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{{Short description|Multi-headed dog in Greek mythology}} {{Other uses|Cerberus (Greek myth)|Cerberus (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}} [[File:Herakles Kerberos Eurystheus Louvre E701.jpg|thumb|right|[[Heracles]], wearing his characteristic lion-skin, club in right hand, leash in left, presenting a three-headed Cerberus, snakes coiling from his snouts, necks and front paws, to a frightened [[Eurystheus]] hiding in a giant pot. [[Caere]]tan [[hydria]] (c. 530 BC) from [[Caere]] (Louvre E701).<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2616%22 Herakles 2616] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710023814/https://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2616%22 |date=10 July 2017 }} (Smallwood, pp. 92, 98); Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA63 p. 63]; Ogden 2013a, p. 105; Gantz, p. 22; Perseus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Louvre+E+701&object=vase Louvre E 701 (Vase)].</ref>]] In [[Greek mythology]], '''Cerberus''' ({{IPAc-en|Λ|s|Ιr|b|Ιr|Ι|s|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Cerberus.wav}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Cerberus|title= Cerberus|work=Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary|publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]]|access-date=16 July 2009}}</ref> or {{IPAc-en|Λ|k|Ιr|b|Ιr|Ι|s}}; {{langx|grc|ΞΞΟΞ²Ξ΅ΟΞΏΟ}} ''KΓ©rberos'' {{IPA|el|Λkerberos|}}), often referred to as the '''hound of [[Hades]]''', is a [[polycephaly|multi-headed]] dog that guards the gates of the [[Greek underworld|underworld]] to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring of the monsters [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]] and [[Typhon]], and was usually described as having three heads, a serpent for a tail, and snakes protruding from his body. Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by [[Heracles]], the last of Heracles' [[Labours of Heracles|twelve labours]]. == Etymology == [[File:Hades-et-Cerberus-III.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Cerberus and Hades/[[Serapis]]. [[Heraklion Archaeological Museum]], [[Crete]], [[Greece]].<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Kerberos+66%22 Kerberos 66]; Woodford, p. 29.</ref>]] The etymology of Cerberus' name is uncertain. Ogden<ref>Ogden 2013a, p. 105.</ref> refers to attempts to establish an Indo-European etymology as "not yet successful". It has been claimed to be related to the [[Sanskrit]] word ΰ€Έΰ€°ΰ₯ΰ€΅ΰ€°ΰ€Ύ ''sarvarΔ'', used as an epithet of one of the [[Sharvara and Shyama|dogs of Yama]], from a [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] word *''kΜΓ©rberos'', meaning "spotted".<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Mallory | first1 = J. P. | author1-link = J. P. Mallory | last2 = Adams | first2 = D. Q. | author2-link = Douglas Q. Adams | chapter = Chapter 25.10: Death and the Otherworld | title = Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World | url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordintroducti00mall | url-access = registration | location = Oxford, GBR | publisher = Oxford University Press | date = 2006 | page = [https://smerdaleos.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ie-mallory-adams.pdf] | isbn = 978-0-19-928791-8 | oclc = 139999117}}</ref> Lincoln (1991),<ref>Lincoln, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JY77EuSuLk8C&pg=PA96 pp. 96β97].</ref> among others, critiques this etymology. This etymology was also rejected by [[Manfred Mayrhofer]], who proposed an Austro-Asiatic origin for the word,<ref>Mayrhofer, ''KurzgefaΓtes Etymologisches WΓΆrterbuch des Altindoarischen'' s.v. ''karbaraαΈ₯''</ref> and by [[Robert S. P. Beekes|Beekes]].<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|Beekes, R. S. P.]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'' (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 1:678.</ref> Lincoln notes a similarity between Cerberus and the [[Norse mythology|Norse mythological]] dog [[Garmr]], relating both names to a Proto-Indo-European root ''*ger-'' "to growl" (perhaps with the suffixes ''-*m/*b'' and ''-*r''). However, as Ogden observes, this analysis actually requires ''Kerberos'' and ''Garmr'' to be derived from two ''different'' Indo-European roots (*''ker-'' and *''gher-'' respectively), and so does not actually establish a relationship between the two names. Though probably not Greek, Greek etymologies for Cerberus have been offered. An etymology given by [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] (the late-fourth-century commentator on [[Virgil]])βbut rejected by Ogdenβderives Cerberus from the Greek word ''creoboros'' meaning "flesh-devouring".<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] on [[Virgil]], ''Aeneid'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D6%3Acommline%3D395 6.395]; Ogden 2013a, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA190 p. 190]; compare with [[Fabius Planciades Fulgentius|Fulgentius]], ''Mythologies'' 1.6 (Whitbread, [https://books.google.com/books?id=73mJIuYfmzEC&pg=PA51 pp. 51β52]); [[First Vatican Mythographer]], 1.57 (Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA73 pp. 73β74; Pepin, p. 36]); [[Second Vatican Mythographer]], 13 (Pepin, 106), 173 (Pepin, p. 171); [[Third Vatican Mythographer]], 13.4 (Pepin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sE7WnkLLt2gC&pg=PA324 p. 324]). According to Ogden, 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA74 p. 74], "''creoboros'' is a genuine Greek word and does indeed mean 'flesh-devouring', but it has no part to play in the genuine etymology of Cerberus's name, which remains obscure".</ref> Another suggested etymology derives Cerberus from "Ker berethrou", meaning "evil of the pit".<ref>Room, p. 88.</ref> == 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 300β314], [[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 6.260β268 (pp. 272β275)] 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 5.56β62], [[Sophocles]], ''[[Women of Trachis]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0196%3Acard%3D1076 1097β1099], [[Callimachus]], fragment 515 Pfeiffer (Trypanis, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/callimachus-fragments_uncertain_location/1973/pb_LCL421.259.xml?result=2&rskey=li3r52 pp. 258β259]), and [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=4:card=481&highlight=Echidna 4.500β501], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=7:card=404&highlight=Cerberian 7.406β409] 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 309β324] (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 β 7th century BC), Cerberus has fifty heads, while [[Pindar]] (c. 522 β 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 311β312]; [[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. 105β106, with n. 183; [[Sophocles]], ''[[Women of Trachis]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+22 22β25] ("three-bodied"), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0196%3Acard%3D1076 1097β1099]; [[Euripides]], ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+610 610β611], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+1276 1276β1278]; [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+6.417 6.417β421] ("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 4.449β451] ("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 10.21β22] ("three necks"), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D10%3Acard%3D1 10.65β66] ("triple necks"), ''[[Heroides]]'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-heroides/1914/pb_LCL041.115.xml?result=7&rskey=khGLLX 9.93β94 (pp. 114β115)] ("three-fold"); [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Agamemnon'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-agamemnon/2004/pb_LCL078.199.xml 859β862 (pp. 198β199)] ("triple chains"), ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.53.xml?result=16&rskey=CRLRlQ 60β62 (pp. 52β53)] ("triple necks"), [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.111.xml?result=16&rskey=CRLRlQ 782β784 (pp. 110β111)]; [[Statius]], ''[[Silvae]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/statiusstat01statuoft#page/90/mode/2up 2.1.183β184 (I pp. 90β91)] ("triple jaws"), [https://archive.org/stream/statiusstat01statuoft#page/168/mode/2up 3.3.27 (I pp. 168β169)] ("threefold"), ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'', [https://archive.org/stream/statiusstat01statuoft#page/396/mode/2up 2.31 (I pp. 396β397)], ("threefold"), [https://archive.org/stream/statiusstat01statuoft#page/398/mode/2up 2.53 (I pp. 398β399)] ("tri-formed"); [[Propertius]], ''Elegies'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/propertius-elegies/1990/pb_LCL018.235.xml?result=2&rskey=Iew01V 3.5.44 (pp. 234β237)] ("three throats"), [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/propertius-elegies/1990/pb_LCL018.285.xml?result=2&rskey=Iew01V 3.18.23 (pp. 284β285)] ("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'' 3.11.17β20 (West, David, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XCaYMyW1YQQC&pg=PA101 pp. 101β103]) ("a hundred snakes β¦ triple-tongued"), ''Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0025%3Abook%3D2%3Apoem%3D13 2.13.33β36] ("hundred-headed"), ''Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0025:book=2:poem=19 2.19.29β32] ("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]]'' 2.36.389β392 (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]); 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. 525β510 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. 130β131], [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. 590β580 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, 97β98); Gantz, p. 22; Ogden 2013a, p. 106, with n. 184. A relief ''pithos'' fragment (c. 590β570 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. 500β494 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 3.25.4β5]), (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. 300β303]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA69 pp. 69β70]); 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. 272β275] = [[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 4.500β501].</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 10.22β24]</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 9.93β94 (pp. 114β115)].</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 785β812 (pp. 112β113)]. See also [[Lucan]], ''[[Pharsalia]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0134%3Abook%3D6%3Acard%3D624 6.664β665], 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 22β25].</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 788β791 (pp. 112β113)].</ref> == Twelfth Labour of Heracles == [[File:12th labour of Heracles - Project Gutenberg eText 19119.png|thumb|Athena, Hermes and Heracles, leading a two-headed Cerberus out of the underworld, as Persephone looks on. [[Hydria]] (c. 550β500 BC) attributed to the [[Leagros Group]] (Louvre CA 2992).<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2599ad%22 Herakles 2599ad]; Beazley Archive [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/98FDAA7B-C130-4953-9FA3-AA36BACE3278 302005]. Reproduced from Baumeister's ''DenkmΓ€ler des klassichen Alterthums,'' volume I., figure 730 (text on p. 663).</ref>]] Cerberus' only mythology concerns his capture by Heracles.<ref>For discussions of Heracles' capture of Cerberus, see Gantz, pp. 413–416; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=268 pp. 268–269]; Ogden 2013a, pp. 104–115.</ref> As early as [[Homer]] we learn that Heracles was sent by [[Eurystheus]], the king of [[Tiryns]], to bring back Cerberus from [[Hades]] the king of the underworld.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+8.367 8.367β368]; compare with ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=942966DAA722FA1A71797BE2B6F2624E?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D11%3Acard%3D601 11.620β626]. Heracles is also given the task by Eurystheus in [[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 3.25.4β5]), (cf. ''FGrH'' 1 F27), [[Euripides]], ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+1276 1276β1278], ''Pirithous'' ''[[TrGF]]'' 43 F1 lines 10β14 (Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA69 pp. 69β70]; Collard and Cropp, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.647.xml pp. 646β647]); [[Euphorion of Chalcis|Euphorian]], fragment 71 Lightfoot (Lightfoot, [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/euphorion_chalcis-poetic_fragments/2010/pb_LCL508.301.xml pp. 300β303]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA69 pp. 69β70]); [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#25 4.25.1]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html#32 32].</ref> According to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], this was the twelfth and final labour imposed on Heracles.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+2.5.12 2.5.12]. So also in [[Euphorion of Chalcis|Euphorian]], fragment 71 Lightfoot 13 (Lightfoot, [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/euphorion_chalcis-poetic_fragments/2010/pb_LCL508.301.xml pp. 300β303]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA69 pp. 69β70]), and [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''[[Chiliades]]'' 2.36.388β410 (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]). [[Euripides]], ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+22 22β25], calls this labor the last. However according to [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#25 4.25.2] this labor was the eleventh and next to last, the twelfth being stealing the [[Apples of the Hesperides]].</ref> In a fragment from a lost play ''Pirithous'', (attributed to either [[Euripides]] or [[Critias]]) Heracles says that, although Eurystheus commanded him to bring back Cerberus, it was not from any desire to see Cerberus, but only because Eurystheus thought that the task was impossible.<ref>''Pirthous'' ''[[TrGF]]'' 43 F1 lines 10β14 (Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA70 p. 70]; Collard and Cropp, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.647.xml pp. 646β647]); Ogden 2013a, p. 113.</ref> Heracles was aided in his mission by his being an initiate of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]]. Euripides has his initiation being "lucky" for Heracles in capturing Cerberus.<ref>[[Euripides]] ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+612 612β613]; Papadopoulou, [https://books.google.com/books?id=O3A-MUBefHYC&pg=PA163 p. 163].</ref> And both [[Diodorus Siculus]] and Apollodorus say that Heracles was initiated into the Mysteries, in preparation for his [[katabasis|descent into the underworld]]. According to Diodorus, Heracles went to Athens, where [[Musaeus of Athens|Musaeus]], the son of [[Orpheus]], was in charge of the [[initiation rites]],<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#25 4.25.1β2].</ref> while according to Apollodorus, he went to [[Eumolpus]] at [[Eleusis]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+2.5.12 2.5.12]; so also, [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''[[Chiliades]]'' 2.36.394 (Greek: Kiessling, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dG0GAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA55 pp. 55β56]; English translation: Berkowitz, [https://archive.org/stream/TzetzesCHILIADES/Chiliades#page/48/mode/1up p. 48]). Apollodorus adds that, since it was unlawful for foreigners to be initiated, Heracles was adopted by Pylius, and that before Heracles could be initiated, he first had to be "cleansed of the slaughter of the centaurs"; see also Frazer's [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+2.5.12 note 2] to Apollodorus, 2.5.12.</ref> Heracles also had the help of [[Hermes]], the usual guide of the underworld, as well as [[Athena]]. In the ''[[Odyssey]]'', Homer has Hermes and Athena as his guides.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=942966DAA722FA1A71797BE2B6F2624E?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D11%3Acard%3D601 11.620β626]; compare with [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.18.3 8.18.3]. [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+2.5.12 2.5.1] also has Hermes aiding Heracles in the underworld.</ref> And Hermes and Athena are often shown with Heracles on vase paintings depicting Cerberus' capture. By most accounts, Heracles made his descent into the underworld through an entrance at [[Tainaron]], the most famous of the various Greek entrances to the underworld.<ref>Ogden 2013a, p. 110; Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA305 p. 305] with n. 159. An entrance at Tainaron is mentioned as early as [[Pindar]], ''Pythian'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DP.%3Apoem%3D4 4.44].</ref> The place is first mentioned in connection with the Cerberus story in the rationalized account of [[Hecataeus of Miletus]] (fl. 500β494 BC), and Euripides, [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], and Apolodorus, all have Heracles descend into the underworld there.<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 3.25.4β5]), (cf. ''FGrH'' 1 F27); [[Euripides]], ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+22 22β25]; [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.103.xml 662β696 (pp. 102β105)]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+2.5.12 2.5.1], so also, [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''[[Chiliades]]'' 2.36.395 (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]).</ref> However [[Xenophon]] reports that Heracles was said to have descended at the Acherusian Chersonese near [[Heraclea Pontica]], on the [[Black Sea]], a place more usually associated with Heracles' exit from the underworld (see below).<ref>[[Xenophon of Athens]], ''[[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Anab.+6.2.2 6.2.2].</ref> Heraclea, founded c. 560 BC, perhaps took its name from the association of its site with Heracles' Cerberian exploit.<ref>Ogden 2013a, p. 108.</ref> === Theseus and Pirithous === While in the underworld, Heracles met the heroes [[Theseus]] and [[Pirithous]], where the two companions were being held prisoner by Hades for attempting to carry off Hades's wife [[Persephone]]. Along with bringing back Cerberus, Heracles also managed (usually) to rescue Theseus, and in some versions Pirithous as well.<ref>Gantz, pp. 291β295.</ref> According to Apollodorus, Heracles found Theseus and Pirithous near the gates of Hades, bound to the "Chair of Forgetfulness, to which they grew and were held fast by coils of serpents", and when they saw Heracles, "they stretched out their hands as if they should be raised from the dead by his might", and Heracles was able to free Theseus, but when he tried to raise up Pirithous, "the earth quaked and he let go."<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+2.5.12 2.5.12], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+Epit.+E.1.24 E.1.24]; compare with [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''[[Chiliades]]'' 2.36.396β410, 4.31.911β916 (Greek: Kiessling, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dG0GAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA55 55β56], [https://books.google.com/books?id=dG0GAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA153 153]; English translation: Berkowitz, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/TzetzesCHILIADES/Chiliades#page/n48/mode/1up 48], [https://archive.org/stream/TzetzesCHILIADES/Chiliades#page/n138/mode/1up 138]).</ref> The earliest evidence for the involvement of Theseus and Pirithous in the Cerberus story, is found on a shield-band relief (c. 560 BC) from [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]], where Theseus and Pirithous (named) are seated together on a chair, arms held out in supplication, while Heracles approaches, about to draw his sword.<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+3519%22 Herakles 3519]; Gantz, p. 292; Schelfold 1966, pp. 68β69 fig. 24.</ref> The earliest literary mention of the rescue occurs in Euripides, where Heracles saves Theseus (with no mention of Pirithous).<ref>[[Euripides]] ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+1169 1169β1170.], :[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+1221 1221β1222]; Gantz, p. 293.</ref> In the lost play ''Pirithous'', both heroes are rescued,<ref>Gantz, P. 293; Collard and Cropp, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.637.xml p. 637]; ''Pirithous'' ''[[TrGF]]'' 43 F1 Hypothesis (Collard and Cropp, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.640.xml pp. 640β641]).</ref> while in the rationalized account of [[Philochorus]], Heracles was able to rescue Theseus, but not Pirithous.<ref>[[Philochorus]], ''FGrH'' 328 F18a, b, c; Harding, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KH4T9CBXwEEC&pg=PA67 pp. 67β70]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ir5FhAQbcfAC&pg=PA73 p. 73]; Ogden 2013a, p. 109 (Philochorus F18a = [[Plutarch]], ''Theseus'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0067%3Achapter%3D35%3Asection%3D1 35.1], compare with [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0067%3Achapter%3D31%3Asection%3D1 31.1β4]).</ref> In one place Diodorus says Heracles brought back both [[Theseus]] and [[Pirithous]], by the favor of Persephone,<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#26 4.26.1].</ref> while in another he says that Pirithous remained in Hades, or according to "some writers of myth" that neither Theseus, nor Pirithous returned.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#63 4.63.4]; Gantz, pp. 294β295.</ref> Both are rescued in the ''[[Fabulae]]'' of Hyginus.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae2.html#79 79].</ref> === 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> === Exit from the underworld === [[File:Peter Paul Rubens - Hercules and Cerberus, 1636.jpg|thumb|right|''Hercules and Cerberus''. Oil on canvas, by [[Peter Paul Rubens]] 1636, [[Prado Museum]].]] There were several locations which were said to be the place where Heracles brought up Cerberus from the underworld.<ref>Ogden 2013a, pp. 107β108, 112β113.</ref> The geographer Strabo (63/64 BC β c. AD 24) reports that "according to the myth writers" Cerberus was brought up at Tainaron,<ref>[[Strabo]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+8.5.1 8.5.1].</ref> the same place where Euripides has Heracles enter the underworld. Seneca has Heracles enter and exit at Tainaron.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.103.xml 663 (pp. 102β105)] (entrance), [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.111.xml 813 (pp. 112β113)] (exit). Seneca's account may reflect a much older tradition rationalized by [[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 3.25.4β5]), (cf. ''FGrH'' 1 F27), see Ogden 2013a, p. 112.</ref> Apollodorus, although he has Heracles enter at Tainaron, has him exit at [[Troezen]].<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]]'' 2.36.404 (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]) also has Cerberus brought up at Troezen.</ref> The geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] tells us that there was a temple at Troezen with "altars to the gods said to rule under the earth", where it was said that, in addition to Cerberus being "dragged" up by Heracles, [[Semele]] was supposed to have been brought up out of the underworld by [[Dionysus]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.31.2 2.31.2].</ref> Another tradition had Cerberus brought up at [[Heraclea Pontica]] (the same place which Xenophon had earlier associated with Heracles' descent) and the cause of the poisonous plant [[Aconitum|aconite]] which grew there in abundance.<ref>Ogden 2013a, pp. 107β108, 112; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ir5FhAQbcfAC&pg=PA68 pp. 68β69]; Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA305 pp. 305 ff.]; [[Herodorus of Heraclea|Herodorus]] fragment 31 Fowler (= Euphorion fragment 41a Lightfoot); [[Euphorion of Chalcis|Euphorion]], fragment 41 Lightfoot (Lightfoot, [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/euphorion_chalcis-poetic_fragments/2010/pb_LCL508.273.xml pp. 272β275]); [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/14B*.html#31 14.31.3]; [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D7%3Acard%3D404 7.406β419]; [[Pomponius Mela]], 1.92; [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=27:chapter=2 27.4]; Schol. [[Nicander]] ''alexipharmaca'' 13b; [[Dionysius Periegetes]], 788β792; [[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]], ''Commentary on Dionysius Periegetes'' 788β792; [[Vatican Mythographers|First Vatican Mythographer]], 1.57 (Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA73 pp. 73β74]; Pepin, p. 36). For aconite in the vicinity of Heraclea, see also [[Theophrastus]], ''[[Historia Plantarum (Theophrastus)|Historia Plantarum]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/enquiryintoplant02theouoft#page/298/mode/2up 9.16.4 pp. 298β299]; [[Strabo]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+12.3.7 12.3.7]; [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=6:chapter=1 6.4]; [[Arrian]], ''FGrH'' 156 F76a ''apud'' [[Eustathius of Thessalonica]], ''Commentary on Dionysius Periegetes'' 788β792.</ref> [[Herodorus|Herodorus of Heraclea]] and Euphorion said that when Heracles brought Cerberus up from the underworld at Heraclea, Cerberus "vomited bile" from which the 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. 272β275] = [[Herodorus of Heraclea|Herodorus]] fragment 31 Fowler).</ref> Ovid, also makes Cerberus the cause of the poisonous aconite, saying that on the "shores of [[Scythia]]", upon leaving the underworld, as Cerberus was being dragged by Heracles from a cave, dazzled by the unaccustomed daylight, Cerberus spewed out a "poison-foam", which made the aconite plants growing there poisonous.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D7%3Acard%3D404 7.413β419], which has Cerberus brought up from the underworld through a cave on "the shores of Scythia, where, 'tis fabled, the [aconite] plant grew on soil infected by Cerberian teeth."</ref> Seneca's Cerberus too, like Ovid's, reacts violently to his first sight of daylight. Enraged, the previously submissive Cerberus struggles furiously, and Heracles and Theseus must together 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 797β821 (pp. 112β115)]; see also ''Agamemnon'', [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-agamemnon/2004/pb_LCL078.199.xml 859β862 (pp. 198β199)], which has Cerberus "fearing the colour of the unknown light."</ref> Pausanias reports that according to local legend Cerberus was brought up through a chasm in the earth dedicated to Clymenus (Hades) next to the sanctuary of [[Chthonia]] at [[Ermioni|Hermione]], and in Euripides' ''Heracles'', though Euripides does not say that Cerberus was brought out there, he has Cerberus kept for a while in the "grove of [[Chthonia]]" at Hermione.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.35.10 2.35.10]; [[Euripides]], ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+610 615] (Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA69 pp. 69β70]).</ref> Pausanias also mentions that at Mount Laphystion in Boeotia, that there was a statue of Heracles [[Charops (mythology)|Charops]] ("with bright eyes"), where the Boeotians said Heracles brought up Cerberus.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+9.34.5 9.34.5].</ref> Other locations which perhaps were also associated with Cerberus being brought out of the underworld include, [[Hierapolis]], [[Thesprotia]], and Emeia near [[Mycenae]].<ref>Ogden 2013a, pp. 112β113.</ref> === Presented to Eurystheus, returned to Hades === In some accounts, after bringing Cerberus up from the underworld, Heracles paraded the captured Cerberus through Greece.<ref>Ogden 2013a, p. 113; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA69 pp. 69β71].</ref> Euphorion has Heracles lead Cerberus through Midea in [[Argolis]], as women and children watch in fear,<ref>[[Euphorion of Chalcis|Euphorian]], fragment 71 Lightfoot 14β15 (Lightfoot, [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/euphorion_chalcis-poetic_fragments/2010/pb_LCL508.301.xml pp. 300β303]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA69 pp. 69β70]).</ref> and [[Diodorus Siculus]] says of Cerberus, that Heracles "carried him away to the amazement of all and exhibited him to men."<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#26 4.26.1].</ref> Seneca has Juno complain of Heracles "highhandedly parading the black hound through Argive cities"<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.53.xml 46β62 (pp. 52β53)].</ref> and Heracles greeted by laurel-wreathed crowds, "singing" his praises.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.115.xml 827β829 (pp. 114β115)].</ref> Then, according to Apollodorus, Heracles showed Cerberus to Eurystheus, as commanded, after which he returned Cerberus to the underworld.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+2.5.12 2.5.12].</ref> However, according to [[Hesychius of Alexandria]], Cerberus escaped, presumably returning to the underworld on his own.<ref>[[Hesychius of Alexandria]] s.v. [https://archive.org/stream/hesychiialexand00schmgoog#page/n276/mode/1up ''eleutheron hydor''] (Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA69 pp. 69β71]); Ogden 2013a, p. 114.</ref> == 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 β 7th century BC) occur in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]'', and [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]''.<ref>For a discussion of sources see Ogden 2013a, pp. 104β114; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA63 pp. 63β74]; Gantz, pp. 22β23, 413–416.</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 8.367β368], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=4783EB5441EA542B28D282C1BC90C00B?doc=Hom.+Od.+11.620 11.620β626].</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 5.395β397]; 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.</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 300β312].</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 767β774]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA65 pp. 65].</ref> [[Stesichorus]] (c. 630 β 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 β 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 5.56β62].</ref> [[Sophocles]] (c. 495 β 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 1097β1099].</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 1568β1578]; Markantonatos, [https://books.google.com/books?id=faciAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA129 pp. 129β130].</ref> [[Euripides]] (c. 480 β 406 BC) describes Cerberus as three-headed,<ref>[[Euripides]] ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+1276 1276β1278].</ref> and three-bodied,<ref>[[Euripides]] ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+22 22β25].</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 22β25].</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 612β613]; 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. 69β70].</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 22β25].</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. 640β641]). 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. 629β635], [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, 1555β1630). The [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]]. ]] [[Plato]] (c. 425 β 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. 300β303]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA69 pp. 69β70]); 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. 272β275]).</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, 26.1β2]; 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 Virgilβcontradicting HesiodβCerberus guarded the underworld against entrance.<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+6.417 6.417β425]; 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. 284β285)], 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 8.296β297].</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 β 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 3.11.13β20]; West, David, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XCaYMyW1YQQC&pg=PA101 pp. 101β103]; Ogden 2013a, p. 108. Compare with ''Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0025%3Abook%3D2%3Apoem%3D13 2.13.33β36] ("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 2.19.29β32] ("triple tongue").</ref> [[Ovid]] (43 BC β 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 4.500β501].</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, 1555β1630). 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 782β821 (pp. 110β115)]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA66 pp. 66β68].</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 782β791 (pp. 110β113)].</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 797β821 (pp. 112β115)]; see also ''Agamemnon'', [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-agamemnon/2004/pb_LCL078.199.xml 859β862 (pp. 198β199)], 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 46β62 (pp. 52β53)].</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. 64β65].</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> == Iconography == [[File:Skyphos aus Argos.JPG|thumb|upright=1.3|One of the two earliest depictions of the capture of Cerberus (composed of the last five figures on the right) shows, from right to left: Cerberus, with a single dog head and snakes rising from his body, fleeing right, Hermes, with his characteristic hat (''[[petasos]]'') and [[caduceus]], Heracles, with quiver on his back, stone in left hand, and bow in right, a goddess, standing in front of Hades' throne, facing Heracles, and Hades, with scepter, fleeing left. Drawing of a lost Corinthian cup (c. 590β580 BC) from Argos.]] The capture of Cerberus was a popular theme in ancient Greek and Roman art.<ref>''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae]]'' (''LIMC''), Herakles 1697β1761 (Boardman, pp. 5β16), 2553β2675 (Smallwood, pp. 85β100); Schefold 1992, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2DA_Aze7F0C&pg=PA129 pp. 129β132].</ref> The earliest depictions date from the beginning of the sixth century BC. One of the two earliest depictions, a [[Corinth]]ian cup (c. 590β580 BC) from Argos (now lost),<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, 97β98); Schefold 1966, p. 68 fig. 23; Schefold 1992, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2DA_Aze7F0C&pg=PA129 p. 129]; Ogden 2013a, pp. 106, 111; Gantz, pp. 22, 413–414.</ref> shows a naked Heracles, with quiver on his back and bow in his right hand, striding left, accompanied by Hermes. Heracles threatens Hades with a stone, who flees left, while a goddess, perhaps Persephone or possibly Athena, standing in front of Hades' throne, prevents the attack. Cerberus, with a single canine head and snakes rising from his head and body, flees right. On the far right a column indicates the entrance to Hades' palace. Many of the elements of this sceneβHermes, Athena, Hades, Persephone, and a column or porticoβare common occurrences in later works. The other earliest depiction, a relief ''[[pithos]]'' fragment from [[Crete]] (c. 590β570 BC), is thought to show a single lion-headed Cerberus with a snake (open-mouthed) over his back being led to the right.<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2621%22 Herakles 2621] (Smallwood, pp. 92, 97); Ogden 2013a, p. 108. Cerberus is perhaps being led by Heracles, but only the left arm is preserved. According to Smallwood, the identification as Heracles and Cerberus is "suggested by Dunbabin, taken as certain by SchΓ€fer" (p. 92), and "too little of the fragment is preserved for a secure identification".</ref> A mid-sixth-century BC [[Laconia]]n cup by the [[Hunt Painter]] adds several new features to the scene which also become common in later works: three heads, a snake tail, Cerberus' chain and Heracles' club. Here Cerberus has three canine heads, is covered by a shaggy coat of snakes, and has a tail which ends in a snake head. He is being held on a chain leash by Heracles who holds his club raised over head.<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 pp. 129β130]; Pipili, p. 5, fig. 8; Gantz, p. 22; Ogden 2013a, p. 106, 111 with n. 185, p. 111 with n. 230.</ref> In Greek art, the vast majority of depictions of Heracles and Cerberus occur on [[Attica|Attic]] vases.<ref>Schefold 1992, p. 98.</ref> Although the lost Corinthian cup shows Cerberus with a single dog head, and the relief ''pithos'' fragment (c. 590β570 BC) apparently shows a single lion-headed Cerberus, in [[Attica|Attic]] vase painting Cerberus usually has two dog heads.<ref>Schefold 1992, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2DA_Aze7F0C&pg=PA129 p. 129]; Smallwood, p. 87. Exceptions include: ''LIMC'' Heracles 2570, 2576 (one head).</ref> In other art, as in the Laconian cup, Cerberus is usually three-headed.<ref>Smallwood, pp. 87, 93. Exceptions include: ''LIMC'' Herakles 2553, 2591, 2621 (one head), 2579 (two heads).</ref> Occasionally in Roman art Cerberus is shown with a large central lion head and two smaller dog heads on either side.<ref>''LIMC'' Herakles 2640, 2642, 2656, 2666, Smallwood, p. 93.</ref> [[File:Herakles Kerberos Staatliche Antikensammlungen 1493.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Heracles with club in his right hand raised over head and leash in left hand drives ahead of him a two-headed Cerberus with mane down his necks and back and a snake tail. A neck-amphora (c. 530β515 BC) from Vulci (Munich 1493).<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2604%22 Herakles 2604] (Smallwood, p. 91); Beazley Archive [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/5058D8A6-1245-4283-B7F5-51A4D3734BD5 301639].</ref>]] As in the Corinthian and Laconian cups (and possibly the relief ''pithos'' fragment), Cerberus is often depicted as part snake.<ref>Smallwood, p. 87; Ogden 2013b [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA63 p. 63]. Examples include: ''LIMC'' Herakles 2553β4, 2560, 2571, 2579, 2581, 2586, 2588, 2595, 2600, 2603β6, 2610β11, 2616, 2621, 2628).</ref> In Attic vase painting, Cerberus is usually shown with a snake for a tail or a tail which ends in the head of a snake.<ref>Smallwood, p. 87.</ref> Snakes are also often shown rising from various parts of his body including snout, head, neck, back, ankles, and paws. Two Attic amphoras from Vulci, one (c. 530β515 BC) by the [[Bucci Painter]] (Munich 1493),<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2604%22 Herakles 2604] (Smallwood, p. 91); Beazley Archive [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/5058D8A6-1245-4283-B7F5-51A4D3734BD5 301639].</ref> the other (c. 525β510 BC) by the [[Andokides painter]] (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. 130β131], [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 addition to the usual two heads and snake tail, show Cerberus with a mane down his necks and back, another typical Cerberian feature of Attic vase painting.<ref>Smallwood, pp. 8, 91.</ref> Andokides' amphora also has a small snake curling up from each of Cerberus' two heads. Besides this lion-like mane and the occasional lion-head mentioned above, Cerberus was sometimes shown with other leonine features. A pitcher (c. 530β500) shows Cerberus with mane and claws,<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2610%22 Herakles 2610] (Smallwood, p. 91); Buitron, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0044:entry=23 Worcester MA 1935.59]; Beazley Archive [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/A9338627-1A1F-4AE8-B950-E4044C0DFD4E 351415].</ref> while a first-century BC [[sardonyx]] cameo shows Cerberus with leonine body and paws.<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2628%22 Herakles 2628] (Smallwood, p. 93).</ref> In addition, a limestone relief fragment from [[Taranto]] (c. 320β300 BC) shows Cerberus with three lion-like heads.<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2618%22 Herakles 2618] (Smallwood, p. 92).</ref> During the second quarter of the 5th century BC the capture of Cerberus disappears from Attic vase painting.<ref>Smallwood, p. 98.</ref> After the early third century BC, the subject becomes rare everywhere until the Roman period. In Roman art the capture of Cerberus is usually shown together with other labors. Heracles and Cerberus are usually alone, with Heracles leading Cerberus.<ref>Smallwood, p. 99.</ref> ==Cerberus rationalized== At least as early as the 6th century BC, some ancient writers attempted to explain away various fantastical features of Greek mythology;<ref>Stern, [https://books.google.com/books?id=t4EfiGQwgh4C&pg=PA7 p. 7]; Ogden 2013a, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA183 p. 183].</ref> included in these are various rationalized accounts of the Cerberus story.<ref>Ogden 2013a, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA184 pp. 184β185].</ref> The earliest such account (late 6th century BC) is that of [[Hecataeus of Miletus]].<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 3.25.4β5]), (cf. ''FGrH'' 1 F27); Hawes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tyuTAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 p. 8]; Hopman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hb4hAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA182 p. 182]; Ogden 2013a, p. 107; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA72 pp. 72β73].</ref> In his account Cerberus was not a dog at all, but rather simply a large venomous snake, which lived on [[Tainaron]]. The serpent was called the "hound of Hades" only because anyone bitten by it died immediately, and it was this snake that Heracles brought to Eurystheus. The geographer Pausanias (who preserves for us Hecataeus' version of the story) points out that, since Homer does not describe Cerberus, Hecataeus' account does not necessarily conflict with Homer, since Homer's "Hound of Hades" may not in fact refer to an actual dog.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.25.6 3.25.6].</ref> Other rationalized accounts make Cerberus out to be a normal dog. According to [[Palaephatus]] (4th century BC)<ref>Palaephatus, ''On Unbelievable Tales'' 39 (Stern, [https://books.google.com/books?id=t4EfiGQwgh4C&pg=PA71 pp. 71β72]).</ref> Cerberus was one of the two dogs who guarded the cattle of [[Geryon]], the other being [[Orthrus]]. Geryon lived in a city named Tricranium (in Greek ''Tricarenia'', "Three-Heads"),<ref>Ogden 2013a, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA187 p. 187].</ref> from which name both Cerberus and Geryon came to be called "three-headed". Heracles killed Orthus, and drove away Geryon's cattle, with Cerberus following along behind. Molossus, a Mycenaen, offered to buy Cerberus from Eurystheus (presumably having received the dog, along with the cattle, from Heracles). But when Eurystheus refused, Molossus stole the dog and penned him up in a cave in Tainaron. Eurystheus commanded Heracles to find Cerberus and bring him back. After searching the entire Peloponnesus, Heracles found where it was said Cerberus was being held, went down into the cave, and brought up Cerberus, after which it was said: "Heracles descended through the cave into Hades and brought up Cerberus." In the rationalized account of [[Philochorus]], in which Heracles rescues Theseus, Perithous is eaten by Cerberus.<ref>[[Philochorus]], ''FGrH'' 328 F18a (= [[Plutarch]], ''Theseus'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0067%3Achapter%3D35%3Asection%3D1 35.1]), F18b, F18c; Harding, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KH4T9CBXwEEC&pg=PA68 pp. 68β70]; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ir5FhAQbcfAC&pg=PA73 p. 73]; Ogden 2013a, p. 109; Gantz, p. 295; Collard and Cropp, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.637.xml p. 637]. Compare with Plutarch, ''Theseus'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0067%3Achapter%3D31%3Asection%3D1 31.1β4]; [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''[[Chiliades]]'' 2.36.388β411 (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]), 4.31.911β916 (Kiessling, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dG0GAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA153 p. 153]; Berkowitz, [https://archive.org/stream/TzetzesCHILIADES/Chiliades#page/n138/mode/1up p. 138]).</ref> In this version of the story, Aidoneus (i.e., "Hades") is the mortal king of the [[Molossians]], with a wife named Persephone, a daughter named Kore (another name for the goddess Persephone) and a large mortal dog named Cerberus, with whom all suitors of his daughter were required to fight. After having stolen Helen, to be Theseus' wife, Theseus and Perithous, attempt to abduct Kore, for Perithous, but Aidoneus catches the two heroes, imprisons Theseus, and feeds Perithous to Cerberus. Later, while a guest of Aidoneus, Heracles asks Aidoneus to release Theseus, as a favor, which Aidoneus grants. A 2nd-century AD Greek known as [[Heraclitus the paradoxographer]] (not to be confused with the 5th-century BC Greek philosopher [[Heraclitus]])βclaimed that Cerberus had two pups that were never away from their father, which made Cerberus appear to be three-headed.<ref>Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA73 p. 73].</ref> ==Cerberus allegorized== [[File:Inferno Canto 6 lines 24-26.jpg|thumb|left|Virgil feeding Cerberus earth in the Third Circle of Hell. Illustration from Dante's ''Inferno'' by [[Gustave DorΓ©]].]] [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], a medieval commentator on [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', derived Cerberus' name from the Greek word ''creoboros'' meaning "flesh-devouring" (see above), and held that Cerberus symbolized the corpse-consuming earth, with Heracles' triumph over Cerberus representing his victory over earthly desires.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] on [[Virgil]], ''Aeneid'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D6%3Acommline%3D395 6.395]; Ogden 2013a, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA190 p. 190]. For others who followed Servius in interpreting Cerberus as symbolizing the corruption of flesh, in both the literal and moral senses, see Brumble, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6KygKVV5l7YC&pg=PA68 pp. 68β69].</ref> Later, the mythographer [[Fabius Planciades Fulgentius|Fulgentius]], allegorizes Cerberus' three heads as representing the three origins of human strife: "nature, cause, and accident", and (drawing on the same flesh-devouring etymology as Servius) as symbolizing "the three agesβinfancy, youth, old age, at which death enters the world."<ref>[[Fabius Planciades Fulgentius|Fulgentius]], ''Mythologies'' 1.6 (Whitbread, [https://books.google.com/books?id=73mJIuYfmzEC&pg=PA51 pp. 51β52]); Ogden 2013a, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA190 p. 190].</ref> The Byzantine historian and bishop [[Eusebius]] wrote that Cerberus was represented with three heads, because the positions of the sun above the earth are threeβrising, midday, and setting.<ref>[[Eusebius]], ''[[Praeparatio evangelica|Preparation of the Gospels]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/230#3.11.16 3.11.16].</ref> The later [[Vatican Mythographers]] repeat and expand upon the traditions of Servius and Fulgentius. All three Vatican Mythographers repeat Servius' derivation of Cerberus' name from ''creoboros''.<ref>[[First Vatican Mythographer]], 1.57 (Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA73 pp. 73β74]; Pepin, p. 36); [[Second Vatican Mythographer]], 173 (Pepin, p. 171); [[Third Vatican Mythographer]], 13.4 (Pepin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sE7WnkLLt2gC&pg=PA324 p. 324]).</ref> The Second Vatican Mythographer repeats (nearly word for word) what Fulgentius had to say about Cerberus,<ref>[[Second Vatican Mythographer]], 13 (Pepin, p. 106).</ref> while the Third Vatican Mythographer, in another very similar passage to Fugentius', says (more specifically than Fugentius), that for "the philosophers" Cerberus represented hatred, his three heads symbolizing the three kinds of human hatred: natural, causal, and casual (i.e. accidental).<ref>[[Third Vatican Mythographer]] 6.22 (Pepin, p. 171).</ref> The Second and Third Vatican Mythographers, note that the three brothers Zeus, Poseidon and Hades each have tripartite insignia, associating Hades' three-headed Cerberus, with [[Zeus]]' three-forked thunderbolt, and [[Poseidon]]'s three-pronged trident, while the Third Vatican Mythographer adds that "some philosophers think of Cerberus as the tripartite earth: Asia, Africa, and Europe. This earth, swallowing up bodies, sends souls to Tartarus."<ref>[[Second Vatican Mythographer]], 13 (Pepin, p. 106); [[Third Vatican Mythographer]] 6.22 (Pepin, p. 171). For others who associated Cerberus' three heads with the three continents see Brumble, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6KygKVV5l7YC&pg=PA69 p. 69].</ref> Virgil described Cerberus as "ravenous" (''fame rabida''),<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+6.421 6.421].</ref> and a rapacious Cerberus became proverbial. Thus Cerberus came to symbolize avarice,<ref>Wilson-Okamura, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5PaUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA169 p. 169]; Brumble, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6KygKVV5l7YC&pg=PA69 p. 69].</ref> and so, for example, in [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]],'' Cerberus is placed in the [[Third Circle of Hell]], guarding over the gluttons, where he "rends the spirits, flays and quarters them,"<ref>[[Dante]], ''Inferno'' [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Divine_Comedy/Inferno/Canto_VI 6.13β18]</ref> and Dante (perhaps echoing Servius' association of Cerberus with earth) has his guide Virgil take up handfuls of earth and throw them into Cerberus' "rapacious gullets."<ref>[[Dante]], ''Inferno'' [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Divine_Comedy/Inferno/Canto_VI 6.25β27]; Lansing, [https://books.google.com/books?id=CY-sAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA154 p. 154].</ref> == Namesakes == [[File:Hercules et Cerberus - Prodromus astronomiae 1690 (436025).jpg|thumb|right|Cerberus constellation]] In the [[Cerberus (constellation)|constellation Cerberus]] introduced by [[Johannes Hevelius]] in 1687, Cerberus is drawn as a three-headed snake, held in Hercules' hand (previously these stars had been depicted as a branch of the tree on which grew the [[Hesperides|Apples of the Hesperides]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/cerberus.htm |title=Ian Ridpath's 'Star Tales' |publisher=Ianridpath.com |access-date=7 July 2012}}</ref> In 1829, French naturalist [[Georges Cuvier]] gave the name ''[[Cerberus (snake)|Cerberus]]'' to a genus of Asian snakes, which are commonly called "dog-faced water snakes" in English.<ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Cerberus", p. 50).</ref> In 1988 the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)]] developed [[Kerberos (protocol)|Kerberos]], a computer-network authentication protocol, named after Cerberus.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kerberos authentication |url=https://www.ionos.com/digitalguide/server/security/kerberos/ |access-date=2022-08-25 |website=IONOS Digitalguide |language=en}}</ref> In [[2023 European heatwaves]], the most significant of which was named "Cerberus Heatwave", which brought the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe.<ref>{{cite news |title=Cerberus heatwave: Hot weather sweeps across southern Europe |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66183069 |website=BBC News |date=12 July 2023 |access-date=15 October 2024}}</ref> == See also == * [[List of Greek mythological creatures]] * [[Sharvara and Shyama]] of Hindu mythology * [[Dormarch]] β part of the CΕ΅n Annwn * [[Hellhound]] * [[Ammit]], a chthonic creature in Egyptian mythology * [[Cadejo]] == Notes == {{Reflist}} == References == {{refbegin|30em}} * [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=C431BA809CA4DEA22A15DA9C666F3400?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0022%3atext%3dLibrary Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * [[Apuleius]], ''[[The Golden Ass|Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass)]]'', Volume I: Books 1β6. Edited and translated by J. Arthur Hanson. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 44. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1996. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL044/1996/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. * [[Aristophanes]], [[The Frogs|''Frogs'']], Matthew Dillon, Ed., Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, 1995. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristoph.+Frogs Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * [[Bacchylides]], ''Odes'', translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1991. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0064%3Abook%3DEp%3Apoem%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * Bloomfield, Maurice, ''Cerberus, the Dog of Hades: The History of an Idea'', Open Court publishing Company, 1905. [https://archive.org/details/cerberusdoghade01bloogoog Online version at Internet Archive] * Bowra, C. M., ''Greek Lyric Poetry: From Alcman to Simonides'', Clarendon Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-19-814329-1}}. * [[Diodorus Siculus]], ''Diodorus Siculus: The Library of History''. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. Twelve volumes. [[Loeb Classical Library]]. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. * [[Euripides]]. ''Fragments: Oedipus-Chrysippus. Other Fragments''. Edited and translated by Christopher Collard, Martin Cropp. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 506. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2009. * [[Euripides]], ''[[Herakles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'', translated by E. P. Coleridge in ''The Complete Greek Drama'', edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill Jr. Volume 1. New York. Random House. 1938. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0102%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * Fowler, R. L. (2000), ''Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction'', Oxford University Press, 2000. {{ISBN|978-0-19-814740-4}}. * Fowler, R. L. (2013), ''Early Greek Mythography: Volume 2: Commentary'', Oxford University Press, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-19-814741-1}}. * Freeman, Kathleen, ''Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers: A Complete Translation of the Fragments in Diels, Fragmente Der Vorsokratiker'', Harvard University Press, 1983. {{ISBN|978-0-674-03501-0}}. * Gantz, Timothy, ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5360-9}} (Vol. 1), {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5362-3}} (Vol. 2). * Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004, {{ISBN|9780415186360}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC Google Books]. * Harding, Phillip, ''The Story of Athens: The Fragments of the Local Chronicles of Attika'', Routledge, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-134-30447-9}}. * Hawes, Greta, ''Rationalizing Myth in Antiquity'', OUP Oxford, 2014. {{ISBN|9780191653407}}. * [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * [[Homer]], ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * [[Homer]]; ''The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * Hopman, Marianne Govers, ''Scylla: Myth, Metaphor, Paradox'', Cambridge University Press, 2013. {{ISBN|978-1-139-85185-5}}. * [[Horace]], ''The Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace''. John Conington. trans. London. George Bell and Sons. 1882. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0025%3Abook%3D1%3Apoem%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html ''The Myths of Hyginus'']. Edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. * Kirk, G. S. 1990 ''The Iliad: A Commentary: Volume 2, Books 5β8'', {{ISBN|978-0521281720}}. * Lansing, Richard (editor), ''The Dante Encyclopedia'', Routledge, 2010. {{ISBN|9781136849725}}. * Lightfoot, J. L. ''Hellenistic Collection: Philitas. Alexander of Aetolia. Hermesianax. Euphorion. Parthenius''. Edited and translated by J. L. Lightfoot. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 508. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99636-6}}. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL508/2010/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. * {{cite book|last=Lincoln|first=Bruce|title=Death, War, and Sacrifice: Studies in Ideology and Practice|year=1991|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0-226-48199-9}} * [[Lucan]], ''Pharsalia'', Sir Edward Ridley. London. Longmans, Green, and Co. 1905. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * Markantonatos, Andreas, ''Tragic Narrative: A Narratological Study of Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus'', Walter de Gruyter, 2002. {{ISBN|978-3-11-089588-9}}. * Nimmo Smith, Jennifer, ''A Christian's Guide to Greek Culture: The Pseudo-nonnus Commentaries on Sermons 4, 5, 39 and 43''. Liverpool University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|9780853239178}}. * Ogden, Daniel (2013a), ''DrakΕn: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds'', Oxford University Press, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-19-955732-5}}. * Ogden, Daniel (2013b), ''Dragons, Serpents, and Slayers in the Classical and early Christian Worlds: A sourcebook'', Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-992509-4}}. * [[Ovid]]. ''Heroides. Amores''. Translated by Grant Showerman. Revised by G. P. Goold. [[Loeb Classical Library]] 41. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1977. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99045-6}}. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL041/1914/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. * [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', Brookes More. Boston. Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * Papadopoulou, Thalia, ''Heracles and Euripidean Tragedy'', Cambridge University Press, 2005. {{ISBN|978-1-139-44667-9}}. * [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * Pepin, Ronald E., ''The Vatican Mythographers'', Fordham University Press, 2008. {{ISBN|9780823228928}} * [[Pindar]], ''Odes'', Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * Pipili, Maria, ''Laconian Iconography of the Sixth Century B.C.'', Oxford University, 1987. * [[Plato]], ''Republic Books 6β10'', Translated by Paul Shorey, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D1%3Asection%3D327a Online version at the Perseus Digital Library] * [[Plutarch]]. ''Lives, Volume I: Theseus and Romulus. Lycurgus and Numa. Solon and Publicola''. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 46. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1914. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99052-4}}. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a2008.01.0067 ''Theseus'' at the Perseus Digital Library]. * [[Propertius]] ''Elegies'' Edited and translated by G. P. Goold. [[Loeb Classical Library]] 18. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1990. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL018/1990/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. * [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy'', Translator: A.S. Way; Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1913. [https://archive.org/stream/falloftroy00quin#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive] * Room, Adrian, ''Who's Who in Classical Mythology'', Gramercy Books, 2003. {{ISBN|0-517-22256-6}}. * [[Karl Schefold|Schefold, Karl]] (1966), ''Myth and Legend in Early Greek Art'', London, Thames and Hudson. * [[Karl Schefold|Schefold, Karl]] (1992), ''Gods and Heroes in Late Archaic Greek Art'', assisted by Luca Giuliani, Cambridge University Press, 1992. {{ISBN|978-0-521-32718-3}}. * [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Tragedies, Volume I: Hercules. Trojan Women. Phoenician Women. Medea. Phaedra''. Edited and translated by John G. Fitch. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 62. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99602-1}}. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL062/2002/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. * [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Tragedies, Volume II: Oedipus. Agamemnon. Thyestes. Hercules on Oeta. Octavia''. Edited and translated by John G. Fitch. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 78. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99610-6}}. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL078/2004/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. * Smallwood, Valerie, "M. Herakles and Kerberos (Labour XI)" in ''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae]] (LIMC)'' V.1 Artemis Verlag, ZΓΌrich and Munich, 1990. {{ISBN|3-7608-8751-1}}. pp. 85β100. * [[Sophocles]], ''[[Women of Trachis]]'', Translated by Robert Torrance. Houghton Mifflin. 1966. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0222%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * [[Statius]], ''Statius with an English Translation by J. H. Mozley'', Volume I, ''Silvae'', ''Thebaid'', Books IβIV, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 206, London: William Heinemann, Ltd., New York: G. P. Putnamm's Sons, 1928. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99226-9}}. [https://archive.org/stream/statiusstat01statuoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive] * [[Statius]], ''Statius with an English Translation by J. H. Mozley'', Volume II, ''Thebaid'', Books VβXII, ''Achilleid'', [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 207, London: William Heinemann, Ltd., New York: G. P. Putnamm's Sons, 1928. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99228-3}}. [https://archive.org/stream/statiuswithengli02statuoft#page/n9/mode/2up Internet Archive] * Stern, Jacob, ''Palaephatus Ξ Ξ΅Οα½Ά αΎΊΟΞ―ΟΟΟΞ½, On Unbelievable Tales'', Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 1996. {{ISBN|9780865163201}}. * Trypanis, C. A., Gelzer, Thomas; Whitman, Cedric, ''CALLIMACHUS, MUSAEUS, Aetia, Iambi, Hecale and Other Fragments. Hero and Leander'', Harvard University Press, 1975. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99463-8}}. * [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''[[Chiliades]]'', editor Gottlieb Kiessling, F.C.G. Vogel, 1826. (English translation, Books IIβIV, by Gary Berkowitz. [https://archive.org/stream/TzetzesCHILIADES/Chiliades#page/n0/mode/2up Internet Archive]). * [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'', Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library] * [[Virgil]], ''Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics of Vergil''. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+G.+1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library] * West, David, ''Horace, Odes 3'', Oxford University Press, 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-19-872165-9}}. * [[Martin Litchfield West|West, M. L.]] (2003), ''Greek Epic Fragments: From the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC''. Edited and translated by Martin L. West. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 497. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL497/2003/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. * Whitbread, Leslie George, [https://books.google.com/books?id=73mJIuYfmzEC ''Fulgentius the Mythographer'']. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1971. * Woodford, Susan, Spier, Jeffrey, "Kerberos", in ''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae]] (LIMC)'' VI.1 Artemis Verlag, ZΓΌrich and Munich, 1992. {{ISBN|3-7608-8751-1}}. pp. 24β32. * [[Xenophon]], ''[[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]]'' in ''Xenophon in Seven Volumes'', 3. Carleton L. Brownson. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts; William Heinemann, Ltd., London. 1922. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Xen.+Anab.+1.1.1&redirect=true Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. {{refend}} == External links == *{{commons category-inline}} *{{Wiktionary-inline|Cerberus}} *{{wiktionary-inline|ΞΞΟΞ²Ξ΅ΟΞΏΟ}} * {{EB1911|noprescript=1|wstitle=Cerberus}} {{Labours of Heracles}} {{Metamorphoses in Greek mythology}} {{Greek religion}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Cerberus| ]] [[Category:Greek underworld]] [[Category:Characters in Book VI of the Aeneid]] [[Category:Residents of the Greek underworld]] [[Category:Mythological dogs]] [[Category:Mythological hybrids]] [[Category:Symbols of Hades]] [[Category:Labours of Hercules]] [[Category:Mythological canines]] [[Category:Deeds of Hermes]] [[Category:Monsters in Greek mythology]] [[Category:Mythical many-headed creatures]] [[Category:Greek legendary creatures]] [[Category:Dogs in religion]] [[Category:Metamorphoses into flowers in Greek mythology]] [[Category:Characters in the Divine Comedy]]
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