracles "like a brother" and gave Cerberus "in chains" to Heracles.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#26 4.26.1].</ref> Aristophanes has Heracles seize Cerberus in a stranglehold and run off,<ref>[[Aristophanes]], ''[[The Frogs|Frogs]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0032%3Acard%3D460 465β469]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA65 pp. 65β66].</ref> while Seneca has Heracles again use his lion-skin as shield, and his wooden club, to subdue Cerberus, after which a quailing Hades and Persephone allow Heracles to lead a chained and submissive Cerberus away.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.113.xml 797β812 (pp. 112β113)].</ref> Cerberus is often shown being chained, and Ovid tells that Heracles dragged the three headed Cerberus with chains of [[adamant]].<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D7%3Acard%3D404 7.409β413].</ref>
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