Cerberus the dog of the underworld: Who was it?
Cerberus the dog of the underworld in Greek mythology, (Greek: Κέρβερος Kerberos), also known as Can Cerberus or the “dog of Hades”, is a monstrous polycephalic dog that guards the gates of the underworld, preventing the dead from leaving. He is a descendant of the monsters Echidna and Typhon, usually described as having three heads, one snake for a tail, with snakes emerging from various parts of his body. Is mainly known for his capture by Hercules, one of his twelve labours.
Hades, the god of the world of the dead, had this dog to keep souls from fleeing his realm. Also kept the living from entering. One of Herakles’ Twelve Labours was to take the dog from the gates of Avernus. Hades had to agree, but he made it a condition that the hero not use any weapons, for which he used his own hands and took him to his patron Eurystheus, after which he returned him to his place among the dead.
Origin
there is no reliable story which speaks about its origin, however, there are several theories which some are more supported than others by men who currently study this mythology. The most supported one tells the fact that Cerberus was born from a constellation.
This is because other great sea monsters that exist within mythology were found under various constellations, and these to become a monster disappeared, but when they were hunted or captured the constellation reappeared, giving to attend that some monsters came from the cosmos.
In the case of Cancerberus, beneath what was believed to be the entrance to hell was never a constellation, and Can has always been an element of the underworld since hades began to rule there.
Description
The descriptions of Cerberus are variable, including the number of heads. It usually had three, though not always. Cerberus had a polycephalic heritage. His father Typhon had several serpent heads, and Cerberus was the brother of three other polycephalic monsters: the hydra of Lerna; Ortro, the two-headed dog that guarded Geryon’s cattle; and Chimera, who had three heads, lion, goat, and serpent. And, like these relatives, Cerberus was, with few iconographic exceptions, polycephalic.
In the oldest description of Cerberus, the Theogony (c. VIII-VII B.C.) of Hesiod, Cerberus had 50 heads, while Pindarus (c. 522-c. 443 B.C.) gave him one hundred heads. Later writers, however, almost universally give him three heads. An exception is the Latin poet Horace, where he has only one, and a hundred snake heads. Perhaps attempting to reconcile all these traditions, Apollodorus’ had three serpent heads and the heads of “all kinds of snakes” on his back, while the Byzantine poet John Tzetzes (who probably based his account on Apollodorus) gives Cerberus fifty heads, of which three are dog heads, and the rest are “heads of other beasts of all kinds”.
In art
In art, he is commonly shown with two (visible) heads, never more than three, and occasionally with only one. In one of the two earliest depictions (c. 590-580 BC), a Corinthian cup from Argos, now lost, Cerberus shows a single normal dog’s head. The first appearance of the three-headed occurs on a Laconian cup of the mid-6th century BC.
Horace’s polycephalic Cerberus followed a long tradition in which Cerberus was partly serpent. This was perhaps already hinted at in Hesiod’s Theogony, where Cerberus’ mother is the half-serpent Echidna and his father is the snakehead Typhon. In art, Cerberus is often shown as part snake, as for example in the lost Corinthian cup which shows snakes protruding from Cerberus’ body, while the Laconic cup of the mid-6th century BC gives him a snake for a tail. In the literary record, the first clear indication of Cerberus’ serpentine nature comes from the rationalized account of Hecataeus of Miletus (fl. 500-494 BC), which makes Cerberus into a large poisonous serpent.
Plato refers to the composite nature of Cerberus, and Euphorion of Chalcis (3rd century BC) describes Cerberus as having multiple serpentine tails and possibly in connection with his serpentine nature, associates Cerberus with the creation of aconite. Virgil presents serpents writhing around neck, and Ovid’s Cerberus has a venomous mouth, necks “vile with serpents” and “hair woven with the deadly serpent”, while Seneca gives a mane made up of serpents and a single serpent’s tail.
Weaknesses
He has two weaknesses: honey and music. Incredible as it may seem, music tames the wild beasts and, therefore, also the Cerberus, who has only been defeated on two occasions. One of them was Orpheus who enchanted the Cerberus with the music of his lyre, leaving him in a sweet sleep.
The second time it was Hercules who, with his enormous strength, managed to break the animal and put it in chains, thus achieving one of the “twelve labours of Hercules”.
Honey is the watchdog’s other weakness. The few who have managed to see the hound and have returned say that only honey cakes can placate the fierce animal. If a traveller does not carry a good supply of honey cakes the hound will attack and the mortal will be at the mercy of the dog for life.
Heracles and Cerberus
The last of Herakles’ twelve labours was to capture Cerberus. Some versions tell that, in order to take Cerberus, Herakles simply asks the god Hades for permission, and Hades agrees on the condition that Herakles does not harm the dog. But in other versions, Herakles shoots an arrow at Hades. After this, in some versions, Herakles fights the dog and drags it out of Hades, passing through the cave Aquerusia. In others, Herakles treats the fierce dog kindly, and the dog, being so treated for the first time, meekly escorts him out.
Other legends
Some of the people who have been revived by paramedics in accidents and operations indicate having arrived at a huge door where at the entrance there was a three-headed dog guarding it… Is this the same door to hell? What do you think, would Cerberus be the dog of the underworld? Write us in the comments.
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