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Cerberus:

The Three Headed Dog of Greek Mythology

There are many unique creatures mentioned in Greek mythology. One of the most well known may be the three-headed dog known as Cerberus. It was the job of Cerberus to guard the entrance to Hades. In Greek mythology, this was the underworld where spirits of the dead were the only ones allowed to enter.

No one was permitted to leave.

The Greeks had a deep respect as well as fear of wild dogs. The mythical dog Cerberus is an example of what the Greeks feared most in a dog. It also shows the respect they had for the abilities of dogs to be guardians.

Parents According to Greek mythology, Typhon was the father of Cerberus. He was a large fire-breathing dragon who was also a god. He had large glowing red eyes, a hundred wings as well as a hundred heads. The gods who lived on Mount Olympus were very afraid of Typhon.

The life mission of Typhon was to destroy the world as well as put obstacles in the path of Zeus who was trying to move toward the Kingdom of Heaven. Typhon was known for his ability to cause fear and spread disaster. The mother of Cerberus was Echidna. She was a creature that was half snake and half human woman. She had the head and torso of a beautiful woman. Echidna was known for her deep black eyes. The lower part of her body was that of a serpent. She lived in a cave and lured men there before she consumed them.

Watchdog The primary job of Cerberus in Greek mythology was as a watchdog for the underworld. He was also a faithful servant to Hades, who was the god of the underworld. Cerberus is most often depicted moving along the banks of the river Styx. This river was the established boundary between the dead of the underworld and the living of the earth. Cerberus was responsible for guarding the gates to the underworld. The three-headed dog prevented those were dead from escaping, as well as kept the living from going there without the permission of Hades. Cerberus was very kinds and friendly to the dead, as well as any new spirits who entered the underworld. He would also become savage and would eat any of them who tried to get past him and go back to the land of the living.

Cerberus And Heracles Heracles was sent by Euripides, who was the king of Tiryns, to capture Cerberus from the king of the underworld. He wanted the three-headed dog brought back.

This is known as the twelfth and final labor of Heracles. The reason this was requested of Heracles by Euripides is that it was believed to be impossible. This is the main reason Heracles wanted to do it. During this task, Heracles had help from the guide of the underworld known as Hermes as well as the goddess Athena

Cerberus:

Legendary Hell Hound of the Underworld

By Bryan Hill

In ancient Greek mythology, there exists a three headed dog called Cerberus that guards the entrance to Hades, a misty and gloomy Underworld in which spirits of the dead are permitted to enter but none are allowed to leave. In the ancient world, dogs were often depicted as wild animals that defied domestication, roamed the streets in packs and scavenged on the edge of town. The mythical Cerberus incorporated not only the feared qualities of the ancient canine, but was a strange mixture of several creatures in one and a nightmarish sight to behold.

The Greek Hell Hound Cerberus The name Cerberus comes from the Greek "Kerberos" meaning “spotted.” To the Greeks, Cerberus was a monstrous three-headed dog, or "hell hound" with a serpent's tail, a mane of snakes, and a lion's claws. His three heads were thought to represent the past, the present, and the future while other sources suggest they were symbolic of birth, youth, and old age.

The most potent ability of Cerberus was his look, which was so dreadful that anyone who looked upon him was immediately turned into stone. It was said that Cerberus had razor sharp teeth and a poisonous bite. The poison that drips onto the ground sprung up as a plant that is known as the wolf’s bane.

This Hell Hound Had Even More Terrifying Parents The father of Cerberus was Typhon, the mightiest and deadliest monster in Greek mythology (as well as a god). A huge fire breathing dragon said to have glowing red eyes, a hundred heads, and a hundred wings, the Olympian gods were terrified of him. Everywhere Typhon went, he spread fear and disaster - with his mission being to destroy the world and to put obstacles for Zeus along his path to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Cerberus' mother, was Echidna, a half-woman, half-snake creature known as the "mother of all monsters". She had black eyes, the head and torso of a beautiful woman, and the lower body of a serpent. The ancient Greeks believed she dwelt in a cave and lured men in with her body before she ate them raw.

Cerberus and Orpheus Cerberus’ primary role was the watchdog of the Greek Underworld and faithful servant to the god Hades. His main haunt was along the banks of the river Styx, a river forming the boundary between Earth and the Underworld. He guarded the gates of Hades and prevented the dead from escaping and the living from entering without his master's permission.

Chained to the entrance gates of Acheron, another river of the Underworld, Cerberus fawned on the dead or new spirits as they entered, but would savagely eat anyone trying to pass back through the gates and return to the land of the living without permission.

Cerberus is featured in several mythological stories as a hell hound and there are even a couple of myths in Greek mythology where a hero gets the better of the beast. The first is when Orpheus, the famed musician of Greek mythology, sneaks into the Underworld by lulling the normally alert and aggressive Cerberus to sleep with his lyre (a type of harp).

The Thracian singer was revered in Greece and happily married to the nymph Eurydice. One day Eurydice was bitten by a snake and died. Orpheus was so grief stricken by his loss that he stopped singing and playing all together. He then decided to risk his own life in a desperate journey to the Underworld to try and rescue Eurydice.

His playing enchanted Charon, the ferryman who carried the souls of the dead across the river Styx and he agreed to take Orpheus across the river, even though he was still living. When he encountered

Cerberus, the three headed monster lay down meekly to the strains of Orpheus's lyre, after which Orpheus was able to gain passage.

Hades and his wife Persephone, granted Eurydice back to Orpheus under one condition: Eurydice must walk behind him as they ascended back to the upper world, and Orpheus was forbidden to look at her. Just before they reached the surface, Orpheus was so overcome with passion that he turned around to look at Orpheus. She was immediately turned into a ghost and sent back to the Underworld forever. Orpheus' own fate was to be dismembered by Thracian maenads, the female worshipers of Dionysus.

The Hell Hound Versus Hercules The most famous story of Cerberus involves the half-man, half-god Hercules (Heracles). As the last of his twelve labors, Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns demanded that Hercules capture and bring Cerberus back alive. Eurystheus was certain that Hercules would fail in this impossible task.

Hercules went to the Underworld, found Hades who told him that if could take Cerberus without the use of weapons, he would be allowed to leave the Underworld with the hell hound. When Hercules found Cerberus on the shore of Acheron, he began wrestling with the huge monsterusing only his bare hands.

As the world's strongest man, it took all his power to subdue Cerberus. But the monster soon grew weary, and having run out of breath by the strongman's chokehold, finally yielded to Hercules. Cerberus is one of the few monsters who ever met Hercules and survived. Unlike other supernatural beasts that crossed his path, Cerberus was returned safely to Hades, where he resumed guarding the gateway to the Underworld.

Cerberus is featured in many works of ancient literature, although the depiction surrounding the mythological creature often differs by authors and cultures. Cerberus appears in Dante's ‘Inferno’, guarding the third circle of Hell rather than the entire Underworld. This is the circle of gluttony, and Cerberus is used to personify uncontrollable appetite.

Cerberus is also featured in many prominent works of Roman literature, most famously in Virgil’s ‘ Aeneid’, and the story of Orpheus in Plato’s ‘Symposium’, and in Homer’s ‘Iliad’, which is the only known reference to one of Heracles’ labors which first appeared in a literary source.

Norse mythology has an equivalent of Cerberus where Hell is guarded by a four-eyed dog named Garm. In Egypt, his incarnation was Anubis, the dog that guarded tombs and conducted the souls to the Underworld.

Some writers, such as the Greek poets Hesiod and Horace, claim Cerberus had as many as 50 or 100 heads and in other descriptions, they are in the shape of a lion, dog, and wolf, respectively. In popular culture, a character based on the beast appears in the Harry Potter film , The Philosopher’s Stone. Called Fluffy, he is lulled to sleep by a flute by Harry in a manner quite similar to the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Citation

Hill, Bryan. “Cerberus: Legendary Hell Hound of the Underworld.” Ancient Origins, Ancient Origins, 11 June 2019, www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/cerberus-legendary-hell-hound- underworld-003142.

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Tur SEnpnur-WorrlaN's Pup

into (^) a new little horror, he would (^) send rich gifts-something (^) he

could afford to do, for the treasures of the earth belonged to him.

As our story begins, which is not long after thc world

began, Hades was still organizing his kingdom. It must be undcr-

stood that this realm (^) was nor pure hell; it (^) was also a placc of rewards for those (^) who had pleased the gods. The Underworld

also held a vast zone known as Limbo, where wandered the shades

of those who had neither (^) pleased nor displeased the gods. (^) There were no torments here, nor pleasures (^) either-just a faceless horde of gray, vaporous (^) ghosts pressed so (^) thickly together they seemed like a mist rolling (^) over the plain. occasionally, (^) a faint wailing sound arose, not weeping (^) but a muted lament (^) as if they rcaltzed that they had been condemned, (^) not by Hades (^) but by habit, to

spend their deaths as they had spenr their lives.

One day Echidne laid a curiously lumpy egg. It hatched

into a three-headed (^) dog. Its middle head was wolfish, (^) with stand- up ears and great, glowing (^) dark eyes. The right head was skull-

like and popeyed, a bull terrier's head. And the left head was that

of (^) a hound (^) with flap ears, mournful (^) eyes, and quivering nose.

All three heads had huge jaws with teeth like daggers. Though

only a pup, it was already the size of a calf, and everyone looking upon it knew that, if (^) allowed to live, it would grow as largc as

a bull.

The monster family was gathered in an enormous undersea

cave. No (^) water entered it, but it (^) was part (^) of thc sca and filled with wet, (^) sapphire light. All who had been born there and drawn their first (^) breath of its salt-strong air returned from (^) time to time,

no matter how far they roamed.

The three-headed puppy stood blinking as he gazed about

him. Newly hatched (^) creatures always look about eagerly (^) to see what kind of a world (^) they have entered. And this pup had (^) six, eyes to peer out with. (^) The three heads turned, the six eyes rolled, searching every corner (^) of the dark cavern, trying to read (^) the shadows.

3

Tur (^) SEnprNr-WouaN's Pup

He crouched in (^) the corner, chewing happily, ignoring Ty-

phon who stamped about, toe stumps spouting blood, as he tried

to find the pup and crush him underfoot. His dragon-head dippcd

down, spitting fire, chasing shadows.

Typhon saw the pup in a corner and lifted his good foot. But Echidne, for all her great size, could move^ as swiftly^ as a

garden snake. She slithered across the cave^ floor^ and^ cast^ her^ coils

about the pup,^ enclosing him in^ a tower of^ leather.^ The^ woman-

end rose out of the serpentine loops^ to^ face^ her^ raging^ husband.

She held a rock^ in^ one hand and^ a^ sword^ in^ the^ other.

"l'm going to strangle that little monster!" roared Typhon.

"All three necks at once. "

"You'll (^) have to strangle me first, " (^) said Echidne. "And (^) that may be difficult. " "You (^) mean to say you care for that misshapen cur?" "FIe's (^) mine, " (^) said Echidne. "I (^) shall call him Cerberus. Now

run off and start an avalanche or something. "

. (^) By this time Typhon's mutilated foot had sprouted three

ne'w toes, fot he was the kind of monster that could replace itself.

But his foot still hurt; he was in a foul temper, and yearned to

murder his latest offspring. Nevertheless, he knew what Echidne

could do when aroused.^ So with a final^ growl,^ he^ departed, vowing never to return. This hardly bothered his wife. She had

heard such pronouncements for^ a hundred^ years^ and expected to

hear (^) them for a hundred more. Thus it was that the three-headed dog, Cerberus, was born.

Echidne, that dread serpent-woman, treated^ her^ pup most^ ten-

derly, and he adored^ her.

2

Hsded Vsit

ord reached Hades in (^) the Underworld that the (^) monsters he most admired (^) had bred again and (^) that their latest offspring (^) was showing early promise. 'Just (^) what (^) I need," he said to Hecate. "A (^) three-headed (^) dog to guard the gates of Hell. I'll pay them a visit immediately. (^) For beasts of that line grow to full size in seven days, and I want (^) to

see this one while he's still a pup."

Black-robed, driving (^) a black chariot drawn by six coal-

black stallions of enormous power and speed, Hades charged up

from Tartarus (^) through rocky chambers and (^) out of the mouth of

a cave called Avernus. His great black stallions galloped so fast

that the road (^) seemed to smoke behind them. They came (^) to a strip of golden beach (^) at the edge of the sea. Here Echidne had (^) swum ashore with her pup. (^) Hades had sent her a message, asking her to meet him there, (^) and even monsters do not ignore a summo'ns from the Lord of the Land Beyond Death. Hades never traveled unattended. Two demon outriders clung to the back of his chariot. They (^) sprang off now and began unloading gifts (^) for Echidne. The presents (^) were all opulent-gold hoops (^) as big as chariot wheels, set (^) with diamonds big as onions.

7

HADps'Vrsrr

It was only Echidne's swiftness that saved (^) the god from an unspeakable affront. (^) Quick as rhe flick of an eyelid, (^) shc flipped her (^) tail, catching the pup (^) in mid-air and knocking (^) hin-r to thc sand. Swiftly, she curled her serpenr's tail about him, (^) binding him fast. "My (^) lord, I beg your forgiveness," (^) she said. "But (^) hc's vcry young. Too young (^) still to distinguish friend (^) from foe. " "I (^) bear no grudge, " (^) said Hades coldly. "Let (^) us hope that his judgment^ ripens with (^) age." "In (^) the days to come, " (^) said Echidne, "I (^) shall explain to him how (^) much your favor has (^) meant to our family. In (^) the meantime,

my lord, I observe that your demons have caught the horses. I

think it best if I leave (^) you now, and (^) cool this young one off (^) with a long swim. " "Take (^) these (^) golden baubles with you," (^) said Hades. "They are yours. I shall leave (^) it to you, Echidne, (^) to convince the brave little (^) fellow of the advantages (^) that will accrue (^) to anyone entering my (^) employment at the (^) highest level-and I mean (^) highest. He

would rank with Charon and Hecate as my chief aides. "

Echidne reached down, lifted cerberus from her coils, and

held him tightly in her arms as she wriggled through the golden

hoops, and slithered into the water.

"Farewell, " (^) she cried. "Thank (^) you again. " "Farewell (^) to you," said Hades. "But (^) I shall reserve (^) my thanks until a later (^) date. " "You're (^) a wicked, wicked, reckless pup, " (^) Echidne mur- mured (^) to Cerberus, as she (^) glided through the water. "But (^) I love you more (^) than all my other children combined. And you (^) shall

never go underground to work for that arrogant fiend as long as

I live. Still, we must beware. (^) His disappointment can''curdle (^) into hatred-and his powers are vast. "

cerberus did not answer. He was fast asleep in his mother's

arms.

9

B

Decoy ondDeoth

t was a sunny morning.^ Cerberus^ was^ sullenly prowling the^ beach.^ Delia had^ gone^ to^ the^ tidal pool, bidding^ him^ not^ to^ come,^ fo.^ she^ knew^ he was jealous^ of^ the^ attention^ she^ paid^ her^ father's

animal patients. The shadow of^ great^ wings^ glided^ over^ the beach;^ Cerberus crouched, hackles^ rising.^ He^ goggled^ in^ surprise^ at^ the^ creature hovering above^ him-a^ female^ figure^ with^ brass^ wings^ and^ a^ whip

curled at her^ belt.^ She^ was^ tall^ and^ stern-looking,^ white-haired,

but with^ a^ young^ face.^ She^ landed^ nearby and^ came^ striding toward him.^ "Greetings, Cerberus,"^ she^ said. He had no way^ of^ knowing^ she^ was a^ Harpy;^ he^ didn't know there was^ such^ a^ thing. But^ he^ remembered^ something^ his mother had told him. "Are^ you^ one^ of^ my^ Gorgon^ aunts?"^ he asked. "'why, (^) yes, " (^) said the Harpy, who, like all^ those^ who^ work

for the King of Hell,^ had^ been^ taught^ to lie^ very^ smoothly.^ "That's

who I am, an aunt.^ But^ I^ come^ on^ a^ sad^ errand,^ dear nephew.

Your mother is quite^ ill.^ "

,,TTI? (^) HCr?" "Well, (^) wounded. She chose. to take on^ a^ shark and octopus simultaneously, both^ the biggest^ of^ their^ kind.^ She^ was^ almost

strangled, and lost much^ blood^ before^ she^ could^ dispose^ of them'^ "^

39

Drcov aNrt DrarH

Delia fed the seal some^ more^ herbs^ and^ patted^ its^ sleek^ head. A shadow fell^ upon^ her.^ She^ thought^ it^ was one^ of^ her^ brothers

and did not turn^ around. Her^ reckless^ courage had^ becomc^ a^ kind

of family joke,^ and^ her^ big^ brothers were^ always^ jurnping^ out^ at her, trying to^ scare her. Delia reached behind her to give a^ pinch^ and^ touchcd^ coarsc

fur. She turned^ swiftly^ and^ found^ herselfin^ the^ grasp^ of^ something

huge, hairy, and flaming red. Most^ horrible^ of^ all,^ under^ its fur it was crawling with eyes. Even the paws grasping her had^ eyes.

And they were all looking at her.

She tried^ to^ call^ for^ Cerberus.^ But^ the^ creature^ took^ her slender throat almost gently^ between two^ great,^ furred^ fingers, and tweaked the^ life out of^ her^ like^ someone^ snuffing^ a^ candle flame. The seal flung itself at the monster, who, as calmly as^ a horse whisking^ away^ a^ fly,lifted^ the^ seal^ by^ its^ tail^ and shattered its head against a^ rock.^ Draping^ Delia's^ body^ over^ one^ arm,^ he

scuttled away^ like^ a^ giant red^ crab.

Argus climbed a cliff, as Hecate had^ instructed,^ and^ dropped

the body onto the rocks^ below, so^ that^ it^ would^ appear^ that^ the girl, who was always^ rock^ climbing,^ had^ been^ killed^ in^ an^ acci- dental fall.^ Then^ he^ sped^ toward^ the^ cave^ called^ Avernus,^ that

would lead^ him^ back^ through underground^ chambers^ to^ Tartarus

and his mistress, Hecate.

41

Bernard Evslin

Heather Amery