Editing Cerberus (section)

== Principal sources ==
[[File:Cerberus-Blake.jpeg|thumb|left|Cerberus, with the gluttons in [[Dante]]'s [[Third Circle of Hell]]. [[William Blake]].]]
The earliest mentions of Cerberus (c. 8th – 7th century BC) occur in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]'', and [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]''.<ref>For a discussion of sources see Ogden 2013a, pp. 104–114; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA63 pp. 63–74]; Gantz, pp. 22–23, 413&ndash;416.</ref> Homer does not name or describe Cerberus, but simply refers to Heracles being sent by [[Eurystheus]] to fetch the "hound of Hades", with [[Hermes]] and [[Athena]] as his guides,<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+8.367 8.367–368], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=4783EB5441EA542B28D282C1BC90C00B?doc=Hom.+Od.+11.620 11.620–626].</ref> and, in a possible reference to Cerberus' capture, that Heracles shot Hades with an arrow.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+5.395 5.395–397]; Kirk, p. 102; Ogden 2013a, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA110 110]&ndash;[https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA111 111];  Gantz, pp. 70, 414, 416.</ref> According to [[Hesiod]], Cerberus was the offspring of the monsters [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]] and [[Typhon]], was fifty-headed, ate raw flesh, and was the "brazen-voiced hound of Hades",<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+300 300–312].</ref> who fawns on those that enter the house of Hades, but eats those who try to leave.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+767 767–774]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA65 pp. 65].</ref>

[[Stesichorus]] (c. 630 – 555 BC) apparently wrote a poem called ''Cerberus'', of which virtually nothing remains.<ref>Bowra, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xiysUGc2EdoC&pg=PA94 p. 94]; Ogden 2013a, p. 105 n. 182.</ref> However the early-sixth-century BC-lost [[Corinth]]ian cup from [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], which showed a single head, and snakes growing out from many places on his body,<ref>Gantz, p. 22; Ogden 2013a, p. 106, with n. 184; ''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 }}.</ref> was possibly influenced by Stesichorus' poem.<ref>Bowra, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xiysUGc2EdoC&pg=PA120 p. 120].</ref> The mid-sixth-century BC cup from [[Laconia]] gives Cerberus three heads and a snake tail, which eventually becomes the standard representation.<ref>Gantz, p. 22; Ogden 2013a, p. 106, with n. 185; ''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 }}; Schefold 1992, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2DA_Aze7F0C&pg=PA129 p. 129]; Pipili, fig. 8.</ref>

[[Pindar]] (c. 522 – c. 443 BC) apparently gave Cerberus one hundred heads.<ref>Pindar fragment F249a/b SM, from a lost Pindar poem on Heracles in the underworld, according to a scholia on the ''Iliad'', Gantz p. 22; Ogden 2013a, p. 105, with n. 182.</ref> [[Bacchylides]] (5th century BC) also mentions Heracles bringing Cerberus up from the underworld, with no further details.<ref>[[Bacchylides]], Ode [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0064%3Abook%3DEp%3Apoem%3D5 5.56–62].</ref> [[Sophocles]] (c. 495 – c. 405 BC), in his ''[[Women of Trachis]]'', makes Cerberus three-headed,<ref>[[Sophocles]], ''[[Women of Trachis]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0196%3Acard%3D1076 1097–1099].</ref> and in his ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'', the Chorus asks that [[Oedipus]] be allowed to pass the gates of the underworld undisturbed by Cerberus, called here the "untamable Watcher of Hades".<ref>[[Sophocles]], ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0190%3Acard%3D1568 1568–1578]; Markantonatos, [https://books.google.com/books?id=faciAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA129 pp. 129–130].</ref> [[Euripides]] (c. 480 – 406 BC) describes Cerberus as three-headed,<ref>[[Euripides]] ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+1276 1276–1278].</ref> and three-bodied,<ref>[[Euripides]] ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+22 22–25].</ref> says that Heracles entered the underworld at Tainaron,<ref>[[Euripides]] ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+22 22–25].</ref> has Heracles say that Cerberus was not given to him by Persephone, but rather he fought and conquered Cerberus, "for I had been lucky enough to witness the rites of the initiated", an apparent reference to his initiation into the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]],<ref>[[Euripides]] ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+612 612–613]; Papadopoulou, [https://books.google.com/books?id=O3A-MUBefHYC&pg=PA163 p. 163]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA69 pp. 69–70].</ref> and says that the capture of Cerberus was the last of Heracles' labors.<ref>[[Euripides]] ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+22 22–25].</ref> The lost play ''Pirthous'' (attributed to either Euripides or his late contemporary [[Critias]]) has Heracles say that he came to the underworld at the command of Eurystheus, who had ordered him to bring back Cerberus alive, not because he wanted to see Cerberus, but only because Eurystheus thought Heracles would not be able to accomplish the task, and that Heracles "overcame the beast" and "received favour from the gods".<ref>''Pirithous'' ''[[TrGF]]'' 43 F1 Hypothesis (Collard and Cropp, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.641.xml pp. 640–641]). For the question of authorship see Gantz, p. 293; Collard and Cropp, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.629.xml pp. 629–635], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.637.xml p. 636].</ref>

[[File:Hercules and Cerberus LACMA 65.37.151.jpg|thumb|right| Cerberus and Heracles. Etching by [[Antonio Tempesta]] (Florence, Italy, 1555–1630). The [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]]. ]]
[[Plato]] (c. 425 – 348 BC) refers to Cerberus' composite nature, citing Cerberus, along with [[Scylla]] and the Chimera, as an example from "ancient fables" of a creature composed of many animal forms "grown together in one".<ref>[[Plato]] ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D9%3Asection%3D588c 588c].</ref> [[Euphorion of Chalcis]] (3rd century BC) describes Cerberus as having multiple snake tails, and eyes that flashed, like sparks from a blacksmith's forge, or the volcanic [[Mount Etna]].<ref>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> From Euphorion, also comes the first mention of a story which told that at [[Heraclea Pontica]], where Cerberus was brought out of the underworld, by Heracles, Cerberus "vomited bile" from which the poisonous [[Aconitum|aconite]] plant grew up.<ref>Schol. [[Apollonius of Rhodes]] ''[[Argonautica]]'' 2.353 (Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ir5FhAQbcfAC&pg=PA68 p. 68]); compare with [[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]).</ref>

According to [[Diodorus Siculus]] (1st century BC), the capture of Cerberus was the eleventh of Heracles' labors, the twelfth and last being stealing the [[Apples of the Hesperides]].<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#25 4.25.1, 26.1–2]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA66 p. 66].</ref> Diodorus says that Heracles thought it best to first go to [[Athens]] to take part in the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], "[[Musaeus of Athens|Musaeus]], the son of [[Orpheus]], being at that time in charge of the initiatory rites", after which, he entered into the underworld "welcomed like a brother by [[Persephone]]", and "receiving the dog Cerberus in chains he carried him away to the amazement of all and exhibited him to men."

In [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' (1st century BC), [[Aeneas]] and the [[Cumaean Sibyl|Sibyl]] encounter Cerberus in a cave, where he "lay at vast length", filling the cave "from end to end", blocking the entrance to the underworld. Cerberus is described as "triple-throated", with "three fierce mouths", multiple "large backs", and serpents writhing around his neck. The Sibyl throws Cerberus a loaf laced with honey and herbs to induce sleep, enabling [[Aeneas]] to enter the underworld, and so apparently for Virgil—contradicting Hesiod—Cerberus guarded the underworld against entrance.<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+6.417 6.417–425]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA71 p. 71]; Ogden 2013a, p, 109; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA69 p. 69]. Compare with [[Apuleius]], ''[[The Golden Ass|Metamorphoses]]'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/apuleius-metamorphoses/1989/pb_LCL044.285.xml 6.19 (pp. 284–285)], where following Virgil, exiting (as well as entering) the underworld is accomplished by giving Cerberus a mead-soaked barley cake.</ref> Later Virgil describes Cerberus, in his bloody cave, crouching over half-gnawed bones.<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+8.296 8.296–297].</ref> In his ''[[Georgics]]'', Virgil refers to Cerberus, his "triple jaws agape" being tamed by Orpheus' playing his lyre.<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Georgics]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=46DDD4DE402FC078B3A0CA9C8025544E?doc=Verg.+G.+4.483 4.483].</ref>

[[Horace]] (65 – 8 BC) also refers to Cerberus yielding to Orpheus' lyre, here Cerberus has a single dog head, which "like a Fury's is fortified by a hundred snakes", with a "triple-tongued mouth" oozing "fetid breath and gore".<ref>[[Horace]], ''Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0024%3Abook%3D3%3Apoem%3D11 3.11.13–20]; West, David, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XCaYMyW1YQQC&pg=PA101 pp. 101–103]; Ogden 2013a, p. 108. Compare with ''Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0025%3Abook%3D2%3Apoem%3D13 2.13.33–36] ("hundred-headed", referring perhaps to the one hundred snakes), ''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>

[[Ovid]] (43 BC – AD 17/18) has Cerberus' mouth produce venom,<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D4%3Acard%3D481 4.500–501].</ref> and like Euphorion, makes Cerberus the cause of the poisonous plant aconite.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D7%3Acard%3D404 7.406 ff.]; Ogden 2013a, p. 108.</ref> According to Ovid, Heracles dragged Cerberus from the underworld, emerging from a cave "where 'tis fabled, the plant grew / on soil infected by Cerberian teeth", and dazzled by the daylight, Cerberus spewed out a "poison-foam", which made the aconite plants growing there poisonous.

[[File:Hercules and Cerberus LACMA 65.37.17.jpg|thumb|left|Cerberus and Heracles. Etching by [[Antonio Tempesta]] (Florence, Italy, 1555–1630). The [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]]. ]]
[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], in his tragedy ''[[Hercules (Seneca)|Hercules Furens]]'' gives a detailed description of Cerberus and his capture.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.111.xml?result=16&rskey=CRLRlQ 782–821 (pp. 110–115)]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA66 pp. 66–68].</ref>
Seneca's Cerberus has three heads, a mane of snakes, and a snake tail, with his three heads being covered in gore, and licked by the many snakes which surround them, and with hearing so acute that he can hear "even ghosts".<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.111.xml?result=16&rskey=CRLRlQ 782–791 (pp. 110–113)].</ref> Seneca has Heracles use his lion-skin as shield, and his wooden club, to beat Cerberus into submission, after which Hades and Persephone, quailing on their thrones, let Heracles lead a chained and submissive Cerberus away. But upon leaving the underworld, at his first sight of daylight, a frightened Cerberus struggles furiously, and Heracles, with the help of Theseus (who had been held captive by Hades, but released, at Heracles' request) drag Cerberus into the light.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.113.xml?result=16&rskey=CRLRlQ 797–821 (pp. 112–115)]; see also ''Agamemnon'', [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-agamemnon/2004/pb_LCL078.199.xml 859–862 (pp. 198–199)], which has Cerberus "fearing the colour of the unknown light."</ref> Seneca, like Diodorus, has Heracles parade the captured Cerberus through Greece.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.53.xml?result=16&rskey=CRLRlQ 46–62 (pp. 52–53)].</ref>

Apollodorus' Cerberus has three dog-heads, a serpent for a tail, and the heads of many snakes on his back.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+2.5.12 2.5.12]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA64 pp. 64–65].</ref> According to Apollodorus, Heracles' twelfth and final labor was to bring back Cerberus from Hades. Heracles first went to [[Eumolpus]] to be initiated into the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]]. Upon his entering the underworld, all the dead flee Heracles except for [[Meleager]] and the [[Gorgon]] [[Medusa]]. Heracles drew his sword against Medusa, but Hermes told Heracles that the dead are mere "empty phantoms". Heracles asked Hades (here called Pluto) for Cerberus, and Hades said that Heracles could take Cerberus provided he was able to subdue him without using weapons. Heracles found Cerberus at the gates of [[Acheron]], and with his arms around Cerberus, though being bitten by Cerberus' serpent tail, Heracles squeezed until Cerberus submitted. Heracles carried Cerberus away, showed him to Eurystheus, then returned Cerberus to the underworld.

In an apparently unique version of the story, related by the sixth-century AD [[Pseudo-Nonnus]], Heracles descended into Hades to abduct Persephone, and killed Cerberus on his way back up.<ref>[[Pseudo-Nonnus]], 4.51 (Nimmo Smith, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wzZnMCP4JRIC&pg=PA37 p. 37]); Ogden 2013a, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA114 p. 114].</ref>